Re: [GTALUG] Acer Aspire 3 A315-21 laptop has mono sound only?

[Scott Allen via talk]

On Sun, 3 May 2020 at 06:51, Ken Heard via talk  wrote:
> The result for all the tests described in the last two paragraphs was
> the same.  In every case there was sound from only one channel.

> To me it seems improbable that both HDMI cables would be faulty at the
> same time; that surely is too much of a coincidence, especially as one
> is supposed to be a good one. If that assumption is correct then the
> HDMI jack on the laptop must be at fault.

As I believe someone has previously pointed out, with HDMI the data
for both (or more) audio channels are multiplexed over the same wires,
along with the video. There aren't separate connections for each
channel. If you're getting sound for one channel then it can't
possibly be a bad HDMI connection, either in the cable or a connector.



-- 
Scott
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Re: [GTALUG] Acer Aspire 3 A315-21 laptop has mono sound only? -- OFF TOPIC

[Ken Heard via talk]

On 19/03/20 11:26 PM, D. Hugh Redelmeier via talk wrote:

| From: Ken Heard via talk 
| Date: Thu, 19 Mar 2020 22:42:29 +0700

| ... Earlier this evening (Thursday) ...

+0700 -- where the heck are you?
Siberia?  Indonesia?  Vietnam?  Thailand?  Tuva?


Yes we are in Thailand.  My spouse and I live here from the beginning of 
November to the end of the following March.  This year our plans were 
forcibly changed.  We were to fly from here to Europe on 27 March for a 
three week visit there and arrive back in Toronto on 21 April.


By the 27 March the countries in Europe we were to visit had already 
closed their borders to just about everybody. So much for the Europe 
part our return.


The rest of it was effectively cancelled by the Turkish Airline.  Since 
we had booked our return flight through expedia.ca any changes or 
cancellations had to be made the same way.  As soon the rush back to 
Canada started expedia.ca would only talk to customers booked to fly 
within the next seven days. So within seven days we called again; this 
time the seven days had been reduced to 72 hours.


Even so, by the time we could talk to an Expedia.ca agent the airline 
had already decided for us by cancelling until further notice all 
flights between Bangkok and Istanbul -- normally there are two each day. 
A few days later their daily flight between Istanbul and Toronto was 
also cancelled until further notice.


The lockdown in Thailand began in mid-January, about seven weeks before 
the European and North American lockdowns. During the Chinese new year 
holiday, which this year was the fourth week of January, the Chinese 
come to Thailand by the plane load, because is is about the only place 
invitingly warm enough that time of the year where they (and Russians 
for that matter) can visit freely without visas.  When they get here 
they get what is called a 'visa on arrival' stamped in their passports.


About 95% of visitors from both those countries come on package tours. 
China however in mid-January cancelled all package tours from China to 
all foreign destinations.  China did so essentially to protect their own 
people and keep the virus from spreading beyond China's borders. It 
however wreaked havoc on the Thai tourist industry, especially in all 
the beach resorts including Pattaya where we are.


There is a large Chinese community Thailand; Chinese people are always 
travelling back and forth between the two countries, Thailand was in 
fact the first country outside China to have a confirmed case of 
COVID-19.  So far Thailand, with almost twice the population as Canada 
in a much smaller area, has less than half the number of recorded cases 
and deaths attributed to COVED-19 than Canada.


All things considered we easily determined that we would be much better 
off here than in Toronto, staying in our Pattaya condo.  Bought in 
January 2012, it cost us all of CA$60,000 to buy and equip it.  Condo 
fees, taxes, etc. are about CA$400 a year. Within an hour's drive there 
are ten golf courses.


The lockdown here is much more relaxed than in Canada.  More services 
are still available here but not in Canada. Maintaining physical 
distance is preached but not really heavily enforced; people here do the 
best they can nevertheless. It is possible to visit people as a small 
group. No one seems to know the supposed maximum size of the group; it 
depends on whom you ask.


At home we can stream movies, documentaries, etc. and read e-books.  We 
are also using the time here to upgrade in various ways the amenities of 
our condo.  We are anything but bored.


A big factor is the climate.  There is some anecdotal evidence that the 
contagiousness in a hot and humid climate is significantly less than in 
places where the average temperature is less than 10 degrees. If we had 
been in Canada since mid-April we would be much more restricted in our 
movements because of the weather and everything else imposed on 
Canadians from abroad such as fourteen days isolation if we were to go 
back anytime soon.


