W-10, lost left channel sound shortly after Upgrade from W-7

wbfjim said:

Hello all; I have a problem with the sound having lost the left channel shortly after upgrading from W-7. My W-10 Home
version is 2004, Build 1941.746. This happened many months ago, and I had given up on a fix, short of a complete re-installation. After all I have sound just no stereo. I have repeatedly tried every fix suggested on the internet, including, buying a new sound card just for W-10. After installation, exact same results. Because of great success as a newbie on this site with my first problem, I'm hoping I can have the same results from its knowledgeable followers. Thanks in advance for any help. Jim

Don’t know if you’ve tried a repair install be that’s what I’d try. It will let you keep all of your apps and data but you might loose some customizations. I would run a backup image or at least save all my data to another location.
Repair Install Windows 10 with an In-place Upgrade

wbfjim said:

I have repeatedly tried every fix suggested on the internet, including, buying a new sound card just for W-10.

If you could give us a list of actions you took that would minimize repeat suggestion. Have you tried head phone to see if you get sound from both sides? With the new card did you install it into the same PCIE slot? If so try another one. Check your balance settings. You have an ASRock MOBO, what model? Does It have onboard audio? Run DXDIAG from the RUN "Windows Key + R" command. Does it give any clues?

wbfjim said:

Thanks for your replies. I have hesitated to do a repair install, as I have too much customization that I would hate to duplicate
at this time. Headphones have only 1 side. I was replacing the onboard audio with the sound card. I have also tried a USB adapter, updated the Realtek drivers for the onboard audio, and borrowed a sound card that I personally heard operating both channels with a W-10 OS. All to no avail.

Well, if you used a known good sound card, and still don't have the left channel... I would assume it's a physical problem with the connector...or the head phones themselves.

wbfjim said:

Thanks for your replies. I have hesitated to do a repair install, as I have too much customization that I would hate to duplicate
at this time. Headphones have only 1 side. I was replacing the onboard audio with the sound card. I have also tried a USB adapter, updated the Realtek drivers for the onboard audio, and borrowed a sound card that I personally heard operating both channels with a W-10 OS. All to no avail.

Check the wiring on the speakers. Is the wiring direct to the speaker or plugged in? Do you have another sound system you can try or borrow from a friend? This would rule out the speaker.

wbfjim said:

Hello: Yes, I have hooked up the spare set of Bose that is on my wifes computer, same problem. I am reasonbly certain it isn't a hardware problem. I think I will do a complete reinstall. This install was the free one that installed over W-7, and I'v had a few little glitches that should not have happened with a clean install. I want to thank all who have tried to help me out.

Since you’ve decided to do a clean install anyway why not try a repair install and see what happens. It will probably take less than an hour and it might save you having to reinstall all you apps. You got nothing to lose at this point.