PC Speaker on 486 suddenly stopped working \ VOGONS

PC Speaker on 486 suddenly stopped working

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First post, by MusicallyInspired

Posted on 2015-11-29, 20:07

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So, yesterday I was setting up my old 486 for my son to play some old Apogee games on. Still works like a dream. All PC Speaker sounds etc all worked fine. Then while he was playing I noticed that there was no sound. I checked the sound toggle in the game he was playing (Crystal Caves) to be sure, and sure enough the speaker wasn't working. I thought it was an isolated incident but then today I let him play again today and there was still no sound. I tried multiple boots (with different autoexec settings, just in case it was an extended memory thing or something) but to no avail. I tried other games with PC speaker sounds and they didn't produce any sound either. Does anybody know what could have happened to my PC Speaker? I haven't opened up the case yet. Could the wires just have come loose somehow or the speaker blown? It's an odd time for the speaker to blow or something after so many years of working normally. I don't really understand.

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Reply 1 of 10, by collector

Posted on 2015-11-29, 20:17

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Perhaps ask in Marvin since this seems more like a hardware problem and not so much a game issue.

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Reply 2 of 10, by Stiletto

Posted on 2015-11-30, 07:21

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Moved.

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Reply 3 of 10, by HighTreason

Posted on 2015-11-30, 07:28

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You still on Duke4.net? Fuck it.'

Anyway, if the PC Speaker isn't working your only option really is to take the case off and have a look.

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Reply 4 of 10, by oerk

Posted on 2015-11-30, 08:28

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The wires on the speaker itself come loose often, IME. That would be the first thing to check. Second thing is if the connector still sits securely on the motherboard.

Reply 5 of 10, by Beegle

Posted on 2015-11-30, 08:47

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Stupid question, but does the computer beep when booting up? (Answer should be 'not anymore'.)

Either it's hardware failure (speaker blown, wires rusted/corroded) or hardware problem (bad connection on mobo, wires exposed and short-circuiting) but either way you have to open the case.

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Reply 6 of 10, by Scali

Posted on 2015-11-30, 12:22

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The PC speaker circuitry is extremely simple, so I doubt the problem is on the motherboard side. It's basically just a 5v line that is toggled directly from the PIT:

It could be a loose contact on the board, but it's more likely to be a problem with the cable/speaker.

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Reply 7 of 10, by 133MHz

Posted on 2015-11-30, 19:41

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A quick & dirty way to test the PC speaker in DOS is to execute 'echo ^G' (typed as [e][c][h][o][space][ctrl]+[g]) from the command prompt. Running that should make the speaker beep once.

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Reply 8 of 10, by chinny22

Posted on 2015-12-01, 14:10

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If it is the speaker which I'm going to guess it is, its a crap fix.
You can get a Piezo like below which most newer PC's have
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PC-Speaker-Mini-Pie … JoAAOSwpDdVLntZ

Purists will say they don't sound the same as a true speaker, I cant tell the difference.

Reply 9 of 10, by alexanrs

Posted on 2015-12-01, 14:15

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But... but... REAL PCs HAVE CONES!!!!! (can you tell I like speakers?)
Oh well, if its the speaker you can get either a piezo beeper or a decent speaker. Its not hard to find either of them. Or, instead of either of those, just get a sound card that has "PC Speaker" input pins (I know SB16/AWEs usually have those), then just use a cable (get one or make it yourself) to connect the speaker output of the motherboard to those pins and the soundcard will mix them to its output.

Reply 10 of 10, by dr_st

Posted on 2015-12-01, 14:54

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Some boards have a BUZZ1 spot where you can solder one of those Piezo speakers, and then you don't need to connect any wires anywhere. Probably not 486 boards though. 😀

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