No Sound? No Problem! - “Fixing the Audio on your PC”

Posted by ttblogger on 06/20 at 12:05 PM Permalink
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So you power up your Desktop PC and you get set to listen to some of your favorite MP3s while surfing the web when you suddenly realize that you have no sound. No Windows® start-up music, no clicks and chime, no nothing. In this Tech Tip we’ll take a step by step approach to try to get your sweet sounds working again. While the first few steps may seem basic, you’d be surprised how often “some relative” got into things and did “something” that messed up the sound.

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    Posted by Arif M Razvi  on  06/20  at  01:54 PM

  1. I switched Laptops after 2 year of problem free use of VoiP MJ. For some strange reason on my new Toshiba Satellite I can make/receive call using Headphones only. On Dell Latitude I was able to initiate/receive call on my regular phone.

    I have checked various Audio/Sound setting - nothing is disabled or turned off.

    1. Human Interface drivers are installed under
    Human Interface Devices

    2. Realtek High Definition Audio installed under
    Sounds, Video game Controller

    repeated attempts to open magicfix have failed.

    any guidance or help would be appreciated!

    Arif

    2. Posted by ROBERT HARKEY  on  06/20  at  02:18 PM

  2. The Windows sound system has always been one of my biggest gripes with computer operating systems.  At one time I did a lot of copying records and tapes to the hard drive for backup purposes.  I would get the recording levels and input/output devices all set and record a session.  Next day I would start a new session (after shutting down the machine overnight) and all the levels would have changed!!!  No other programs had been run or any other changes made which would have caused this but it invariably happened.  I would give anything to have a box sitting on my desktop with record and playback control knobs that would replace those software controls that now exist and can’t be relied upon.
    I’m 79 years old and have been in electronics most of my life but I haven’t found a way around this frustration.  If anyone has a manually controlled computer sound system, I would like to hear about it.
    Thanks.

    3. Posted by kevin whealton  on  06/20  at  02:27 PM

  3. You guys were right on time, getting ready to play a game and no sound, followed you steps and by step 6 for desktops I went to the sound in control panel for win 7 and switched it to speakers and bang we have sound.  Thanks you saved me so much time.

    4. Posted by MWRData  on  06/20  at  05:17 PM

  4. The article does not mention that the sound card may be defective and is in need of replacement or that non-working onboard sound circuitry can be fixed by adding a sound card, which can be a very cheap fix if you are not real particular.

    5. Posted by mike sanders  on  06/20  at  11:22 PM

  5. I did all of the above on a home built win 7 with a fantastic ASUS mo, 64 bit set up. no audio any output. loaded itunes and it worked great.

    6. Posted by RODNEY HOERLE  on  06/21  at  04:31 AM

  6. I have sound on my PC however, when I plug my headphones into my Logitech speaker system I am unable to control the volume with the volume control knob, it stay’s at one level.  Any suggestions?

    7. Posted by Greg  on  06/21  at  07:15 AM

  7. Before you do all this, check that your ears are still working.  Light a firecracker and place it next to your left ear.  If you can hear the sound, try the same thing with your right ear.  If you can hear it there, the problem is with the computer or speakers.  If you CAN’T hear the sound of the firecrackers, then start troubleshooting your head.  Check for wax buildup, and check to see if you’re actually still alive.  This procedure has saved me many times from needlessly tearing apart computer speakers to look for a broken wire.

    8. Posted by Steve Medley  on  06/21  at  12:58 PM

  8. One recent trouble call I resolved was an intermittent PC desktop audio problem where the audio device went missing in Windows XP. Sometimes reinstalling the drivers would work and other times no joy. The problem I found was that the audio cables were actually unseating the PCI card from it’s slot ever so slightly. Rerouting the spaghetti of wires to prevent the constant tugging fixed the problem once and for all wink

    9. Posted by yeni oyunlar  on  06/23  at  02:54 PM

  9. I went to the sound in control panel for win 7 and switched it to speakers and bang we have sound.  Thanks you saved me so much time.

    10. Posted by ridwan  on  06/25  at  09:09 PM

  10. different OS and computer have a different way to fix the problem

    11. Posted by Derek  on  06/27  at  05:03 AM

  11. I can’t tell you how many times clients complain that they can’t hear anything from their speakers and it’s because they have the sound muted within Windows.

    12. Posted by Arif M Razvi  on  06/28  at  02:41 PM

  12. thanks, I totally forgot about my post. Since then I have discovered the problem - no its not ear wax or muted sound. The solution was quite simple and (again) embarassing - replace the tel wire connecting USB with the phone set. These day you need to check everything coming out out the plastic pack.

    My problems are however not over. The connection with MajicJack server keeps dropping and sound quality is not good either. I can’t download any upgrades nor I am able to open MJ tech support sites. I’ve heard this is probably due to new the security restrictions implemented by MJ.

    thanks again to all who replied to the post,

    arif

    13. Posted by Bryan Lambert  on  07/06  at  01:53 PM

  13. Hi All, thanks for the feedback.

    1)VoIP phones are usually set up as their own audio device and you have to manually switch to it in the sound properties.  I also have observed that some VoIP drivers kind of “freak out” realtek chipsets for whatever reason.

    2) That may be a “feature”.  ADS Technology and others make specific products for helping facilitate audio recordings on a PC.  We have also carried products from Grace Digital Audio that customers in the past have been happy with.  http://www.gracedigitalaudio.com . Apple computers also have programs geared towards archiving tapes and records.

    4) I didn’t cover this possibility because in my personal experience I have found it very rare for the actual sound card to be defective. I also did not cover checking the BIOS to make sure that the audio in enabled theer for the same reason - I wanted to target solutions for the majority of sound issues I have dealt with in the past (by far, the biggest issues I have seen is the speakers muted in Windows followed by drivers issues and then by someone else having unplugged the speakers). 

    6) Double click on the speaker icon in the system tray and you “should” see all your volume controls. It may just be that the headphone output is controlled by a separate volume control.  Also if it is the headphone jack on the optical drive (rare these days), there may be a volume control directly on the drive.

    7) It may be best to actually place the fire crackers in the ear canels to not only test them but it’ll also clear out any ear wax at the same time (thouse there may be a slight charring side effect along with some slight ear deformation)

    14. Posted by ben  on  07/09  at  07:51 AM

  14. Nice tips..
    Thanks

    15. Posted by Marlon Rangel  on  03/15  at  12:03 PM

  15. I had an issue with my laptop where it would lose the sound out of the blue. I had windows XP and after checking for (drivers, possible viruses, making sure it wasn’t muted), finally realized that the wave sound of the volume control was all the way down. I turned it back up and I was able to fix it, but it still happened again a few times more after that. Eventually it stopped doing it and it fixed itself. I never could figure out what caused it. Any ideas?

    16. Page 1 of 1 pages

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