Reasons for problems with sound on PC. Sound problems on a laptop: troubleshooting yourself

Good afternoon.

This article is based on personal experience, is a kind of collection of reasons why the computer may lose sound. Most of the reasons, by the way, can be easily eliminated yourself! To begin with, it should be distinguished that the sound may disappear for software and hardware reasons. For example, you can check the functionality of the speakers on another computer or audio/video equipment. If they are working and there is sound, then most likely there are questions about the software part of the computer (more on that in more detail).

So, let's get started...

6 reasons why there is no sound

1. Non-working speakers (cords often bend and break)

This is the first thing you need to do when setting up sound and speakers on your computer! And sometimes, you know, there are such incidents: you come to help a person solve a problem with sound, but it turns out he forgot about the wires...

In addition, you may have connected them to the wrong input. The fact is that the computer’s sound card has several outputs: for a microphone, for speakers (headphones). Typically, the microphone output is pink, and the speaker output is green. Pay attention to this! Also, here is a short article about, where this issue was discussed in more detail.

Rice. 1. Cord for connecting speakers.

Sometimes it happens that the inputs are very worn, and they just need to be slightly adjusted: taken out and reinserted. You can also clean your computer from dust at the same time.
Also pay attention to whether the speakers themselves are turned on. On the front of many devices you will notice a small LED that signals that the speakers are connected to the computer.

Rice. 2. These speakers are turned on because the green LED on the device is on.

By the way, if you turn up the volume in the speakers to maximum, you can hear a characteristic “hissing”. Pay attention to all this. Despite its simplicity, in most cases problems arise precisely with this...

2. Sound is turned down in settings

The second thing you need to do is check if everything is in order with the computer settings; perhaps in Windows the sound is programmatically turned down to minimum or disabled in the sound devices control panel. Perhaps, if it is simply turned down to minimum, there is sound - it plays very weakly and is simply not audible.

Let's show the setup using Windows 10 as an example (in Windows 7, 8 everything will be similar).

1) Open control Panel, then go to the section “ equipment and sounds«.

3) In your “sound” tab, audio devices (including speakers, headphones) connected to the computer should be displayed. Select the desired speakers and click on their properties (see Fig. 4).

4) In the first tab that will open in front of you (“general”) you need to look carefully at two things:

• - has the device been detected?, if not, you need drivers for it. If they are not there, use one of the utilities for, the utility will also recommend where to download the necessary driver;
• - look at the bottom of the window to see if the device is turned on. If not, be sure to turn it on.

5) Without closing the window, go to the “levels” masonry. Look at the volume level, it should be more than 80-90%. At least until you have sound, and then you can adjust (see Fig. 6).

Rice. 6. Volume levels

6) In the “Advanced” tab there is a special button for checking the sound - when you press it, a short melody should play (5-6 seconds). If you don't hear it, go to the next step, saving the settings.

Rice. 7. Sound check

7) By the way, you can go to “ control panel/hardware and sounds" and open " volume settings", as shown in Fig. 8.

Here we are interested in whether the sound is turned down to minimum. By the way, in this tab you can turn down the sound of even a certain type, for example, all that is heard in the Firefox browser.

8) And lastly.

In the lower right corner (next to the clock) there are also volume settings. Check whether the volume level is normal and whether the speaker is turned off, as in the picture below. If everything is fine, you can move on to step 3.

Rice. 10. Adjusting the volume on the computer.

Important! In addition to Windows settings, be sure to pay attention to the volume of the speakers themselves. Perhaps the regulator is set to minimum!

3. There is no driver for the sound card

Most often, problems arise on the computer with drivers for video and sound cards... That is why the third step to restore sound is to check the drivers. You may have already identified this problem in the previous step...

To determine if everything is okay with them, go to device Manager. To do this, open control Panel, then open the tab “ Equipment and sound" and then run device Manager. This is the most quick way(see Fig. 11).

In the device manager we are interested in the “ Sound, gaming and video devices". If you have sound card and it is connected: it should be displayed here.

1) If the device is displayed and there is a yellow (or red) exclamation mark next to it, it means the driver is not working correctly or is not installed at all. In this case, you need to download the required driver version. By the way, I like using the program - it will show not only the device model of your card, but also tell you where to download the necessary drivers for it.

A great way to update and check drivers is to use utilities to auto-update and search for drivers for any hardware on your PC:. I highly recommend it!

2) If there is a sound card, but Windows does not see it... Anything can happen here. It is possible that the device is faulty, or you have connected it poorly. I recommend that you first clean your computer from dust and blow out the slot if you do not have a built-in sound card. In general, in this case, the problem is most likely with the computer’s hardware (or that the device is turned off in the BIOS; see Bos a little lower in the article).

