Volume control knob change

[John Gray]

After leaving my PC for a couple of days, I come back to find that the physical volume control knob, which used to go all the way from _{very quiet} to VERY LOUD now only covers a comparatively small part of the possible audio volume range. I hadn't originally done anything with the various volume control sliders for the sound card, but even after having changed those the comparatively small range covered by the physical volume control knob still remains...

Has anyone any suggestions about how to return the functionality? Thanks!

[HansV]

What is the range now - from very quiet to only slightly less quiet, or from very loud to only slightly less loud, or somewhere in the middle?

[StuartR]

I have seen something similar when the speakers were accidentally plugged into the line out connector, instead of the speaker connector. Can you check that all the physical connections are correct.

[John Gray]

I've not changed any of the connections, and have checked that they are tight.

I can change the range by adjusting the Volume Control slider up or down, but wherever I put the slider, the physical volume control knob seems to cover only about ¼ of the original range.

Deeply puzzling...