There is no sound on the laptop but I have headphones. Headphones on a laptop don't work: why do they have no sound? Let's understand the reasons
Good day.
This article, 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 you simply cannot hear it.
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! Besides 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 a 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:. Highly recommend!
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. First of all, this package has an excellent and fast player Media 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. full 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 get it to 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, antivirus shows good results; 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. Next, immediately install the sound drivers and if suddenly 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 can be a serious challenge for a laptop owner. But discard any stereotypes - in most cases, even a novice user can cope with this trouble. If you are wondering: “the sound on my laptop doesn’t work, what should I do?”, then this article is for you.
Regulator check
To immediately rule out one of the most basic sound problems, let's check the volume controls. Firstly, if the video is being played from the Internet, you need to click on the speaker icon and increase the volume. Then try the controls on the speakers. If this procedure does not help restore the sound, move on.
Important! When playing media files in a browser, one important point should be taken into account - sometimes the lack of sound may be due to outdated version flash player. We recommend updating it and trying again before moving on.
Correct connection of audio devices
You also need to make sure that the speakers and headphones are connected to the outputs correctly sound card. Usually the speakers are connected to the green output of the sound card. It is important to check the functionality of the speakers themselves, otherwise further steps to adjust the sound may be in vain. The easiest way to check is to connect the speakers to your phone as headphones and turn on music.
Audio parameters
Windows Audio Service
Let's try to find the reason for the lack of sound using the Windows Audio service:
Setting up sound in BIOS
To configure sound through the BIOS we need:
After this, the computer will reboot and start working with the new settings.
Possibly speakers
One of the main reasons for loss of sound may be the inoperability of the speakers - a bend or crease in the cord, connection to the wrong input.
In this case, we proceed as follows:
Attention! A common problem is that these inputs are worn out. Sometimes you may need to unwind system unit and correct them a little - take them out and reinsert them. It would also be a good idea to clean them of any dust that would interfere with the normal signal.
Don't forget to check whether the speakers are connected. This is usually indicated by an LED located on their front panel. We check the sound by increasing it to the maximum (in this case, a characteristic hiss should appear in the speakers).
Driver check
Driver malfunction is another common reason why sound on a laptop does not work.
Let's check it out:
Attention! To diagnose a sound device (and other PC components), you can use the Everest program, which not only indicates the model of your sound card, but also provides links to download the necessary drivers.
- download and install drivers, reboot the system.
If the sound card is not displayed in Windows, this may indicate a malfunction of the device or its incorrect connection. We recommend cleaning the PC from dust and, if the card is not built-in, blowing out its slot and reconnecting it.
You can also try installing a different version of the driver - older or newer. The reason for the lack of sound may be a driver conflict. In this case, installing a different version may help.
Sound card status
Checking the sound card has already been partially mentioned in previous paragraphs. Initially, you should think about how old the device is and whether it is possible for it to fail. If the board is fairly new, this is also not a guarantee of its performance.
Let's check its operation:
The sound on the laptop works, only through headphones
This behavior of the device is due to the peculiarity of laptops as such - they have an automatic switch that allows you to configure and switch between headphones and speakers. If the sound is only present in the headphones, there is a problem with it. In this case, you can try reinstalling the driver (we wrote about this procedure above). If the problem persists, we recommend contacting a specialist.
Video: No sound on laptop
Sound keys don't work
What should I do if the sound keys stop working? You can cope with this trouble yourself. On laptops, the sound (as well as screen brightness and wireless connection activation) is controlled by the FN key. If for some reason it stops working, only reinstalling the driver or special software can help.
Let's look at this process step by step:
- go to the manufacturer’s website and find your laptop model (or a model of the same series);
- find the support section and look at the utilities available for download;
- for example, for Asus laptops a similar program is called “ATK”;
- click on this name, select your version of the operating system and download the file;
- unzip it and start the installation;
- After finishing, we check the functionality of FN.
Important! To turn the sound on and off, use the FN-F10 combination. Using F11 and F12 it is adjusted.
We have reviewed the most common reasons why sound doesn't work on laptops. Following our simple instructions, you can deal with any problems yourself. If you encounter a case that does not fit into any of the categories we have considered, write about it using the comment form.
