The sound on the computer is bad. How to connect speakers to a computer? There is no sound and what to do in this case? Problems with speakers or headphones

The disappearance of sound on a computer is an unpleasant, but completely solvable problem. After reading the information below, you will learn why the sound on your computer may disappear and what to do in such situations.

Hardware connection problems

First of all, check that the hardware connections of the speakers are correct. The recommendation is especially relevant for families with children and animals, who may accidentally pull out the plug. Make sure that the speakers are connected, the plug is seated tightly and does not dangle.

Check that the plug is inserted into the correct socket. As a rule, the speaker jack is light green, the microphone jack is pink, and the jack for recording from external equipment is blue. The diameter of each of these outlets is 3.5 mm, i.e. It is not difficult to insert a plug into an adjacent socket by mistake, but the sound, of course, will not work.

Problems with speakers

Is the plug in place? Make sure the speakers are working properly. To do this, connect them to any other device that can play music. Alternatively, you can connect any other headphones or speakers to the computer instead of the “silent” equipment.

Volume problems

A trivial, but quite common reason, occurring mainly among inexperienced users. Pay attention to the state of the corresponding icon. Click on it and set the appropriate volume.

Driver problems

After making sure that there are no hardware problems, check your computer for software glitches, primarily in relation to drivers. If there are no drivers or various kinds of problems arise with them, the sound settings icon will look like this. Click on the icon.

The troubleshooting menu will open.

Set the default speakers (if your computer is equipped with external speakers) and click “Next”.

After waiting a bit for the system to complete the required actions, click “Apply this fix.”

The system notifies you that the problem has been successfully resolved. Close the notification and check the sound.

The situation when the mentioned drivers are not included in the operating system by default occurs mainly when the computer is equipped with a rare sound card from a little-known manufacturer. In this case, you will have to install the drivers yourself, using the disk from the kit, a special program for automatically searching for drivers, or by going to the equipment manufacturer’s website.

Problems with BIOS settings

The sound may disappear due to the built-in sound card being disabled in the BIOS. To check, you need to go into the BIOS (on desktop computers, it is usually launched using the Delete key a couple of seconds after pressing the power button) and in the “Advanced” or “Integrated” section (may change depending on the BIOS version) check the status of the parameter "High Definition Audio". Your task is to set this parameter to Enable.

Problems with the Windows Audio service

The computer may be “silent” due to the mentioned service being in a deactivated state. In the Control Panel or through Search, find the Administration section.

Otherwise, you need to double-click on the Windows Audio service line and set it to automatic startup type. Having set the necessary parameters, click Apply.

Restoring sound through troubleshooting service

You can try to get rid of the problems that have arisen using a universal diagnostic tool. We find the “Troubleshooting” section through the Control Panel or through Search (depending on the OS version and personal preferences).

The system is trying to detect problems.

After some time, the service will tell you about the results of studying the state of the system. In the example under consideration, the sound disappeared due to a decrease in volume. To solve this, simply set the volume to the required level.

Sound card problems

If the above methods did not allow you to get rid of the problem, with a high degree of probability the problem is directly in the sound card. In such a situation, there will be no other choice but to buy a separately installed sound card or contact a repair service to replace the failed component.

The simplest and easiest to install option is an external sound card connected via a USB connector. Installing such a component does not require any special skills from the user and eliminates the need to contact a service center.

Respond in a timely manner to emerging problems, do not panic, act in accordance with proven recommendations and everything will definitely work out. Good luck!

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 the heck? 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.

The front panel of the system unit may also have headphone and microphone jacks. 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 can 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. Select a 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 “Test” 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, open the “Sound Devices” item. 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 next to 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 does not see it for unknown reasons, then it is difficult to say what the problem is. The device may be poorly connected. Or completely faulty. It may also be related to the PC hardware.

No codecs on video/audio

If there is sound when loading Windows, but there is no sound when you turn on any video file, 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. It has all the necessary 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 (don’t forget to save all important files before doing this, 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 very last option is to contact a service center for help.

However, one of these methods should help. Therefore, if you have lost sound, try different options - it is quite possible that you will be able to solve this problem yourself. In 95% of cases, this problem is solved on its own.

One day, when trying to watch a movie or listen to music, we may encounter the problem of no sound on the computer. In this case, you need to determine why there is no sound on the computer in order to eliminate this problem.

There may be no sound due to hardware or software reasons. The problem may lie in faulty components such as speakers, audio card, or in operating system settings or settings of certain programs. Sound loss can occur on any computer operating system.

