Can't hear a thing on my computer
 

And its not my hearing either. Sound gone inexplicably. Checked the device drivers and they have no yellow alerts. Tired to restore three times at different dates but
computer won't restore either. Any ideas or should I take up lip reading?

thanks for any help, appreciate it.

Hugheen

If I were you I would first have a quick look in the Sounds options, via Control Panel - Sound, or via the speaker icon in your system tray.

Make sure that your default audio output hasn't been changed without your realising it... for example my laptop has a choice of analogue or digital output and occasionally when messing around with audio software, I find that something has selected the digital output without my realising it.

I hesitate to say check the Mute option as well, but you never know.

Next I would see if I can narrow down the issue a bit ... i.e. is it all programs that fail to play sound? Try as many different ones as you can, e.g. browser, video player, audio player etc, even the preview button in the Sound Scheme tab.

If nothing at all seems able to play sound, then do you have alternative output sockets on your PC? Most have Headphones Out and Line Out, try them both and see if you can get anything. Also, do you have any metering software that you could use to check visually if sound is being produced?

Failing these, more info would be useful, e.g. what hardware and O/S you are using.

Have you recently used a registry cleaner or a so called "tune-up" or "tweak" tool? If so, sound loss is one of the possible side effects.

If you're using Windows 7, click on the speaker icon on bottom right, click on Mixer and increase the bar corresponding to any application (probably speakers?) you're using.

Thanks to all for efforts, still striking out, went through the entire Microsoft troubleshooter but to no avail. Will pray to the patron saint of computers whoever the hell that is.

Hugh

Hugheen, the first thing you need to do is narrow down the issue. Did you try connecting external speakers or headphones as suggested? The result of this test will immediately determine where next to look.

If you've done everything Microsoft suggests in No sound in Windows then you've covered the most common causes for system sound stopping. It sounds like you have but just check before looking at other possible causes.

Sound also fails from hardware problems, other software and more advanced audio settings. Here's some steps you can try:

• Check that the problem occurs for all codecs and players. Have you tried all the other playback programs that you've used recently e.g. music and video players? It was suggested so I presume that you have. Have you tried multiple audio formats: music files, video files, CDs, DVDs, BluRay, etc?.
• It is unusual for sound to step without a causative event so consider if there was anything different or unusual that you have done. So did you install, modify or uninstall any software before the sound stopped?
• It is possible that your disk data is corrupted or your computer hardware is damaged. Have you had any power cuts, brown outs, incomplete shutdowns, etc? Run memory test, disk check, and Windows system file checker. Check that there are no visible issues inside your PC such as loose or damaged wires or components, melted or burnt components, etc.
• Are you using a separate sound card or the sound feature integrated into your computer motherboard? If a separate card then first test it after removing it and reseating it. Then remove the sound card altogether and see if the integrated audio works.
• There are more advanced configuration features. For example, it is possible to capture audio output and send it to another program as input.

Are you using external or internal speakers? If internal, make sure the volume is not muted, do a sound test from windows control panel. If no sound, most likely hardware failure. If using external speakers, make sure they are connected, if they are make sure they have power. If they do unplug them and do a sound check to see if the PC speaker is working, if not you most likely have a hardware failure. Testing sound doesn't have to be complicated. Just test the devices involved using windows sounds. There is a chance of Windows being the issue, but highly unlikely. When it comes to trouble shooting, keep it simple and isolate the issue by process of elimination. Hope you get it worked out.