If the sound suddenly disappears from your headphones, this is often due to the lack of drivers or incorrect connection of the device itself. If the speaker, or rather one earphone, does not work, then this is much worse, since the breakdown occurs in the headset itself. We will talk about what to do and how to restore the sound in this article.
The reasons why there is no sound in headphones connected to a computer may be as follows:
Lack or outdated drivers
Perhaps the reason for the headset not working is precisely software. In this case, you need to look for a disk that has everything installation drivers. It usually comes with motherboard and it always has the required software. Installation is quite simple and does not involve difficulties, which makes this method the fastest and easiest.
After the drivers are installed, you need to restart the PC and it will begin to recognize them.
Another case is if the disk, as usually happens, is missing. In this situation we do the following:
After that, just connect the headset and continue to enjoy pleasant sound.
Diagnostics
The problems may be more common than you think. For example, if a headset is connected to the front panel jack, it may simply be disabled and therefore not work. Windows Sound Manager will help you fix this.
Its settings are no different different versions OS, including 7, 8 and 10.
Volume level
The most commonplace option is that the volume on the computer itself is set to the minimum level or completely turned off. To fix this you need:
After this, the sound will again be heard at the level you set yourself.
On a laptop
If your laptop does not reproduce sound through headphones, then the reasons are often identical to those above for desktop computers. You need to either update the drivers or enable it using the manager. But there are also several special cases related to the audio card or the specific functioning of the drivers.
The sound card has failed
It is extremely rare, but it happens that it breaks for one reason or another. In this situation, your sound will stop playing and all available connectors will stop working.
You can check its performance using one of several options presented in ours.
Specifics of the software operation
For example, if you turn off Asus laptop with headphones connected to it, remove them while the device is turned off, then after turning it on, the laptop may “think” that they are still in the socket, as a result of which the sound will not be played through the speakers.
There are two solutions to this problem:
- Insert and pull out the plug, after which the data will be updated.
- Remove the device auto-detection program from the system.
After these manipulations the problem will be solved.
On the front panel
If you have lost sound in the headphones connected to the front panel of the computer, then we are ready to offer several solutions to these problems:
Based on the problems found, you can solve them quickly and without any difficulties, regardless of what Windows you have, 7, 8 or 10.
Headphones not working
If the problem is still not resolved by the methods described above and the sound still disappears, then perhaps your headphones are simply broken or the connector itself is not working correctly.
As for the device itself, the reason could be this:
- One or two speakers at once do not work.
- The cord is broken or damaged.
In this situation, you should not repair them yourself, because you can only make things worse. It is better to take them to a specialist for the fastest and highest quality results.
As for the non-functional connector, it should also be checked. Checking the sound can be done by connecting a working headset, and if it still does not work, then restore it using a soldering iron or take it to a service center. Buying a new audio card is also possible, but this alone will cost more.
There can be several reasons why sound disappears on a laptop, and you can deal with some of them yourself at home. The reasons for the disappearance of sound can be divided into hardware and software.
Hardware problems include a malfunction of the sound card (repair will be required in a workshop), malfunction of speakers or headphones, failure of speakers on a laptop, malfunction of communications (plugs, connectors, cables, etc.).
TO software faults sound settings can be attributed to operating system, player, audio manager, driver update, etc.
Finding the reasons for the sound loss
If there is no sound on the laptop, what to do at home, what measures to take.
First . Checking notification area sound level. At the bottom right of the working window, next to the clock there is a speaker icon; by clicking on it with the left mouse button, you will see the volume level. Set it to maximum for now. Here you click on the mixer and look at the volume controls, and also look at the speaker icon to turn on the sound.
How to turn on sound on a laptop using keys. A laptop may have a mute button on its keyboard. Maybe the Mute mode (silence) is enabled via the keyboard, activated by the Fn key + the desired key. Press a couple of times and check the sound. The crossed out speaker should disappear from the screen.
You can adjust the volume (sound) level on a laptop by clicking on the speaker icon in the notification area (tray) and using the “Fn + speaker buttons” keys (usually these buttons are the same color as the Fn key). You need to press the Fn button and, without releasing it, press the volume up or down buttons several times.
If the sound on the laptop is quiet, then you need to check all the volume controls, both software and hardware.
Second. Check speakers. To do this, you need to connect an external device (headphones, active speakers, etc.), if the sound appears on external device, then you will need to replace the laptop speakers. The internal speakers on a laptop may fail when operating at maximum volume, and for this reason the speakers may begin to wheeze.