Stages of problem solving

1. If there is no sound after turning on the computer, this may indicate a malfunction of the operating system. Restart your computer, this will update the operating system and restore sound.
2. If the sound is not restored after a reboot, you need to check the audio system connected to the computer. Check whether the audio system is connected to the power supply, as well as directly to the computer. Check to see if the plug is inserted into the correct connector. The sound card has a separate output for a microphone and for speakers (or headphones). Typically the microphone output is pink and the speaker output is green. If you mix them up, there will be no sound.
3. If you have an additional computer or laptop, you can try connecting an audio system to it and check it for correct operation. The same can be done by connecting an ordinary mp3 or CD player to the speakers.
4. On computers that have been in use for a long time, these connectors may wear out. Therefore, they should be adjusted a little, the audio system wires should be removed and reinserted.
5. Then you need to check whether the audio system itself is turned on. There is a power button on the audio system body that must be turned on. When turned on, the LED on the audio system lights up. After this, you should check the functionality of the volume knob.
6. If after checking the audio system the sound does not appear, you need to click on the speaker icon on the desktop. If it is crossed out, it means the sound is muted. You will need to click on the icon and adjust the volume.
7. If sound is heard on another computer, this means that the computer being tested may have problems with the audio card, or with the sound source program itself, or other problems.
8. The computer will need to be scanned for unknown devices. To do this, you will need to click on the “My Computer” icon, then “Properties”, the “Hardware” section, “Device Manager”, and select the “Sound, video and gaming devices” tab from the list. An exclamation mark may appear among audio devices. This may indicate that the device is unrecognized and there is a driver problem. The drivers could have crashed, which sometimes happens after a reboot. To fix this problem, the drivers corresponding to this audio card are reinstalled.
9. If the drivers are ok, this means there is a problem with the sound card. To check, it is recommended to test it on another computer. If it is damaged, then you need to buy a new sound card. If you have an audio card that worked initially, you can try installing it in a computer that has no sound. If the speakers produce sound, this may mean that the problem lies in a broken audio card that needs to be changed and installed on the computer.
10. In Windows XP, Windows 7 and Windows 8, you can perform a system restore. This is done to return system files and parameters to their original state. You can restore the previous restore point in this way: go to “Start”, then go to “All Programs”, section “Accessories”, section “System Tools” and click “System Restore”.
11. The problem of sound disappearing can also occur due to a software conflict. For example, the sound could disappear due to some new program installed on the computer. To do this, check the program settings; the sound may have been muted there initially. Or you may need a special software add-on from the Internet. Otherwise, it is recommended to remove it.

If you hear poor sound, crackling, wheezing, or interruptions in the sound signal from the computer, this indicates a breakdown of the hardware or sound card.

Instructions

Start looking for reasons for no sound on your computer by checking your sound card settings. Open Control Panel. This menu can be accessed by clicking the Start button and selecting the appropriate option. Now go to the Hardware and Sound menu. Click on the “Manage audio devices” link.

In the “Playback” tab, select “Speakers” by double-clicking on it with the left mouse button. Make sure the device is turned on and the volume is not turned down to 0%. Open Device Manager. To do this, go to the properties of the “Computer” menu and select the appropriate item. Expand the "Sound, Video and Game Devices" tab. In the expanded list, find the sound card installed in your computer.

Update your sound card driver. To do this, double-click with the left mouse button on the name of the desired device, go to the “Driver” tab and click “Update”. To begin, select “Automatic installation of drivers.” This method will help if suitable files are not currently installed for the device.

Otherwise, go to your sound card manufacturer's website. Find software designed for this device. Upload the files and install the downloaded software. Restart your computer and check for sound on your computer. If you cannot find a suitable program, search for the required drivers yourself.

Open the sound card properties in Device Manager. Select the Details tab. In the “Property” column, specify the “Hardware ID” parameter. Right-click on the first line in the “Value” column. Copy the highlighted information. Paste it into the search bar. Find the appropriate driver files and download them.

Open the “Driver” tab in the sound card properties again and click the “Update” button. Now select the “Browse this computer for driver software” option. Specify the path to the downloaded files. If they are presented as an archive, unzip all files first.

Replace the sound card if none of the above methods solve the problem. Most likely there is mechanical damage to the adapter. Certain motherboard models have a built-in sound card. Try it, having first disconnected the discrete board.

Almost every personal computer has a built-in speaker, and quite often an audio device is integrated onto the motherboard. But in order to get full sound reproduction, you can connect speakers. You can also use a microphone and headphones to record and play back clips. All of the listed devices are connected to the computer using special connectors located on the rear panel of the system unit.