Rice. 12. Device Manager

It also makes sense to update your drivers or install drivers of a different version: older or newer. It often happens that developers are not able to provide for all possible computer configurations, and it is possible that some drivers on your system conflict with each other.

4. No codecs for audio/video

If you have sound when you turn on your computer (you can hear, for example, Windows greeting), and when you turn on any video (AVI, MP4, Divx, WMV, etc.) - the problem is either in the video player, or in the codecs, or in the file itself (it may be corrupted, try opening another video file).

1) If the problem is with the video player, I recommend that you install another one and try. For example, the player gives excellent results. It already has built-in codecs optimized for its operation, so it can open most video files.

2) If the problem is with codecs, I advise you to do two things. The first thing is to remove your old codecs from the system completely.

And second, install a full set of codecs - K-Lite Codec Pack. Firstly, this package has an excellent and fast media player Player, secondly, all the most popular codecs will be installed, which open all the most popular video and audio formats.

Article about K-Lite codecs Codec Pack and their correct installation:

By the way, it is important not only to install them, but to install them correctly, i.e. complete set. To do this, download the full set and during installation select the “Lots of Stuff” mode (more about this in the article about codecs - the link is just above).

Rice. 13. Setting up codecs

5. Incorrectly configured BIOS

If you have a built-in sound card, check your BIOS settings. If the sound device is turned off in the settings, then you are unlikely to be able to make it work in Windows. I'll be honest, usually this problem It is rare because By default in the BIOS settings the sound card is enabled.

To access these settings, press the F2 or Del button (depending on your PC) when you turn on the computer. If you can’t enter, try taking a closer look at the computer’s boot screen as soon as you turn it on. Usually there is always a button on it to enter the Bios.

For example, an ACER computer turns on - the DEL button is written at the bottom - to enter the Bios (see Fig. 14).

Rice. 14. Bios entry button

In Bios you need to look for a line containing the word " Integrated«.

Rice. 15. Integrated Peripherals

In the list you need to find your audio device and see if it is turned on. In Figure 16 (below) it is turned on; if you see “Disabled” opposite you, change it to “Enabled" or “Auto".

Rice. 16. Turn on AC97 Audio

After this, you can exit the BIOS and save the settings.

6. Viruses and adware

Where are we without viruses... Moreover, there are so many of them that it is unknown what they can even present.

First, pay attention to the operation of the computer as a whole. If frequent antivirus activations occur, the “brakes” are out of the blue. Perhaps you actually became infected with a virus, and more than one.

The best option would be to check your computer for viruses with some modern antivirus with updated databases. In one of the articles earlier, I cited the best at the beginning of 2016:

By the way, good results shows an antivirus, you don’t even need to install it. Just download and check.

Secondly, I recommend checking your computer using a flash drive (the so-called Live CD). For those who have never encountered this, I’ll say: it’s as if you are loading a ready-made operating system that has an antivirus from a CD (flash drive). By the way, you may get sound in it. If so, then most likely you have problems with Windows and may have to...

7. Restoring sound if all else fails

Here I will give some tips that may help you.

1) If you used to have sound, but now you don’t, you may have installed some programs or drivers that caused a hardware conflict. It makes sense to try this option.

2) If you have another sound card or other speakers, try connecting them to the computer and reinstalling the drivers for them (while removing from the system the drivers for the old devices that you disabled).

3) If all the previous points did not help, you can take the risk. Then install immediately sound drivers and if suddenly a sound appears, watch it carefully after each installed program. Most likely, you will immediately notice the culprit: a driver or program that previously conflicted...

4) Alternatively, connect headphones instead of speakers (speakers instead of headphones). It might be worth contacting a specialist...

Sound problems on a laptop can be caused by software or hardware reasons. As a rule, software problems can be easily eliminated at home. Hardware failure is often associated with mechanical damage to the equipment, so in the absence of special qualifications it is not always possible to repair the device.

Disabled playback device

Look at the volume indicator in the system tray (icons in the lower right corner). If there is a crossed out red circle next to the speaker icon, open the context menu and select “Playback devices”. Find your device and check its current status. If the name says “Disabled”, this is the reason why the sound disappeared. Right-click on the name and select the “Enable” option.

Advice! The desired device should be marked as the default in Windows. If this is not the case, change the settings via the context menu.

Incorrect Windows mixer settings

If there is no sound only in separate application(browser, player, game) check the parameters of the program itself. You may have accidentally pressed the music mute button or used a keyboard shortcut that causes it to mute. If everything is fine in the application settings, the audio may be muted in the Windows volume mixer.

