Audio Problems

[Dark Psion]

Last week, my audio on my computer started spiking, LOUD, then quiet, THEN LOUD and finally just quiet.

I checked all the wires and connections, I remembered my I still had my old HP speakers and they were just as quiet and then I remembered my System Suite has a hardware check option. All the audio checks failed and it suggested my sound card was bad.

So I got a new one and installed it tonight. Now the existing sound system in my Dell must be intrigrated because I could not see anything like a sound card where the plugs are on the back. I did have available space so I installed it and two of my speakers now work, the other two don't. The two that work are on the green plug, the two that don't are on the black plug. And yes, I did check to see that my audio is set for four speakers and set to the new system.

Now I noticed that the new sound card does have what appeared to be a male plug in the upper right corner. Was something supposed to plug in the sound card?

Also, while I do have sound now, it is nowhere as loud as it was, I could knock stuff off my desk by turning all the way up before.