Instructions

Microphone connector – connects a microphone, which allows users to record their own voice or any other sounds. Typically this port is highlighted in pink.

The Line In port is used to connect various external devices. For example, you can connect a VCR to play sound through the speakers.

A very common computer problem is malfunctioning sound devices. This can be caused by various factors, and in order to determine how to further fix the problem with the sound, you will need to find out which device the problem relates to.

You will need

• - additional playback device for checking speakers or headphones.

Instructions

Check that the speakers are working properly. To do this, connect their wires to another sound-reproducing device and turn it on. When doing this, make sure that the sound is not muted or set to the minimum volume level. You can also use connecting headphones to the sound card. If there are no playback problems, connect the speakers back to the computer's sound card.

Try checking that your audio playback software is working properly. To do this, turn on one of them on several players in turn. If possible, select not one, but several files of different extensions, since the problem may lie precisely in the recording format. Make sure the sound on your computer is turned on. To do this, double-click on the corresponding icon in the panel of programs running in the background and adjust the maximum volume level.

If the sound of devices and players is turned on and the speakers are working, try reinstalling the sound device driver. To do this, look at the model of your sound card in the hardware manager, download the updated software for it, install it, reboot the system and check the result.

If no changes have occurred, try to find out if the sound adapter is working properly by replacing it with another one or using the built-in one, if available on your motherboard.

Try installing an additional set of codecs on your computer to play multimedia files. For these purposes, the distribution package K-Lite codec Pack or similar is suitable. After installing them, try restarting the system and check if the sound playback problem goes away.

note

Be careful when identifying a sound problem.

Helpful advice

It is best to perform diagnostics at a service center before replacing equipment.

Sources:

• how to fix headphones

A monitor with built-in speakers takes up less desk space than separate speakers and a regular monitor. It is connected to the computer with two cables, one of which carries an image signal, and the other – a sound signal.

Instructions

Just as when connecting a regular monitor, make sure that its video signal interface matches the type of output of your computer's video card.

Turn off power to both the monitor and computer. Before turning off power to your computer, properly shut down the operating system on it.

Connect the video input of the monitor (VGA or DVI) to the corresponding output of the video card in the usual way, as if the monitor were without speakers.

Connect the cord supplied with the monitor to the audio input. On the opposite side, connect this cord to the output of the computer's sound card, intended for connecting speakers.

If you lost the audio cord that came with your monitor, make one yourself. The design of such a cord depends on what input jacks the monitor is equipped with. If it has two RCA input jacks, use two RCA plugs and one stereo headphone plug. Connect the common contacts of all plugs together. Connect the center pin of one RCA plug to one of the signal pins of the headphone plug, and connect the center pin of the other RCA plug to the other signal pin of the headphone plug. If the monitor has an input jack similar to the one installed on the sound card, purchase two stereo headphone plugs and simply connect their contacts of the same name to each other.

To adjust the volume on most monitors, use the arrow buttons on the front panel rather than using the knob like you do on speakers.

If your monitor has a jack on the front or side, you can plug in headphones if necessary. The method for adjusting the volume will not change. If desired, connect other speakers in the same way, and you can adjust their volume directly from the front panel of the monitor.

Video on the topic

A monitor with built-in speakers has low sound quality, but it saves space on the desk and frees up one socket in the extension cord. The sound signal to such a monitor is supplied through a separate cable.

Instructions

See if there is a second cable connecting the audio input of the monitor to the output of the computer's sound card. If it is there, but there is still no sound, first try to find a button on the front panel of the monitor with the symbol of a crossed out speaker. Click on it, after which either the LED above it will go out, or the speaker symbol will also appear on the screen, but not crossed out. This means the sound is now on. Pressing the button again will turn on the diode or the symbol of a crossed out speaker will appear - the sound is muted. Some monitors do not have a separate button for changing the speaker operating mode - this function is also available through the menu.

If the monitor is turned off from mute mode and you still can't hear anything, find the volume control. Even on monitors, where all adjustments are made electronically, such a regulator can be analog. Twist its handle and the sound should appear. If the knob is missing, look for arrow buttons on the front panel, between which there is a speaker designation, or try to find an item for adjusting the volume in the monitor menu.

We cannot exclude the possibility that the operating system mixer may be set incorrectly - but then there will be no sound even if you connect regular speakers to the sound card. Run the appropriate program (its name depends on what OS you are using) and check if

Good afternoon!

Folk wisdom: we often begin to appreciate the most banal things when we are deprived of them...

