Just received a new computer and i have a couple of issues. One is that when i plug my amp into it it makes a god awfull screetching static sound, old computer doesnt do it so its definatley the computer and not the amp.
Second problem is that windows 7 doesnt fill the screen properly and text comes up very small. Webpages are either all on the left of the screen or in the middle with gaps on either side. Computer is plugged into a 32 inch sont tv. If you turn the resolution down the text gets a bit bigger but also a bit fuzzy and the webpages fill up a bit more of the screen but not much more. Always just worked fine with XP. Not sure if there is a secret setting somewhere i need to mess about with?

Windows 7 has issues with high-res screens and font/icon scaling. CTRL+Scroll to enlarge?

As for the sound – open the Sound control panel and make sure you have only the correct output selected. Having tried that I’d be thinking hardware issue. Does it work with headphones? Is it the headphone jack you’re using to take the sound to the TV, or HDMI?

Ill have to try the ctrl+scroll thing.
Its the headphone jack in the back of the computer, the middle, green one. And its going into an amp not into the tv. Plugged in headphones and got no static sounds. Its a new pc with the sound card built into the mother board if that makes any difference?

I’m guessing an impedance mismatch, if the amp input doesn’t load the headphone output enough the output might go a bit nuts [oscillation, feedback etc]. Turn the volume to max on the PC and Min on the amp and try bringing the volume up on the amp. Better signal/noise ratio?

Have a really good dig around in the Sound control panel: Try the Properties and Configure buttons, and then mess with the settings a bit [try to remember the original ones, natch].

Is there another headphone output [on the front, for example]

If you have an HDMI input and cable handy – try that.

If you could list the make and model of the machine that would be dandy, best of all if you could find the model of the sound ‘card’ that would also probably help:

[Through the search box:

Microsoft Windows users can determine their sound card by following the steps below.

Click the Start Button in the lower left-hand corner of your screen; or navigate to the Start Screen (Windows 8).

Locate the Search Box in the lower left-hand corner of the window that appears; Windows 8 users may just start typing.

Type dxdiag and press Enter.

You sound card is listed under one (usually the last) of the sound tabs at the top of the window.]

I’m a major audio geek, I feel your pain. Don’t worry, we’ll figure it out soon.

Best of luck I’m hitting the sack.

Cheers, amp doesnt have a HDMI as its fairly old (but good, its a pioneer a400)
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/261908207473?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
Thats a link to the computer, it has the details of the motherboard.
Ill boot it up again later and try and find out the specific soundcard. Using old computer at the mo as the sound is pretty unbearable from the new one.
Ive got the sound card from my old computer i could try putting in but im worried if i take the rear panel bit off to fit another card in then the guy wont accect it if i need to return it. Also its just annoying as its brand new and i should really need to be a. faffing around with it and b. fitting parts off my old computer just to get it to work properly!

I understand your frustration.

Firstly, you don’t need to open the machine to determine the sound card. I think it’s a Realtek chipset of some sort. The dxdiag command in italics should also return the name of the chipset.

Have you tried anything I suggested yet?

After that, It might be something else that’s plugged in that is causing the noise. So you could try adjusting the volume to a level where you can hear the noise but it’s not too loud and then unplug other items [eg wireless USB receiver, monitor/screen] one by one and see if disconnecting them fixes the issue?

Lastly, it’s true that if nothing you have plugged-in is causing it, then it’s probably just faulty and you can just get the seller to take it back.

Your scaling problems can be solved by going into the advanced graphics settings and enabling overscan. Not sure how to do it on NVIDIA or Intel chipsets but it’s fairly easy through trial and error in AMD Catalyst Control Centre if that’s what you’re running.

You’re scaling settings is likely the wrong resolution has been selected.

Right Click on Desktop and Select Display settings. Change the resolution to a different setting.

Drac, mine can be tempramental depending on whether I output via HDMI or DVI. Same TV, different results. Same output to different TV’s results in the same problem so it may not be a resolution problem so much as under/over scan.

TL:DR – buy a monitor and save yourself the grief 😉

Well the weird sound has stopped, not sure why. Seemed to stop after unplugging the lead, trying it in different sockets then put it back in the original socket i was using and it just stopped.
Changing the resolution doesnt sort the display problem. Trying to find the overscan option

Good news.
What resolution is the screen? How is it connected?

1920 x 1080
Its just connected with a normal vga cable.

If it’s VGA you’ll get blurring, it’s an old analogue connector that wasn’t designed for modern high-res signals.

*Goes to look at the PC’s spec*

What other inputs do you have on the TV?

http://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/FM2A55M-HD+/

Supports HDMI and DVI too. Can you use those for the video signal to the TV?

Bin that VGA cable and use HDMI or DVI.

Make sure the TV is in “native” mode rather than some random widescreen setting.

Jolly good point.

Ill get a hdmi cable and try it with that. Thanks for all the suggestions

Gonna dredge this up again as im getting bad noises coming trough my amp again. Even when the amp is not plugged directly (sound must be going through vga cable to tv then out of phono cable from tv to amp) into the computer im getting the noises. Ive tried installing a pci sound card and also tried a usb sound card but to no avail. Would a DAC cure it?

Err, VGA doesn’t carry audio signals..

Possibly a grounding issue. If its a laptop you can check this by unplugging the charger. If its a desktop try plugging all of the devices, tv,outer and amp into the mains extension

If either of those work then the solution is either a DI box or a usb soundcard with DI output

(ground loops don’t normally make screechy noises but its the only thing that makes any sense here so its what I would look at first)

Is there any reason why you can’t use the HDMI output from the PC to the TV?

Well its not really sound, its some sort of digital interference which comes out as sound, the vga cable is the only way the computer is linked (via tv) to the amp. Sound goes away if i unplug the vga cable. I tried using a hdmi cable but that also carried the interference. Ive tried plugging everything into ame extension and that doesnt seem to make a difference either….

Hang on.

You’re connecting the computer to the TV with a VGA cable, and an audio out from the TV to the amp, yes?

So… how’s the audio getting from the computer to the TV? Cos it sure as hell isn’t the VGA cable. There’s something else here you’re not telling us about.

In fact,

Why’s the TV involved in the audio at all? Why not connect the audio from PC directly to the amp?

Im currently not putting any audio from the pc to the amp as the interference is too loud. I was using a 3.5 jack to phono lead. All i was saying was that the interference is still getting through even though it is now not even plugged directly into the amp.

So it also makes the noise when plugging a laptop into the amp. But stops when you unplug laptop from the wall

Cured by disconnecting earth cable from amp

disconnecting earth cable

I’m not an electrician, nor an engineer but are you sure that’s a good thing to do ?

How well built is your PC – could the motherboard or something be touching the base of the case ?

Well i just tested it and it stopped the noise. Im not actually gonna use it for the mo, mates an electrician and hes gonna put a resistor in the plug which will apparently make it safe. Though as long as its plugged into the computer it will be earthed through that (apparently)