anyway long story short, ive tried different speaker systems / headphones, and the line in ports for headphones at the front, and on the soundcard at the bank - basically i get sound playing, but its INCREDIBLY QUIET
i mean, its so quiet that on max volume in everything (windows , using VLC etc) its barely audible, you have to have an ear right next to a speaker
im fairly computer literate, and im sure its nothing obvious im missing. Does anyone have any idea what could cause this problem ?