This has been happening lately:

I will be running Itunes--sound is normal.

Then (I think this is the constant correlation) I plug my computer in. (I'm on a Dell Inspiron 8600)

Suddenly the sound will go bad--not off, but relaly fuzzy and quiet. it sounds a lot like the old fashioned PC speakers, with just a touch more clarity at high volumes.

Every check I can run seems to suggest it's functional.

Usually a restart or two helps but can anyone explain the cause? Is there a better method besides restarting that I can use?

Thanks!

Edit--after this happens ALL sound, not just itunes, takes on the same quality.

Hi Balonkey,

Have you tried installing your latest sound card drivers?

Also, instead of restarting, try to go to My Computer, Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Services, and see if restarting "Windows Audio" makes any difference.

I've seen this problem occur twice in the past. The first turned out to be an old C-Media (i believe) driver version (not sure if your sound card is C-Media?), and the second time turned out to be a faulty sound card. Both exibited the same symptoms and a restart would resolve both.

EDIT: Marked as Answered.

And now it stopped happening on its own. Thanks though, I will go through those steps if it comes up again.