Our three main sources of information about the pandemic are The 
Economist and the Toronto Globe and Mail, both newspapers, and the TV 
Ontario's Agenda, a current affairs program on TV, in our estimation the 
best of its kind in North America. From these information sources it 
appears to us that for health reasons some form of lockdown could 
continue to the Autumn of 2021.


Unknown is once the health problems are abated how long it will take 
international air travel to recover.  If we can go back in the Spring of 
2021 we will probably do so.  If however we have to wait to the Autumn 
of 2021 we will probably stay here for another Canadian winter and go to 
Canada in the spring of 2022.



Teksavvy services there?


Yes indeed we can and do get Teksavvy services here, for both incoming 
and outgoing email. We have fibre optic from our condo building to the 
switching rooms of the ISP. The last 100 metres or so from 

Re: [GTALUG] Acer Aspire 3 A315-21 laptop has mono sound only?

[Ken Heard via talk]

Hello,

On 19/03/20 05:44 PM, Ken Heard wrote -- my original post on the subject:



Hello,

On 19/03/20 05:44 PM, Ken Heard wrote -- my original post on the subject:


I think that this particular laptop has mono sound.  I have been using it 
temporarily to stream content by HDMI to a LG HD monitor and then by fibre 
optical cable to a NED D3020 V2 hybrid amplifier and finally to a pair of bass 
reflect speakers.  Unfortunately sound comes out of only one speaker.

After extensive tests I have determined to my satisfaction that the problem is 
in the laptop.  I can test the two speakers built in the laptop separately, but 
I have no way of knowing whether the sound so produced is mono or stereo.  I 
could find no specs for this laptop with details about the sound card.



First, my apologies to all for my tardiness in not answering sooner the 
responses I received about the problem explained in my original post. 
All were helpful.  My tardiness was caused by problems with my desktop 
which had to take priority, such as a failed hard drive and for a few 
days every boot's starting by opening the BIOS with the message "BIOS 
has been reset – please decide how to continue". After dealing with 
these and some other problems I resumed efforts on my part to solve the 
problem described in my original post quoted above.


In the second quoted paragraph I claimed that I had made extensive 
tests.  Unfortunately they were not extensive enough. This time I did 
the sensible thing, I started by testing the Acer laptop alone. I 
connected a pair of ear buds to the laptop 3.5 mm earphone jack and 
streamed something from YouTube which had sound.  What I heard in *both* 
ears was sound!  So much for my nonsense of only mono sound; the laptop 
was doing perfectly what it should.


I then repeated with more care the tests previously done as to why there 
is no sound to the left speaker when connected by an HDMI cable from the 
laptop to the monitor.  To start these tests I used camcorder to provide 
sound input.  The HDMI connecting cable in this case has a mini HDMI 
plug at the camcorder end and a standard size plug at the other. By 
disconnecting the amp from the monitor, plugging the buds directly into 
the monitor headphone jack and plugging the HDMI cable successively into 
the two HDMI input jacks in the monitor I heard sound in both ears in 
both cases.


I then connected the monitor to the amplifier and repeated the same 
tests described in the previous paragraph. There was sound from both 
speakers in both cases.


The next series of tests involves connecting the two HDMI cables I have 
between the laptop and the monitor.  Both have standard size plugs at 
each end. On is a cheap 3 metre one; the other is 5 metres long and of a 
higher quality.  For these tests each cable was plugged successively to 
both jacks in the monitor, and both cables were tried in each direction 
between the laptop and the monitor.


I first disconnected the amplifier from the monitor and listened on the 
buds plugged into the monitor 3.5 mm headphones jack.  I repeated these 
tests with the amplifier connected by a fibre optic cable to the monitor.


The result for all the tests described in the last two paragraphs was 
the same.  In every case there was sound from only one channel. (I also 
made sure that each speaker could work if plugged into the right speaker 
jacks.  They both did.)


To me it seems improbable that both HDMI cables would be faulty at the 
same time; that surely is too much of a coincidence, especially as one 
is supposed to be a good one. If that assumption is correct then the 
HDMI jack on the laptop must be at fault.  At the moment however I only 
have one source to test both cables, only the laptop.


I do have however a desktop computer which I purchased in 2015 and 
installed Debian Wheezy in it.  This computer is the one I have normally 
used ever since, the laptop since 2018 being the backup.


In the past four years however -- in spite of much on line research and 
numerous posts back and fourth on the Debian user list -- I was never 
able to get sound to work, .  It is now my intention – once I have a two 
month window in which to do so – to replace in the desktop Wheezy with 
Buster.  With any luck I may have only sound working on it.