If you often used headphones and often inserted a plug into the jack, then the contacts could deteriorate over time. This is especially indicated when, when you connect headphones, the sound reproduction changes (appears, disappears, noise appears, etc.). You need to change the connector in your laptop, you need a specialist.
If the sound card is not working well, there may be interference, the sound may periodically disappear or the sound may disappear completely. It is impossible to change the integrated sound card; in this case, you can connect via USB external sound card.
Third . Check Audio Manager(separately installed program sound from the sound card manufacturer). It could be Realtek dispatcher High Definition Audio, which is usually located in the notification panel. If it is not there, then we can advise you to install the sound driver again, or update it.
Fourth. Check drivers. Go to Device Manager and find “Sound Devices”. If the device is disabled, then enable it. If there is a yellow exclamation mark next to the device, then you need to reinstall the driver.
device Manager
How to enter the device manager: point the mouse at the “computer” and right-click, select properties and then “device manager”. You can also click “Start” and “control panel”, in the window that opens, click “system” and there will be a “device manager” section.
In the manager, look for sound devices your sound card and right-click and select “update driver”. After updating the driver, it is advisable to reboot the system.
If, when updating the driver, the system itself did not find required driver, then it should be either on disk motherboard with all drivers or you can download it from the sound card manufacturer’s website, if the card is built-in, then from the laptop manufacturer’s website.
Sometimes you may need to reinstall the drivers, even if the system writes that they do not need updating and everything works fine, but there is no sound.
Fifth. Check Windows audio services.
Path to the audio service: “Control Panel → Administrative Tools → Services → Windows audio” - this service must be running. If this is not the case, then go to the properties of this service (right mouse button on the service name) and start it, and also set it to start automatically.
If the audio service is stopped again the next time you boot, you can manually add it to startup.
Sixth. For the built-in sound card you can check enable in BIOS.
We go into the BIOS and find the device item (advanced), find the item with the word audio, for example “High Definition Audio” and set it to “Enabled” (enabled) if it was “Disabled”.
You can enter the BIOS when you turn on or restart the laptop; you only need to periodically (every second) press the key that is indicated for each system separately. You can see the name of such a key when bootstrap, when the system itself writes that to enter the BIOS press such and such a key, such a message appears in the form of “Press F2 to Setup”. Instead of the F2 key there can be DEL, F10, F12. Having entered the BIOS, find the section “Devices Configuration”, or “Integrated Peripherals”, or “Onboard Devices Configuration”, or “Advanced”, and already there you need to find the settings for our sound; the name of the item may contain the word “Audio”. The “High Definition Audio” item, or another name of your card, should be Enabled.
1) If the sound disappears after installing programs or updates, then try do a system rollback for the time when the sound worked normally. If the sound is restored, then the problem may be in conflict with new program or updates.
2) If the sound in the laptop stops working and the system writes that the device is being used by another application, then you need to look in the tray (next to the clock) which applications are running. You can also look at the task manager running applications. Try turning off those that can use sound (players, record players, etc.). If you find applications that make sound when you turn them off, you need to remove them from autorun.
3) The sound on the laptop has disappeared, what should I do: if sleep mode laptop I switched with headphones, then the headphones were taken out and the laptop was brought out of sleep mode. And there is no sound. It helped: go into sleep mode again, but come out with the headphones inserted. That is, repeat the operation in the reverse order (put it into sleep mode without headphones, and wake it up with headphones). This can also happen when connecting other interfaces that use sound, such as HDMI.
4) If you right-click on the volume icon in the tray, you can see options for selecting playback devices. Choose playback devices and see if the device is selected to play sound. You need to select speakers to listen to sound on your laptop. If you connected, for example, via HDMI TV, then another device may be selected.
5) If there is no sound only on video or during playback separate files, then maybe there are no necessary codecs. You can download codecs and install, it's easy to do. Popular K-Lite-Codec codec set. You can download and install it.
6) Check if The sound disappeared only in one application or on some site, or there is no sound at all on the laptop when using any programs. Maybe on the website or in one of the applications the volume control is turned down to minimum, but in other applications everything works fine. For example, both YouTube and when listening to music on the VKontakte website have their own volume controls.