To open the mixer, right-click on the speaker icon in the tray and select the first item in the context menu. The program in which the sound has disappeared must be open at this moment in order for it to appear in the list. The mixer allows you to adjust the volume level for each application using individual sliders. Check that the sound is on (the speaker icon is not crossed out) and set the required level.

Sound card driver problems

If the sound driver fails, restarting the laptop may help. The driver will be automatically launched the next time booting Windows. If this doesn't solve the problem, open Control Panel. Find and launch Device Manager. In the window that opens, expand the “Sound, gaming and video devices” category.

Click "Update Drivers" in the menu of the required device. In the next step, click on the “Automatic search” item. Programs required for correct operation hardware in the Windows operating system will be found on the laptop. If they are missing, the system will search for the required software on the Internet.

The driver can also be downloaded from the manufacturer's website. Since laptops usually do not have a separate sound card, use software For motherboard, which has a built-in sound module. The downloaded program is installed in manual mode, using a step-by-step wizard. When the driver update is complete, click Finish. Restart your computer for the changes to take effect. To do this, click the “Yes” button in the Windows dialog box that opens.

Incorrect audio output device selection

Sometimes the lack of sound is not due to technical problems, but with the banal carelessness of the user. For example, if headphones were previously connected to the laptop, and the next time the sound is turned on, the user expects to hear it through the built-in speaker of the laptop. Therefore, if you have any problems with playback, check to see if there are any third-party devices connected through which sound may be transmitted.

You should also pay attention to the volume level set in Windows. When using speakers, make sure they are connected to electrical network. Check the current position of the power switch and if it is off, turn it on. Set the volume to a sufficient level using the buttons on the remote control or the rotary knob on the back of the main speaker.

Important! In addition to adjusting the volume level, the speakers may also have other controls, for example to change the level low frequencies and balance between speakers. Change the position of only the control that controls the volume.

Problem with speakers or headphones

The most common causes of failure of external audio devices are voltage surges, equipment wear and cable damage. First of all, make sure that the problem is related to the playback device connected to the laptop. If possible, test the sound in Windows by connecting other headphones or speakers to the sound input.

To perform diagnostics, you can connect the speakers to another audio source - mobile phone, MP3 player. If there are no changes, the problem is caused precisely by hardware reasons - a malfunction of the device. Inspect the cable through which the connection is made. If it is damaged, repair it or use a different cord.

Problems with the audio jack

If the malfunctions persist when connecting other external devices, the cause of the breakdown may be the connector through which they are connected. Try changing the position of the plug in the socket. If the sound appears temporarily and then disappears again, the difficulties are caused by poor contact at the connection point.

The most common reason no sound - turn it off or set the volume to minimum. If there is no audio playing on your computer, hover over the speaker icon in the tray (right corner of the taskbar). The tooltip will indicate the current volume value. If the sound does not play in a separate application, check its settings. If it is enabled in the settings, audio playback in specific program may be limited in the mixer. To check, right-click on the speaker icon and select “Open Volume Mixer.” There you can turn on the sound and adjust the volume level for each program running on the computer.

Check the volume on the playback devices themselves: headphones or speakers. When using speakers, also make sure they are connected to power and the power button is in the active position. Checking speakers or headphones is quite easy. To do this, just connect any other device to the audio output instead of a computer: a smartphone, a player.

Important! Also check your speaker settings. To do this, go to “Playback devices”, and in context menu speakers or headphones, click “Properties”.

Incorrect operation of audio drivers

Another common reason why there may be no sound on a computer is missing or damaged audio drivers. To identify this issue, hover over the audio icon in the tray. If the message “No audio output device is installed” appears, the problem is caused by the audio drivers.

To resolve these difficulties, right-click on the same icon and select “Detect sound problems” from the context menu.

This will open a troubleshooting window. Wait while the audio diagnostics run on your computer. Depending on the speed of the device, the process can take from a few seconds to a couple of minutes. If the determination of the cause of the malfunction stops at one place, click “Cancel”.

When the sound diagnostics are completed, the system will offer you a choice on which device you want to troubleshoot. In this case, you need to note the device used based not on its type, but on the location of the audio input. For example, if your speakers are connected through the audio input on the front of your computer, check the second box even though it says headphones.

If there is a hardware fault, the diagnostic result will be the following window. It may indicate damage to the speakers or headphones, but most often the cause of difficulties in the operation of audio devices is broken or damaged connecting cables.

At the last step of sound diagnostics, the result of its execution will be displayed. If the problems are resolved, close the troubleshooter. If the diagnostics did not help, click “View additional features" You can also check out background information about the causes of malfunctions by clicking on the “View additional information” link.

