A Laptop Working Fine But Had Audio Problems. Model Asus: X556U
A college student brought his Asus laptop for repair and when testing it seems like it was working fine but the customer explained that the problem was the Audio; there was no sound coming out. He also explained that he sent this laptop to be checked by the computer technician assuming it was a software issue. That technician recommended me for the repair. Let us find out what is wrong, shall we?
The customer had this laptop for almost over a year and suddenly it had the sound issue. He also explained that he uses this laptop for gaming and most of the time he used loud audio when playing games.
It was very easy to take the top cover off and right away I could see inside this laptop and to my surprise; it was actually clean and nice. The fan had a little bit dust on it but it was spinning freely.
I headed directly to the speaker connections and checked the ohm reading there. The testing showed bad speakers there. Could it be just bad speakers? There is one way to find out. With the speakers disconnected, I plugged the output to external speaker system and checked for sound. The problem remained and no sound coming out whatsoever which led me to the audio IC just beneath that board that you see in the photo.
As I took the board off and right away I could see a tiny hole in the Audio IC. That answers the question of no audio issue.
This is a close up shot of the IC but I think it is out of focus but still the hole on the IC can be seen very clearly. The part number of this IC is ALC3236.
I contacted the customer about the situation. The speakers are bad and the main audio IC was bad as well. Since both going to expensive to replace I suggested the following: just replace the Audio IC and connect the audio out to an amplifier and that way you have very good audio. He agreed to that and based on that I replaced the IC for him.
Sorry I totally forgot to take a photo of the finished product but the computer was up and running and good audio was coming out of the line output. Mission Accomplished.
This article was prepared for you by Waleed Rishmawi, one of our ‘Master Authors’ and currently working in the Bethlehem area of Palestine repairing electrical and electronic equipment.
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Note: You can check his previous repair articles in the link below:
https://jestineyong.com/a-power-issue-with-a-massager-maintained-and-resolved/
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Albert van Bemmelen
November 7, 2020 at 5:40 pm
As long as they keep selling those (older) spare parts like the ALC3236 audio chip, repairs like these are still possible. Still getting those replacement speakers will be harder no doubt?
Yogesh Panchal
November 7, 2020 at 8:02 pm
Good job! Waleed,
In most of cases i have found diaphragm of speaker is gone bad due to atmospheric condition in our country. but in your case you are lucky to manage the audio chip available.
babums
November 7, 2020 at 9:39 pm
I have learned a good repair in laptop.Thank you very much for sharing article.
Henrique J. G. Ulbrich
November 7, 2020 at 11:12 pm
Fast and well done, Waleed. Thanks for sharing. Just a doubt: loudspeakers generally are not expensive. The maintenance final price wouldn´t be so high. Or perhaps the speakers installed on the laptop are special ones, obtainable only directly to the laptop manufacturer or authorized distributor.
Parasuraman S
November 9, 2020 at 4:28 pm
Well, a solution, well thought of!
Tito Kanshulu
November 13, 2020 at 1:55 pm
This is an interesting article Waleed. Thanks
Arthur
September 16, 2022 at 12:39 pm
Jestine,
This have been a very interesting post. I have a love and hate issue with my asus x556u laptop.
Due to the covid suitation ,children need to use the laptop for home base learning.
I thought it was just a simple audio speaker.
which i change the following
Speaker, no sound : change speaker.
storage : too slow : change 1t hdd to 512 ssd
External usb not working : change the USB axuillary board
Battery , change the battery as unable to hold charge.
I spend about USD $150 to recover the item.
In the end it work like a charm, for 8 months, until the lcd decide to show me her color. I believe the LCD is failing.
Warmest Regards
Arthur