This is how it is with sound, while it is on the computer, it is not given due importance, but when there is no sound, it is a tragedy, because you will no longer watch a film or listen to music! In general, this can happen for a variety of reasons: for example, after reinstalling Windows, changing speakers, updating drivers, etc.

Actually, in this article I want to give all the most common reasons for the lack of sound, for each of them I will give a solution, screenshots (what to do and where to click ✔). In the vast majority of cases, the sound can be restored on your own, without the help of a specialist. (thanks to which you can save a pretty penny!).

So, let's get straight to the point...

Note!

If the sound on your PC is too quiet (that is, it is there, just weak!), I recommend that you first read this article:

All reasons for the lack of sound are given in author's order, depending on their "popularity".

Important!

Windows has a special wizard that can eliminate many of the reasons that disable normal sound. Therefore, before you deal with the problem yourself, I recommend running it at least once.

To do this, simply right-click on sound tray icon- and select "". Next, the wizard will launch - just follow its instructions.

A few words about audio connectors...

I would recommend starting the search for the reason for the lack of sound on the computer by checking the audio connectors (especially if you just bought a new PC, changed the speakers, disassembled the system unit, or did something else with the device).

In general, there are usually three audio connectors on classic system units:

1. input (in) – it is marked in blue. Used to connect a device that can transmit sound to a computer: TV tuner, player, etc.;
2. output (out) is usually green. Serves to output sound; speakers, headphones, etc. are connected to it;
3. microphone (pink or red). I think there is nothing to comment here...

I’ll also add that there can be 6 connectors (four-channel audio mode)! In this case, a subwoofer is connected to the orange port.

So, often many users in a hurry connect speakers to the wrong connector. Of course, if this is so, then there will be no sound! In addition, I provided a photo (see above) in which the connectors are clearly highlighted, but this is not the case on all PCs (it’s good if there is a barely noticeable engraving).

Regarding laptops(and in general, newer equipment): Please note that headset jacks are becoming more common these days. They differ in that both speakers (headphones) and a microphone are connected to one input.

marked special icon (headphones with microphone, see photo below).

I would like to note that if you connect regular headphones (or speakers) to the headset jack, most likely there will be no sound*!

If you have a similar connector, then there are two outputs:

• or use special headphones (supporting a headset jack);
• or purchase special adapter (sold in all computer stores).

To help!

What to do if you only have one input for headphones and microphone -

Incorrect sound settings in Windows

I can say from my experience that this is one of the most common reasons (along with the previous one), which causes sound to disappear in Windows. No matter how trivial it may be, I recommend starting to restore your computer’s functionality by checking the volume settings.

1) First, pay attention to the tray: next to the clock it shows sound icon (example - ). If you click on it, you can find out the volume level (and whether the sound is completely turned off!). Check this moment.

By the way, a good indicator is that when you increase the volume above ~50%, you will hear a characteristic hiss in the speakers or headphones. (Example below in the screenshot).

2) Secondly, check the settings in volume mixer on Windows. This is a special thing that allows you to adjust the sound in various applications: for example, you can completely turn down the sound in the browser, and raise the sound in the audio player to full volume! In some cases, you can’t go anywhere without it...

To open it, use the volume icon in the tray: just right-click on it, and then select from the menu that opens.

3) Incorrect audio device selected default. This is a very common reason for the lack of sound; it usually occurs after reinstalling Windows (after restoring it), after changing or connecting additional speakers or headphones. The fact is that Windows sends sound to a specific device, which is specified in the settings.

If the wrong device is specified– then you won’t hear the sound, because it simply won’t be filed against him (explained chaotically, but I think it’s clear).

To make sure and check whether the device is selected correctly, go to and open the " tab Sound" (first open the “Hardware and Sound” section, see screenshot below).

Next, please note: in your tab " Playback "There may be several audio devices. If you don’t know which one to choose, try each of them in turn (it is advisable to start playing some melody before doing this).

Bends in wires and plugs

This is a real scourge of many headphones and speakers (especially Chinese ones, which use very thin wires that break in any “breeze” 😡).

In any case, make sure that everything is in order with your speakers: the LED is on, when you turn up the volume, they begin to hiss slightly (I observed this effect in almost all speakers/speakers).

By the way, to double-check, the speakers can also be connected to another computer (laptop, TV).

Audio driver problem

Drivers are the boss of everything ✌! Without the correct driver, no device will work normally.

If your system does not have an audio driver (or it began to conflict, was deleted or damaged)– then your computer will become “dumb”. To check the driver's operation, you need to go to to device manager .

IN AWESOME!

Please note that you can also turn off the sound in the audio driver settings! An example is shown in the screenshot below. To find your sound driver settings, go to Windows control panel(in the "Equipment and Sound" section) , or use tray icon .

