computer to home stereo (1 Viewer)

[gregJohnson]

I have been trying to connect my computer to my home stereo useing a 3.5mm to rca cord. When i hook it into my home stereo i get no sound. when i hook it into my tv through tv/video i also hear no sound... except... right as i push the tv/video i hear a little bit of sound which i can make out to be about a seconds worth of the audio my computer is playing.. what should i do

 

[Dick Knisely]

Lots of things could be wrong.

-- Connected to the wrong jack on the PC's sound card
-- Bad cable
-- Connected to an output vice an input on the receiver (don't ask why I know how easy that one is)
-- connected to the wrong kind of input on the receiver (you want a red/white RCA pair for an Aux/Tape/CD, just about anything except video or phono.
-- Input on the receiver is bad

Since it didn't work connected to the TV or the receiver the first steps are the first two above. After that you'll just need to step-by-step troubleshoot it making sure the correction jacks are being used, try another set of input jacks, find another cable, etc.

If you don't solve it, post more info with exactly what type of input/output you're connecting on each end.

 

[ChrisWiggles]

a 3.5mm to stereo rca should work just fine if you have it plugged in to the right jack. does the jack work with headphones? do you have something like a mono3.5mm adapter instead of stereo? there's no reason it wouldn't work unless it's not plugged in all the way or something silly like that.

 

[gregJohnson]

To be more exact I have the 3.5 mm end of the cord plugged into the audio out on my sound card. Then the red and white rca end pluged into the red and white audio inputs on my stereo. I don't think the cable is bad because i thought the first cable i tried this with didn't work so i bought a new one. I dont think the audio inputs on my stereo are bad because i tried them with my playsation and they worked. I dont think my audio output on my computer is bad because i tried it with head phones which worked. also i tried plugging the 3.5 mm end of the chord into the head phoen jack on my mp3 player... that didn't work and neither did pluging the 3.5mm end into the audio out jack on my mp3 player dock. and still when i plug it onto my tv into one of the rca channels or what ever i dont know technical terms but any way right as i pres tv/video to switch to that channell i hear some sound and then it goes off.

 

[Steve Berger]

If this is what you actually mean then it could indicate a bad cord. They do make some cords with attenuators in them for microphone jack use (wrong kind for this application).

If you are using a CD, MD, TV, or DVD input on the receiver then it could be switching to an optical or coax input instead of the L/R line input.

 

[Paul Seyfarth]

Make sure that the audio out on your computer isn't muted.

 

[gregJohnson]

yea it wasn't i tried it on all volume levels because i figured that it might shut off if to much input level was going to it

 

[ChrisWiggles]

well then it is obvious that you have the wrong or broken cables. If it works with headphones, and the inputs on your equipment work, then the cable is the culprit. I am assuming you know how to operate your stereo gear and have done the basics of selecting the input that you've plugged into...

i've done this connection, and it works fine. You must have the wrong cable.

 

[Tod Golden]

If your comp has it use optical, or what Steve said.