No Sound Coming From Your Computer
If your computer has gone completely silent, the fix is usually simpler than you think. Work through these checks before assuming anything is broken.
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Losing audio is frustrating, but in most cases the culprit is a setting rather than a hardware fault. Work through these steps in order and you will almost certainly restore sound without any specialist tools.
Start With the Obvious
Check the physical volume. If you use external speakers, confirm the power light is on and the volume knob is turned up. Plug in a pair of headphones to rule out a speaker fault — if you hear sound through the headphones, the speakers themselves are the problem, not Windows.
Check Windows Volume Settings
- Look at the speaker icon in the system tray (bottom-right). If it shows a red circle with an X, click it and drag the slider up.
- Right-click the speaker icon and choose Open Volume Mixer. Make sure the app you are trying to hear (browser, media player, etc.) is not muted or set to zero.
- Right-click the speaker icon again and select Sounds. On the Playback tab, check that the correct device is set as the default. If you see your speakers greyed out, right-click them and choose Enable.
Run the Audio Troubleshooter
Press Win + I to open Settings, then go to System > Troubleshoot > Other troubleshooters and run Playing Audio. Windows will often detect and fix the problem automatically.
Update or Reinstall the Audio Driver
Open Device Manager (right-click the Start button), expand Sound, video and game controllers, right-click your audio device, and choose Update driver. If that does not help, choose Uninstall device, restart your PC, and let Windows reinstall the driver fresh.
Check the Audio Service
Press Win + R, type services.msc, and press Enter. Find Windows Audio, double-click it, and confirm its status is Running and the startup type is Automatic. If it is stopped, click Start.
If none of the above works, ask us and we can dig deeper.
Frequently asked questions
Sound works through headphones but not my speakers — what is wrong?
Windows may have set the headphone jack as the default output device when you last plugged something in. Right-click the speaker icon, choose Sounds, go to the Playback tab, and set your speakers as the default. Also check that the speaker's own power and volume control are turned up.
My audio driver keeps disappearing after updates. How do I stop that?
This sometimes happens when Windows Update replaces a manufacturer driver with a generic one. Go to Device Manager, right-click the audio device, choose Properties, then Driver, and click 'Roll Back Driver' if available. You can also download the correct driver from your PC maker's support page and install it manually.
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