Laptop plays everything half step too high

[Turxile]

Hi,
My laptop is playing everything half step high. For example, if the sound is supposed to be a C, it plays a C#.
To further test, I played some videos on youtube on my laptop and on my phone and played along; the phone plays in good tune.
I tested with good headphones, speakers, and the in-built speakers, the results are the same.
Just to make sure I also checked that my bass is in tune (checked with 3 tuners).
Is there any way to solve this without changing the laptop?

[rtslinger]

Wow really not sure? I am using Windows Media player and it does have a toolbar like this one maybe this is set wrong but I am not sure it would affect You Tube play back unless there is some setting on the sound card installed in your machine hope this helps

[kmqu601]

Could be a sound card issue, what kind of laptop is this?

[jgroh]

Its playing what sharp? A CD, MP3, YouTube videos? If its a CD, try ripping it to an MP3 as it may be playing the CD fast.

[ehque]

Some sound cards and sound card drivers have in-built transposers. I know my old computer had one, and it wasn't even a dedicated soundcard - just the driver for the motherboard-mounted one (read: cheap).

It would transpose everything from youtube to mp3s to avi. Check your system settings, if you are using windows.

[MonetBass]

Originally Posted by jgroh

Its playing what sharp? A CD, MP3, YouTube videos? If its a CD, try ripping it to an MP3 as it may be playing the CD fast.

Ha ha ha ha! That's the funniest thing I've read in a while.

If it were vinyl, that would make sense. But CDs are digital, and increasing the spin speed of the disc would not result in the pitch going up. Depending on the oversampling rate of the CD player or CD-ROM drive, it might result in the sound cutting in and out.

Definitely sounds like the sound card, possibly the driver. Make sure the driver is the most current available.

[Turxile]

Originally Posted by kmqu601

Could be a sound card issue, what kind of laptop is this?

It's quite a decent spec Acer Aspire Timeline X, with intel i5, 4GB DDR3 RAM, etc. I don't know what the sound card is though..

Originally Posted by jgroh

Its playing what sharp? A CD, MP3, YouTube videos? If its a CD, try ripping it to an MP3 as it may be playing the CD fast.

MP3s and youtube videos. I didn't try a CD yet, I will do, but I feel the result will be the same..

[Audiophage]

Well it's probably a sound card as the Windows Media Player thing wouldn't affect Youtube.

[Rockman]

UPDATE YOUR DRIVERS

[Turxile]

Originally Posted by MonetBass

Definitely sounds like the sound card, possibly the driver. Make sure the driver is the most current available.

Originally Posted by Rockman

UPDATE YOUR DRIVERS

I just updated the audio drivers, and it is all fine now.
Thank you all for your help, problem solved.

[MonetBass]

Originally Posted by Turxile

I just updated the audio drivers, and it is all fine now.
Thank you all for your help, problem solved.

Cool, glad you got it worked out.