I have an external speaker (USB2 device) on my Aspire 5 laptop, as the computer's laptop is so unloud and tinny-sounding.
It works fine when it works, but for some reason, the sound sometimes gets swapped back and forth to coming out of my external and internal speaker. It seems like it might be dependent on certain frequencies that will make it switch, or something in how the original audio was recorded, because often it will switch always at the same exact spots (not randomly).
Is there any way I can force the sound to always be played on the external speaker, and ignore the internal speaker altogether?
I implemented harrymc's suggestion, but it still (bizarrely) doesn't work. These are my settings:
UPDATE
I wrote too soon; the external speaker is going on random wildcat strikes still; since the internal speaker is disabled, it goes from external to silence rather than external to internal. So the problem is with the external speaker and/or the recordings. I say the latter because it's always in the same places in the recordings where the sound drops out.
Specifically, I'm playing along with recordings of songs (I'm playing along with the bass part with a different amplifier/not connected to my computer). So they are songs playing from websites (such as youtube and scottsbasslessons) that are "dropping out" in spots.
UPDATE 2
I replaced the external speaker with a pair of Logitech speakers. So far so good.