Boston Speaker System

[FalconFan]

can a Boston Digital BA735 speaker system from a gateway w/ windows 98, work with an HP Pavillion dv4000 labtop running windows xp 2nd Edition. If so how b/c it would keep me from having to buy bigger exterior speakers

[Aegis]

That shouldn't be a problem.  I take it that the speaker set has the 9 or 10 millimeter plug which plugs into the lime green sound card port on the computer?

[FalconFan]

yea, its lime green, the system is from my old comp. , i wanted to see if it would work on the lab top ive had for a few years

[FalconFan]

i hooked it up and it doesn't play anything, the only port to plug it in is the headphone port

[Aegis]

Give them a try!  They should work just fine!  I use external speakers on a laptop which I plug into the headphone jack.

If there's a volume control, you might turn that down before you plug in the speakers, just on the outside chance the volume is set really high, but there should be no problem in using that set of speakers.

[FalconFan]

not working it stops playing when i plug them in,  its a 3 speaker setup, 2 regular speaker w/ a small sub woofer speaker , would there be any special drivers i might have to install

[Aegis]

What color is the jack or port into which you're plugging the speakers?  Is it a lime green ring?  Or are there icons?  I sometimes plug the speakers into the microphone port which is right next to the headphone port on my laptop.

Is there more than one connector from the speakers, or just the one (lime green) plug?

As far as I'm aware, you shouldn't need any special drivers.

[FalconFan]

one lime green plugin, and yes it is in the headphone port, not microphone port

[FalconFan]

wouuld i by chance have to change the speaker settings or something

[FalconFan]

i have a soundmax digital audio card

[truenorth]

FalconFan, I assume these are powered speakers? Without them being powered you will not get the same degree of volume from a headphone jack as you would from a "speaker" jack. truenorth

[Aegis]

Good catch, truenorth, but I'm thinking he'd plug them in, just like with the other computer...I can think of no reason they shouldn't work -- unless there is a setting individual to that computer or sound card.

I know that as soon as I plug in headphones or speakers to the headphone jack, that immediately "overrides" the output to the built in laptop speakers.

[Gizmologist]

Simple check here guys. Any powered speaker system will work. Try this: turn on the speaker system and turn the volume down to about 9:00 on the control. lick a finger and touch the tip of the mini phone plug input cable. Should should hear a buzz. The harder you push, the louder the buzz. Do the same with the ring contact on the plug. If you hear a buzz, the speaker is working.

Plug in a set of headphones to the computer and call up Youtube of some recorded music.. If you hear audio, the output is working. The connect the speaker and computer. Voila! sound.

The speakers that connect via a stereo mini plug do not require special drivers etc. As long as the earphone output works, you will have sound.

[Quantos]

Check your audio control software, you may have to assign the jack as to whether it is line out or line in.  I have seen this before with some digital sound cards.