Incorrect connection or installation of the device

The sound may not work due to incorrect connection or installation of sound devices. To resolve this issue, check that the correct input is selected to connect your device to your computer. Speakers or headphones may be connected to the microphone input, causing them to not work.

Go to “Control Panel -> Device Manager” and check the status in the “Sound, Game and Video Devices” menu. If a yellow mark with exclamation point, the cause of the problems is incorrect installation or device malfunctions

Pay attention! If your audio hardware is not showing up in the manager at all, update the configuration in the Actions menu.

Right-click on your audio hardware and select Properties, then go to the Driver tab in the window that opens. To update the configuration, click the "Update" button. Here you can remove the driver to reinstall it later.

In the next step, select where you want to search for sound drivers. Two options are offered: automatic search, which includes searching on your computer and the Internet, as well as a simple search for drivers. It is recommended to select the first option to detect drivers.

Important! If the sound card is outdated and its driver is on a separate disk, first copy it to your computer.

The scanning will take about 20-30 seconds, after which a message will be displayed in the search window indicating the successful installation of new audio drivers. If your device already has the latest driver installed available versions, the configuration will not be updated.

If updating the drivers did not bring the desired result and the device still does not work, it is recommended to remove it from the system. To do this, right-click on the name and select “Delete”. Confirm the deletion in the dialog box by clicking "OK".

After this, you need to update the list of equipment in the “Action” menu. A search will be performed for devices connected to the computer. If required device is not displayed after searching, restart the manager.

When the speakers are found, their installation will begin automatically. This process may take several minutes. When finished, a message will be displayed indicating that the speakers have been successfully connected and are ready to use.

Damage to connecting cables

Standard 3.5 mm connectors can fail as a result of mechanical damage. Typically, failure occurs at the base of the connector - at the junction with the audio cable. The break may also be in the cord itself. The cause of damage is most often pinched by furniture (table legs, chair wheels). The cable can also be chewed by pets. You can diagnose a breakdown visually or by connecting another cable to the speakers.

Physical breakdown of audio equipment

There may be no sound on your computer if the speakers or headphones you are using fail. This is not difficult to determine - just connect another audio device to the same audio input. If it works, the reason is the broken speakers, and not the computer settings.

Windows Audio Service Disabled

Another common reason for no sound is turning off Windows services Audio. This background process is responsible for processing audio data and is always running on a running computer by default. But when changes are made to the system parameters, incorrect parameters may be specified. Windows settings Audio. The service can also be disabled by malware.

One of the most common problems in a computer it is sound problem. Most often the sound simply disappears, but it also happens that instead of the usual pure sound we hear crackling or hissing from the speakers. It happens that when playing an audio file, the computer simply freezes. Let's try to consider a solution to this problem.

First you need to understand whether the problem is with the computer or with the speakers. To do this, we will connect to our speakers any audio device that you are 100% sure is functioning correctly. If the speakers are working properly, then we’ll move on to finding the problem in the computer.

1. Let's check whether the sound on the computer is turned on by opening the volume control on the taskbar.

2. Let's check the presence of an audio device driver; it happens that it crashes due to an OS failure.

A. Right-click on the My Computer shortcut and open Control. In the left column, find and open the device manager.

B. In the list of devices that opens, find the item “Sound, video and gaming devices”, open it and find our audio device.

IN. Open its properties and look at the device status line

If the device is not turned on, click turn on under the status bar. If the driver is not installed, then you need to install it from a disk or download it from the website of the manufacturer of your sound card. And then restart your computer.

3. If the device is not on the list, then most likely it has broken down and needs to be replaced, or it is a consequence of exposure to a virus. First, let's check your computer for viruses using the Dr. utility. Web Cureit. If it doesn’t find viruses, then we try to purchase a separate sound card or borrow it from a friend for testing. We install it into the computer and install the driver from the included disk. Then we check if the problem is resolved.

If after the manipulations sound doesn't matter doesn't work, then we recommend contacting.

Cost of our services

You come home, turn on your computer or laptop, and while it is loading, you make plans: now I’ll turn on music, surf the Internet for half an hour, and then watch a new movie. You launch the media player with your favorite tracks and... you discover that there is no sound on the computer.

What's up? Yesterday everything was fine, everything worked! It seems that nothing was installed and nothing was “chemically modified”, but there is still no sound in the speakers (or headphones).

Unfortunately, this happens quite often. On any computers and laptops. And on any operating systems– Windows 7, 8, 8.1, 10 or XP. No one is immune from this.

However, you don’t have to look for the cause of the problem blindly. After all, below are the most common problems that can cause sound loss on a PC. And 10 ways to solve them.