Windows Audio service does not work

Windows has dozens of all kinds of services: among them there is one that is responsible for sound - it is called Windows Audio. Actually, it's usually on (it may be turned off in cases of any failures, virus infection of the PC, if someone decided to make a joke on you, and when installing all kinds of Windows builds).

To check if it is enabled, press the button combination Win+R and enter services.msc, press Enter(example in the screenshot below).

• the service should be running ( status: running, see screenshot below);
• startup type should be set to " automatically". If this is not the case, correct the settings, save them, and restart your computer (laptop).

Checking Windows Audio Service / Clickable

No codecs installed

In certain cases, those responsible for the lack of sound may be codecs. I especially recommend paying attention to this if you lose image or sound when playing multimedia files (music, movies, videos, etc.).

It often happens that when watching a video: either there is sound, but no video (just a black screen), or there is a picture (video), but no sound (the second option, however, is less common).

Sound disabled in BIOS/UEFI

Note. BIOS is a set of firmware that allows Windows to interact with hardware.

In the BIOS settings (or its newer UEFI version) you can disable the sound card (of course, then there will be no sound on the PC). In general, it is usually enabled in the BIOS by default, and it can be disabled in extremely rare cases:

• when you accidentally turned it off yourself due to careless BIOS settings;
• when setting some default settings (some BIOS versions have special modes that allow you to squeeze out maximum performance - during their operation it is possible to disable additional devices);
• system failure...

To avoid repetition, I will cite a couple of articles here:

1. How to enter BIOS - . This is the first thing you need to do before changing BIOS settings.
2. Keys to enter BIOS (large table) -

You need to find additional settings in the BIOS: something like Advanced, Audio, Device, etc.. You can simply go through all the tabs one by one, looking into each one, but without changing anything.

The final goal is to find the line in which the audio is turned on/off (i.e. the sound card). It is called differently (depending on the BIOS version), for example, High Definition Audio, HD Audio Controller, etc.

Important so that the mode opposite the line with the audio controller is:

• Enabled– i.e. enabled, means the sound card is working;
• Auto– this means the card will be launched automatically, in auto mode.

If the sound card is in Disabled mode, it is turned off and inactive.

The sound card is included in the BIOS (Enabled!)

Important!

After you change the setting, do not forget to save the settings in the BIOS before restarting the PC. Usually this can be done using the button F10(Save and Exit - save and exit).

The virus has changed the volume settings

“Viruses can do anything,” say novice users!

Actually, not everything, but a lot. They can definitely turn off the sound (or ruin it). For example, they can corrupt driver files, causing a conflict and causing the sound to stop working (viruses can also corrupt audio and video codecs, as a result of which the video will stop playing normally).

Important!

Windows OS Recovery

In some cases, you can try to restore sound using the Windows recovery tool (if you have checkpoints). This will help if:

• you had sound a couple of days ago, and then you installed some program and it disappeared;
• updated the drivers, rebooted the PC and there was no sound;
• have been infected with viruses;
• accidentally deleted something or changed some settings in Windows, etc.

Those. It makes sense to use recovery if you have a software error!

Actions in order:

Sound card failure

In general, a sound card is a fairly reliable device. (by and large). At least, they fail much less often than video cards (if you don’t take into account unsuccessful models and low-quality Chinese copies).

A sound card becomes unusable most often due to:

• lightning strike (although only older people are afraid of this, it is true. Especially if your network is not grounded);
• welding: if your neighbor is a welder and often welds something, then you are not very lucky... The fact is that during welding there are sharp surges in electricity - this has a very detrimental effect on the equipment. Simple advice: purchase normal quality UPS (+ surge protector to remove network surges once and for all).
• low quality power supply.

How to find out if your sound card is burned out:

• if it burns in your presence, you will most likely smell a burning smell, and there may be a slight “smoke”;
• try opening the BIOS - if it is not detected there (and you do not see its name) - then this is a bad sign, and it usually indicates that the sound card is not connected or is faulty;
• You can also use it - if the dispatcher does not see the sound card at all, then there is a high probability that the card is faulty. This can be reliably confirmed/refuted at the service center (or if you connect the card to another PC).

Simple and fast solution

I should note that there are now inexpensive external sound cards on sale that connect to a USB port. They look like a flash drive, and some of them are comparable in size (or quite a bit larger). Such a sound card can be easily connected to any computer and laptop and get high quality sound (many of them produce better sound than the built-in sound card).

Additions in the comments are welcome...

The article will be updated as various sound problems are resolved.