On that assumption I will have another device to test both HDMI standard 
cables. If only one of them works in these tests then the question to 
answer is why it did not work for the laptop.  If both work on this 
device then the fault must be the HDMI jack in the Acer laptop.


Regards, Ken



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Re: [GTALUG] Acer Aspire 3 A315-21 laptop has mono sound only?

[Lennart Sorensen via talk]

On Thu, Mar 19, 2020 at 10:42:29PM +0700, Ken Heard via talk wrote:
> Thanks everyone for the suggestions.  The laptop definitely is stereo.
> Earlier this evening (Thursday) I disconnected the fibre optic cable between
> the monitor and the amplifier.  I then plugged in a pair of cheap earphones
> into the monitor and played some music. Only one ear received any sound.
> 
> It looks as though the HDMI cable is the culprit.  The next step is to
> connect another HDMI cable between the laptop and the monitor. That I will
> do tomorrow morning (Friday).

My understanding of HDMI is that the audio is a digital signal embedded
in the data stream, so a broken cable would result in no signal at all
or a complete signal.  The only way I can imagine getting a mono signal
on HDMI is if the audio chip is incorrectly generating the digital signal
mix going into the HDMI link.  Or as suggested the receiving device is
doing something wrong.

-- 
Len Sorensen
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Re: [GTALUG] Acer Aspire 3 A315-21 laptop has mono sound only?

[D. Hugh Redelmeier via talk]

| From: Ken Heard via talk 
| Date: Thu, 19 Mar 2020 22:42:29 +0700

| ... Earlier this evening (Thursday) ...

+0700 -- where the heck are you?
Siberia?  Indonesia?  Vietnam?  Thailand?  Tuva?
Teksavvy services there?

Keep safe!

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Re: [GTALUG] Acer Aspire 3 A315-21 laptop has mono sound only?

[Don Tai via talk]

It could also be the monitor that is mono. Try another monitor with the
same HDMI cable. Don.

On Thu, 19 Mar 2020 at 11:42, Ken Heard via talk  wrote:

> Thanks everyone for the suggestions.  The laptop definitely is stereo.
> Earlier this evening (Thursday) I disconnected the fibre optic cable
> between the monitor and the amplifier.  I then plugged in a pair of
> cheap earphones into the monitor and played some music. Only one ear
> received any sound.
>
> It looks as though the HDMI cable is the culprit.  The next step is to
> connect another HDMI cable between the laptop and the monitor. That I
> will do tomorrow morning (Friday).
>
> Regards, Ken Heard
>I
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Re: [GTALUG] Acer Aspire 3 A315-21 laptop has mono sound only?

[Ken Heard via talk]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions.  The laptop definitely is stereo. 
Earlier this evening (Thursday) I disconnected the fibre optic cable 
between the monitor and the amplifier.  I then plugged in a pair of 
cheap earphones into the monitor and played some music. Only one ear 
received any sound.


It looks as though the HDMI cable is the culprit.  The next step is to 
connect another HDMI cable between the laptop and the monitor. That I 
will do tomorrow morning (Friday).


Regards, Ken Heard
  I
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Re: [GTALUG] Acer Aspire 3 A315-21 laptop has mono sound only?

[Howard Gibson via talk]

On Thu, 19 Mar 2020 11:19:22 -0400
William Witteman via talk  wrote:

> I found several examples of stereo tests on youtube using the "stereo
> test" search.  They certainly work on my headphones.
> 
> Good luck!

   The Gnome control center has a sound configuration window that tests your 
stereo sound.  

-- 
Howard Gibson 
hgib...@eol.ca
jhowardgib...@gmail.com
http://home.eol.ca/~hgibson
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Re: [GTALUG] Acer Aspire 3 A315-21 laptop has mono sound only?

[D. Hugh Redelmeier via talk]

| From: Ken Heard via talk 

| I think that this particular laptop has mono sound.

Don has pointed out that the specs say "stereo".

|  I have been using it
| temporarily to stream content by HDMI to a LG HD monitor and then by fibre
| optical cable to a NED D3020 V2 hybrid amplifier and finally to a pair of bass
| reflect speakers.  Unfortunately sound comes out of only one speaker.

