It is rather unpleasant when, after turning on the computer again and loading the operating system, it becomes obvious that the sound does not work. Not only specific programs, but even the playback of musical compositions takes place in complete silence.
In addition, often this is accompanied by the fact that the sound does not work in browsers. To determine the malfunction, you have to perform a number of points.
Bit of theory
There are three types of sound cards - built-in, discrete and external. The first are chips of HD Audio codecs or obsolete AC97, which are part of the motherboard. This is a massive product, the sound of which is quite satisfied with most users. It is also the standard for laptops. The second are specialized expansion cards that are connected to the internal PCI or PCI-E connector of the motherboard. As a rule, high-quality and reliable solutions can be found in this group. And finally, there are external sound adapters plugged into a USB connector. Regardless of the execution, they all work on the same principle: a special program controls the operation of the card, receiving commands from the operating system. Accordingly, if the sound does not work, then the reason can be both hardware (physical malfunction) and software (driver failure).
From simple to complex
If the sound does not work, then you should not immediately disassemble the
system unit or uninstall the driver - it always succeeds. Very often, the reason is banal and is solved in two clicks of the mouse. First of all, you need to check the sound level, since some applications, instead of adjusting the volume only for themselves, change it for the entire system.
Near the clock in the lower right corner there is an image of the speaker. By clicking on it once with the left mouse button, you can check the status of the sound slider. It should be set at 50-80% of the total scale. There is also a Mixer link. It is useful to check her. For example, sometimes people complain that the sound does not work in the Opera, and all because the volume is set to zero for this application.
Next, you need to check whether the plug of the audio cable has dropped out of the card connector - sometimes it’s enough to shift the system unit a bit to make the sound go missing. It will be useful to check the status of the volume control on the speakers, headphones or amplifier. However, sometimes even this is inconclusive - the sound does not work.
In this case, you will have to delve into the settings of the operating system itself.
If the shortcut “Computer” is placed on the desktop, then everything is very simple, otherwise you will have to look for it in the “Start” menu. After calling the “Computer” properties, you must specify the “Management” link and select the first item for configuring services at the bottom of “Services and Applications”. In the list, you should find Windows Audio and specify an automatic start type for it.
Next, in the device manager (properties "Computer") you need to open the section of sound, video and game components and make sure that the sound card is present. Next, determine its type and download the driver from the developer's site. The name can be found using the AIDA64 program or read in the specifications for the board (for the built-in solution), card, device (discrete options). In the case of a laptop, you must install the driver from the disk, which is always given with the computer.
If this does not help, then you should make sure that the sound card is not prohibited in the BIOS of the motherboard.