If the sound on your computer does not work, then first of all you need to check the speakers. You may have connected them incorrectly. There are 6 outputs on the back of the PC. You need green (this is what is intended for speakers/headphones) and pink (if there is a microphone).

You may have mixed up the outputs.

On the front panel system unit There may also be jacks for headphones and a microphone. And in some cases they are not color coded. Therefore, try connecting the connectors in a different order.

There are also cases where the inputs wear out. In this situation, they need to be corrected, i.e. disconnect and connect again. This might help. At the same time, it’s a good idea to clean your PC from dust.

Also check if the speakers are turned on. A small LED indicates that they are working.

Check your audio settings

The next thing to do is check your sound settings. It may be disabled or turned down to minimum.

Let's look at the setup using Windows 7 as an example (in Windows 8 and 10 it is done in a similar way):

1. Click Start – Control Panel – Hardware and Sound.

2. Select the “Sound” item.

3. All audio devices are displayed here. Choose specific device and click “Properties”.

4. In the new window you need to look at 2 things:

• Is the device detected? If not, then you need to install drivers
• is it enabled – if not, then enable it (select the appropriate item).

5. In the same window, go to another tab - “Levels”. Look at the volume scale - it is recommended to set it at 90-100% (at least for a while until sound appears, and then adjust it to suit you).

6. Next in the same window, go to the next tab - “Advanced”. When you press the “Check” button, music will play for about 5 seconds. If you don’t hear anything, then save the settings and go to step 7.

7. Go to “Hardware and Sounds” again and select “Volume Settings”.

Here you can see if the sound is turned down to minimum.

8. You can also check your audio settings. Click on the speaker icon in the lower right corner (where the time is displayed) and check the volume level.

No sound driver

The next step is to check the sound driver on your PC. Quite often problems arise precisely because of it. Yes, and you could have already discovered this malfunction in the 2nd point (when you looked to see if the audio device was detected in Windows).

To check for the presence of the driver, you need to go back to “Hardware and Sound” and select “Device Manager”.

In a new window you need to open the item “ Sound devices" If the sound card is connected correctly, it will be in the list.

If it is displayed, but a yellow or red sign is lit opposite it, it means that the driver is either not working correctly or is not installed at all. There are two ways to install the driver:

• from the disk that came with the PC (you need the disk for the motherboard);
• from the Internet (if there is no disk or you have a laptop).

If you don’t know what sound card you have, you can use the AIDA64 program - it will show not only its model, but also tell you the address from where to download the driver.

If there is a sound card, but Windows unknown reasons doesn’t see it, it’s hard to say what the problem is. The device may be poorly connected. Or completely faulty. It may also be related to the PC hardware.

There are no codecs on video/audio

If when loading Windows sound is present, but when you turn on any video file it is not there - then the reason lies in the video player, codecs or file (it may be damaged).

In the first case, you can install another video player. For example, one of the popular ones today is KMPlayer. Plus it already has built-in codecs for playing video files.

If the problem is with codecs, then you need to remove them and install new ones. It is recommended to use a set of codecs called K-Lite Codec Pack. Everything is here required codecs and even a built-in video player that opens almost any file.

Incorrect BIOS settings

This kind of problem is extremely rare, since usually the sound card is always on. But if you like to overclock your computer or change settings in the BIOS for other reasons, then you should check them. And restore the sound on the computer (if necessary).

To do this, you need to find the line that contains the word “Integrated”.

If everything is in order, then exit the BIOS (if you changed the settings, do not forget to save them).

Virus software and viruses

Another reason is virus software and viruses. Today there are so many of them that it is difficult to even say what “surprises” they can present.

The best option would be to scan your computer or laptop with any antivirus (don’t forget to update the database before doing this). It could be Kaspersky, Dr. Web, etc. For example, DrWeb CureIt is considered a good option (no need to install it).

Restoring sound on a computer

If there is still no sound on your PC or laptop, here are some more tips:

1. If just yesterday everything was fine, and today the sound disappeared, perhaps new drivers or some programs were installed that caused this problem. In such cases, you can try.
2. If there are other speakers, connect them to the PC and reinstall the drivers (remembering to remove the old ones).
3. If all else fails, you can go all-in and (don’t forget to save everything before doing this) important files, because they will be deleted). After installation, immediately install the sound drivers. If sound appears, then watch what software you are installing.
4. Another option is to connect headphones instead of speakers. Or vice versa.
5. And the last option is to contact a service center for help.

However, one of these methods should help. Therefore, if you lose sound, try different options– It is quite possible that we will be able to solve this problem on our own. In 95% of cases, this problem is solved on its own.