Good idea to test HDMI out.  But your chain is intricate enough that
the problem is hard to isolate.  Can you try something simpler?

| After extensive tests I have determined to my satisfaction that the problem is
| in the laptop.  I can test the two speakers built in the laptop separately,
| but I have no way of knowing whether the sound so produced is mono or stereo.

How are you testing each channel?

- what distro & version are you using?

- what desktop environment?

- what (software) mixer are you playing with?

- have you tried Windows?

| I could find no specs for this laptop with details about the sound card.

Perhaps lshw could help.

Surely there is information in the boot messages (see dmesg's output).

| Lack of such specs indicates to me that Acer does not want people to know that
| this laptop is mono only. Is mono sound the norm for low market laptops such
| as this one and notebooks?

It is stereo.

You may have a driver problem.  You might have an electrical fault 
(unlikely to affect all modes).
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Re: [GTALUG] Acer Aspire 3 A315-21 laptop has mono sound only?

[William Witteman via talk]

I found several examples of stereo tests on youtube using the "stereo
test" search.  They certainly work on my headphones.

Good luck!

On Thu, 19 Mar 2020 at 10:55, Don Tai via talk  wrote:
>
> The specs on this laptop say that it is stereo. I'd be surprised if it was 
> not.
>
> https://www.acer.com/ac/en/GB/content/model/NX.GNVEK.009
>
> You could download Audacity and try recording in left or right only channels.
>
> On Thu, 19 Mar 2020 at 06:42, Ken Heard via talk  wrote:
>>
>> I think that this particular laptop has mono sound.  I have been using
>> it temporarily to stream content by HDMI to a LG HD monitor and then by
>> fibre optical cable to a NED D3020 V2 hybrid amplifier and finally to a
>> pair of bass reflect speakers.  Unfortunately sound comes out of only
>> one speaker.
>>
>> After extensive tests I have determined to my satisfaction that the
>> problem is in the laptop.  I can test the two speakers built in the
>> laptop separately, but I have no way of knowing whether the sound so
>> produced is mono or stereo.  I could find no specs for this laptop with
>> details about the sound card.
>>
>> Lack of such specs indicates to me that Acer does not want people to
>> know that this laptop is mono only. Is mono sound the norm for low
>> market laptops such as this one and notebooks?
>>
>> Ken Heard
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Re: [GTALUG] Acer Aspire 3 A315-21 laptop has mono sound only?

[Don Tai via talk]

The specs on this laptop say that it is stereo. I'd be surprised if it was
not.

https://www.acer.com/ac/en/GB/content/model/NX.GNVEK.009

You could download Audacity and try recording in left or right only
channels.

On Thu, 19 Mar 2020 at 06:42, Ken Heard via talk  wrote:

> I think that this particular laptop has mono sound.  I have been using
> it temporarily to stream content by HDMI to a LG HD monitor and then by
> fibre optical cable to a NED D3020 V2 hybrid amplifier and finally to a
> pair of bass reflect speakers.  Unfortunately sound comes out of only
> one speaker.
>
> After extensive tests I have determined to my satisfaction that the
> problem is in the laptop.  I can test the two speakers built in the
> laptop separately, but I have no way of knowing whether the sound so
> produced is mono or stereo.  I could find no specs for this laptop with
> details about the sound card.
>
> Lack of such specs indicates to me that Acer does not want people to
> know that this laptop is mono only. Is mono sound the norm for low
> market laptops such as this one and notebooks?
>
> Ken Heard
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Re: [GTALUG] Acer Aspire 3 A315-21 laptop has mono sound only?

[James Knott via talk]

On 2020-03-19 06:42 AM, Ken Heard via talk wrote:
I think that this particular laptop has mono sound.  I have been using 
it temporarily to stream content by HDMI to a LG HD monitor and then 
by fibre optical cable to a NED D3020 V2 hybrid amplifier and finally 
to a pair of bass reflect speakers.  Unfortunately sound comes out of 
only one speaker.


After extensive tests I have determined to my satisfaction that the 
problem is in the laptop.  I can test the two speakers built in the 
laptop separately, but I have no way of knowing whether the sound so 
produced is mono or stereo.  I could find no specs for this laptop 
with details about the sound card.


Lack of such specs indicates to me that Acer does not want people to 
know that this laptop is mono only. Is mono sound the norm for low 
market laptops such as this one and notebooks?


Ken Heard
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I guess you need one of those stereo demo records, from back in the dark 
ages.  Do you not have some music you're familiar with that you can 
listen to, both through the speakers and headphones?  Also, if the 
speakers are close together, you won't get much stereo effect.


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