Audio configuration

In the top right of the screen you should see a small speaker icon. This indicates the current ‘state’ of your sound configuration.

If there is a red line through the speaker icon:

• This means that either the sound system on your computer wasn’t auto-detected, or the sound card is simply muted. To check which of these is the case, click the right mouse button over the speaker icon and see if there is a tick next to the word mute. If there is not, then you need to start trouble shooting your sound setup – which is beyond the scope of this document at present. Assuming there is a tick, clicking on the word mute should remove the red line through the icon.

If there are no radial lines to the right of the speaker icon:

• The radial lines are designed to provide a pictorial representation of the current volume setting. If you left click on the speaker icon, a slider will appear which will allow you to control the current volume setting. Move the slider all the way to the top to set the volume to maximum.

Enabling desktop sounds

• Step 1 – Select Applications -> Desktop Preferences -> Sound from the menu (top left)
• Step 2 – Tick the boxes for Enable sound server at startup and Sounds for events You may find the second option distracting and as a result may wish to turn it off later, however it’s useful for testing and gaining familiarity.
• Step 3 – Click on the System Events tab
• Step 4 – Scroll down and look for the section titled System Events

TIP: this window can be enlarged by moving the mouse pointed over the bottom right hand corner of the window and (when the cursor shape changes to a two headed arrow) drag the corner of the window down and to the right)

• Step 5 – Highlight the line that says Error message (error.wav)

TIP: make sure your volume settings aren’t “too” high

• Step 6 – Click on the play button. If no sound is heard, try increasing the volume levels

If you still hear no sound:

• Step 7 – Right click on the speaker icon and select Open Volume control. This will list the available audio channels (it might be that the speaker icon volume slider is controlling the wrong channel)
• Step 8 – Check that none of the channels are muted (if they are, unmute them) and increase the volume levels for each channel
• Step 9 – Try clicking on the play button again. Assuming that you now hear some sound, you can establish which channel is providing the sound by muting each channel in turn and pressing the play button
• Step 10 – Right click on the speaker icon and select preferences
• Step 11 – Select the channel that’s generating your sound output and click Close. The speaker icon’s slider should now correctly control the volume.