PC audio does not work: what to do
If you experience audio malfunctions on your computer Windows, put into practice, one at a time and in the order in which they are listed, the suggestions that I am going to give you in the following sections of this chapter.
Check the connections
It was used external speakers o headphones, I advise you to check that the devices are connected to the computer correctly. It may seem obvious to you, but often the absence of audio coming from the PC can be caused precisely by an incorrect (or missing) connection with the speaker!
So if your speakers or headphones come with jack from 3.5 mm, check that they are inserted in the correct slot (marked with an icon in the shape of headset and sometimes of color green) and that they are on. If, on the other hand, the external speaker has an output USB, try to change the port and turn the audio device back on if necessary: the problem should be solved.
Finally, if you are using speakers, headphones or sound bars connected via Bluetooth, check that they are turned on (otherwise you do it) and that they are correctly paired with the computer: to do this, open theWindows 10 notification area, locate the "tile" relating to the Bluetooth and verify that, in its correspondence, there is the name of the connected audio device.
On previous editions of Windows, you can get a similar result by clicking on the Bluetooth, usually visible near the clock.
If the verification gives a negative result, a sign that the two devices are not correctly paired, proceed to carry out the pairing procedure again following the instructions I gave you in my guide on how to connect the Bluetooth headphones.
Check the system volume and applications
After making sure that the audio device is correctly connected to the computer - or if the internal speaker is giving you problems -, check that the system volume is high enough. To do this, click on thespeaker located near the clock and drag the volume control bar to the right or up to increase it.
If a small one is visible on the speaker icon x or the symbol of no access, it means that the volume of the computer is set to mute: to remedy the problem, reopen the Windows volume bar and click on thespeaker.
If, after carrying out the above checks, still Windows 10 PC audio does not work, you may need to adjust the audio volumes for individual applications, increasing them if necessary: to do this, starts sound playback from the application of your choice and, without interrupting it, open the Start menu Windows (the icon in the form of pennant resident in the lower left corner of the screen), then click on thegear, residing on the left side of the same.
From the new window that opens, reach the sections System e Audio, locate the box Advanced audio options and click on the wording App volume and device preferences, which is located a little further down. Finally, locate the name of the application that should play the sounds (eg. Google Chrome), check that the volume is sufficiently high (and not in a muted state) using the adjustment bar immediately below and check that in the drop-down menus output e Input the wording is present default.
If the problem is not resolved yet, click on the button Reset located at the bottom of the screen and check that the sounds are reproduced correctly.
Check your device
If the volumes are okay, the next step is to check that Windows plays the sounds through the correct device: generally, when two or more audio devices are connected, the operating system tends to use the one that was connected last.
In any case, to view the audio device in use and possibly set the correct one, proceed as follows: if you use Windows 10, click on thespeaker placed near the clock, press on down arrow corresponding to name of the audio device in use (eg. Speakers (High Definition Audio Device)) and click on name speakers or headphones to use from the menu Select playback device.
If, on the other hand, you use aprevious edition of the Microsoft operating system, you can select the device to use to play the sounds as follows: right click on the speaker icon, click on the item Playback devices located in the menu that appears, right click on name of the speaker you intend to use and choose the voice Set as default device, from the proposed context menu.
Reactivate the sound card
If you notice that the name of your sound card (or external device) does not appear among those selectable, it may have been inadvertently disabled. For reactivate the sound card su Windows 10, open the Settings Windows 10, by clicking on thegear present in the menu Home, open sections System e Audio and click on your voice Manage audio devices.
Once this is done, locate the name speaker to enable (should be in section disabled), click on it and press the button Enable, to activate it again. If necessary, repeat the procedure I indicated earlier to set it as a Windows playback device.
Be invece impieghi Windows 8.1 or Windows 7, right click on thespeaker located near the clock, then on the item Playback devices, resident in the contextual menu that appears, then identifies the name of the sound card to be reactivated (it should be marked with a black arrow and the wording disabled), right click on it and choose the item Enable, from the menu that appears.
If you don't see the disabled devices, right-click on a empty spot of the window that appears and selects the item Show disabled devices from the proposed context menu, to show them.
Update the audio drivers
How do you say? The audio is not completely absent, but does it have "clicks", "jumps" or, even worse, seconds of silence? In this case, you may need to update or reinstall the audio device drivers in use on your computer.
In most cases, Windows is able to recognize and make the best use of most compatible speakers, thanks to the drivers built into the operating system. However, the latter may not be updated to the latest version available: to check this, call the utility Device management by right clicking on the Start menu Windows 10, or by typing the words "device management" in the Start Screen / Start Menu of Windows 8.1 and Windows 7.
