I can't get sound from my computer, how can I check the problem?

Question

I can't get sound from my computer, how can I check the problem? ISo far as I can see nothing is disconnected.

Answer 1

Well the first thing to do is to check if your sound device is enabled, IF you have an onboard controller/chip for sound. To make sure it is enabled, go to the bios and check it there.

If ever you have installed a new sound card, make sure to disable the one onboard ( the one originally found on your motherboard) as there might be some conflict. After that you may also check if your dirvers for your sound card is installed. Go to "device manager" ( can be accessed from the "Control Panel" by double-clicking on "Systems" and then click on the "Hardware Tab" ) to check if everything is correctly installed.

You may also check if you have not muted your volume. To do so, go to "Control Panel" and enter the " Sounds and Audio Devices" icon. Under the "Volume Tab", uncheck the box next to mute(if ever it was checked).

Answer 2

If everything is connected, you should do following things:
First check under Control Panel-> sounds. The sound level marker should be above the zero and the "mute" option should not be checked.
If everything there is alright, check under Control Panel -> hardware for your sound card. You should see if there are any problems with it (maybe a conflict).
If everything shows ok, reinstall your sound card's drivers. don't use the ones on your cd, download a version from the manufacturer's site, it will be more recent. If it isn't enough, reinstall direct X, it made a sound problem for me once.
To rule out the possibility that something from the sound subsystem is defective, try exchanging your boxes, if it still doesn't work, exchange the sound card.
If all of this don't work, you need a specialist to see what's wrong.

Answer 3

First, check to make sure your speakers(if you have external) are powered on and the light is on. Then, make sure the volume knob is turned up a little. Secondly, if you have any programs(like windows media player) installed, check to make sure the volume in that program(while it's running) is turned up. Third, and last, double click your volume icon in the task bar located in the far right hand bottom part of your screen. When the master volume window pops up, uncheck all (mute) boxes, and make sure each category has the bar raised sufficiently to allow for sound. That should fix the problem as long as you checked all your cables to make sure everything is plugged in properly. Also, and as a precaution, if you just hooked up your pc or just moved it, check to make sure that you plugged the speaker cable into the correct speaker port either in the back or front of your computer. I have found that sometimes it won't work in the front of some computers, and did work in the back. That's another issue though, so good luck!-KB

Answer 4

If the soundcard comes with the computer motherboard, install the motherboard CD and it should come with the soundcard's driver.

To check whether your soundcard's driver is installed, you can do the following, assuming you are using XP:

Control Panel > System > Hardware > Add Hardware Wizard > Next > Yes I've Connected

Then check to see if your soundcard has already been installed. It should say "Something Something AUDIO." If that doesn't help you can check your motherboard company's website for latest driver updates.