Does your PC sound as if it has a head cold? Or has it gone completely mute? Sound problems are a common occurrence on many PCs. Fortunately, most of the problems can be tracked down and remedied with a little patience.
My Computer Is Silent
- Check all your power cords and connections. Are your speakers turned on?
- Are your speakers plugged into the correct ports on the back of your sound card?
- Plug a set of earphones into the headset or line–out jack on the back of your computer. If you hear sound, you know the problem is with your speakers or speaker cables.
- Check your speaker and subwoofer volume controls.
Check Windows' volume controls. Double–click the small speaker in the Windows system tray. Make sure none of the Mute boxes are checked and each of the Volume sliders is properly set (see Figure 1). If you are only getting sound from one speaker, check the Balance sliders above each Volume slider.
Figure 1: Check the Mute boxes and Volume sliders in Window' volume controls.
Check the volume settings in your application software. Most programs that use sound have their own volume settings that can override Windows and hardware settings (see Figure 2).
Figure 2: Check software applications like RealPlayer for volume controls.
- Make sure Windows is configured for the proper speakers. Go to Start | Control Panel | Sounds, Speech, And Audio Devices, select Sounds And Audio Devices, and select the Volume tab.
Under Speaker Settings, click the Advanced button, select the Speakers tab, and select the appropriate type of speakers from the Speaker Setup pull–down menu. Click Apply and then OK (see Figure 3).
Figure 3: Is Windows properly configured to use your speakers?
Use the Windows XP Sound Troubleshooter
The Windows XP Sound Troubleshooter Wizard only handles a few basic problems, but it is always worth a try.
- Go to Start | Help and Support. In the Search box, type troubleshooters.
Select Sound Troubleshooter from the list in the left–hand pane (see Figure 4).
Figure 4: Select Sound Troubleshooter from the list.
Select the problem that applies to you and click Next. The troubleshooter will walk you through the troubleshooting process (see Figure 5).
Figure 5: Select a problem and click Next.
