PC Lost Sound - Causes?

Factual Questions
1

MY PC lost its sound. The speakers are (a) not muted, (b) not disconnected from the PC, © not disconnected from each other, (d) not disconnected from their power source…

What could it be? How can I diagnose if (a) the speakers have been fried or (b) the jack into the motherboard may be bad? Anything I can check with a multimeter, perhaps? Or, some handy-dandy tool at Radio Shack?

  • Jinx
2

Well, simplest approach is to hook up another set of speakers - even plugging in some Walkman-style earplug headsets from the dollar store would do. If you get sound, use a multimeter to check the continuity of you speaker cables, as well as the resistance of the speakers themselves (8 ohms would be typical, 0 or infinity suggests a short or open).

The speakers are connected, but are they connected in the right place? If someone else (or even you) accidentally pulled the cable out and put it back in the wrong place without realizing it, that cold be your problem. I’d bet it’s something simple like that. Can you ask a friend to do a check for you? Fresh eyes might spot the problem.

3

I can almost promise you that it isn’t the speakers. They don’t fry in that way. As suggested above, make sure that the output connector is connected to the PC. If they are turned on as well, take a look in the sound control panel and report back again.

Here is a checklist:

  1. Check power to the speakers. Hopefully they have a light.
  2. Check the output connector wire for the PC. Check to make sure it is secure. There are several of these connectors that are close together. Try each one in case someone unplugged it and put it back in the wrong one. Remember the original in case this doesn’t work.
  3. Switch to PC issues. Are you sure the “Mute” check box isn’t check in the sound control panel? Check volume controls as well. While you are in there, experiment with different things and use the sound settings play buttons to help you diagnose the problem.
4

This happens to me about every couple of months. In my case it’s because the driver for the sound card has somehow gotten corrupted or deleted. All I need do is re-install the driver, restart, and it works. I keep a copy of the installer file on my hard disk for such purposes. Could be the same thing with you, perhaps.