[Blackmirror]

Not the edible one

To make my music louder
I used to tick a box and boom it was great

Soundcard the dreaded ac97 onboard
advanced is grey

[skaraphoid]

might be to do with your driver maybe.
try reinstalling your sound card driver, worked for me, i didn't really know the problem however but it seemed to be the solution.

Just a suggestion anyway
check that any settings or switches on your speakers are as they were, sometimes there is a bass boost on the speakers themselves etc.