After a few moments, the Device Manager window should open on the desktop: when this happens, click on the symbol > resident next to the wording Input e output audio or Sound, video and game controllersindividual name of the audio device you are using (eg. Speakers (High Definition Audio Device)), right click on it and select the item Update Driver ..., from the menu that appears. To finish, click on the button Automatically searches for drivers and wait for Windows to detect the availability of new drivers and, if so, install them. However, this feature is not available in all versions of Windows.
In some cases, especially for external sound cards, you may need to download updated drivers from the manufacturer's website (avoid other sources or you may encounter the download of malicious software): after opening the latter, go to the page dedicated to support and downloadsselect il exact model of your sound card and find the driver package best suited to it. Finally, complete the download, start the file obtained and install it, following the instructions given to you; generally, at the end of the procedure, you may be asked to restart your computer.
If you have problems downloading and installing your sound card drivers, you can refer to the instructions I gave you in my tutorial dedicated to the topic, in which I explained, among other things, how to recognize the exact model of your device. .
Restart the audio service
You have completed all the steps I indicated above but, next to the Windows volume icon, a disturbing one continues to appear Red X? If so, the system service may be disabled.
Despite what it might seem, re-enabling it is very simple: to get started, open the Start menu, type the string services.msc in it and click on the first result that is returned to you (on Windows 10, the utility is called Services). In the next window, click on the tab Computer services (left) e Standard (bottom), locate the item Windows audio and double-click on it, in order to bring up the audio service properties screen.
At this point, make sure that in the drop-down menu Startup type the item is set Automatic (otherwise do it yourself), click on the button starts or Resume, to make the Windows sound operational again and then on the button OK, in order to confirm the changes applied. If necessary, restart your computer and check that the situation is back to normal.
Use the troubleshooter
If none of the previous solutions have been decisive, you just have to try to cope with the thing using the troubleshooter built into Windows.
To call it back, if you employ Windows 10, go to the menu Settings> System> Sound operating system, click on the button Solving problems resident in the section output and follow the instructions given to you, to detect and solve any residual problems; most of the time, you just have to click on the button NEXT.
Be invece impieghi Windows 8.1 or Windows 7, april il Control Panel using the appropriate icon in the Start menu or in the Start Screen, type the words "troubleshooting" in the search field located at the top right, click on the item Troubleshooting and then on the wording Troubleshoot audio playback issues.
Check the integrity of the hardware
If you have successfully applied all the steps that I pointed out to you in the course of this tutorial but the audio still does not work (or does not work correctly), then the problem you are experiencing could be traced back to a hardware problem speakers or headphones connected to the computer.
So, my advice is to try the same audio device on another PC, smartphone and tablet definitely working: if no sound is emitted, you may need to replace it. In this regard, I recommend that you read my purchase guides dedicated to PC speakers, PC headphones and Bluetooth headphones: I am sure they will come in handy.
Mac audio does not work: what to do
If you are having problems with yours instead Mac and you are using an external speaker, check that it is correctly connected to the computer via cable or Bluetooth, following the same instructions I gave you in one of the previous sections of this guide.
Next, check that the system volume is high enough: to do this, click on the i icon regulators residing on the right side of the menu bar on your Mac (next to the clock) and use the slider below the wording Sound, to adjust the audio volume (the “fuller” the bar is, the louder the volume is). If you don't see the audio adjustment bar, you can turn it on by going to System preference (the gear icon in the Dock bar) and then up Sound, by checking the box Show volume in the menu bar.
If you have multiple audio devices connected to your Mac, check that the output device is set correctly: to do this, click the icon again. regulators resident next to the clock, hover your mouse over the item Sound and click on the symbol > which, in the meantime, should appear on the screen. To finish, click on the name of the device you intend to use and, if necessary, use the control bar above it to increase its volume.
If you still have problems, you can try reset the PRAM / NVRAM and l 'SMC Mac: this is, respectively, a memory area used for saving some system settings and a physical chip that manages some low-level hardware functions. If you do not know how to complete these two procedures, I refer you to reading my tutorial on how to reset NVRAM, in which I have explained everything to you in great detail.
If, after applying all the software solutions, the problem does not go away, try connecting the speakers or headphones to another device that is known to work - if that device does not work either, you may need to replace the audio device. If you are having problems with the Mac's built-in speaker, consider purchasing external speakers / headphones, or contact Apple support for more precise information on what to do.
PC audio does not work: what to do
