No sound on my acer laptop, what should I do? Let's figure out why the sound doesn't work. Hardware mute

On a laptop, you first need to diagnose the problem, determine why it happened, and fix it.

First, look at the tray icon (bottom right, near the clock). It will be in the form of a speaker. Once you open it, you will see the sound settings panel. In it, all channels of the device should be turned on, and the sliders should not be set to the minimum (but preferably to the maximum) value. If everything is fine with this, then move on to the next point.

If your PC has several sound cards, check whether the device to which your speakers are connected is currently active. To do this, go to the “Control Panel” through the “Start” button. Select “Sound, Speech and Audio Devices”, then “Sounds and Audio Devices”. In the “Audio” tab, in the “Default device” list, find the sound card you need.

Sometimes it happens that the sound on a laptop does not work due to a lack of codecs. Most often, with this cause of the problem, it appears only in video files. In this case (and audio too) will function normally. To fix this problem, install codecs. They can be found freely available on the Internet. They are installed by simply launching the file and clicking on the “Next” button.

When the sound on the laptop does not work, you should also check whether the drivers for the sound card are installed. To do this, go to “Properties” of the “My Computer” item, in the “Hardware” tab, click “Device Manager”. And in the list of installed equipment you need to find your audio card (section “Sound, video and gaming devices”). If it is not there, then the drivers are not installed for it.

To install software for a sound card, you need to visit its manufacturer's website. There you should download the driver specifically for your version of the device. Installing it is similar to installing codecs.

When the software and other device conflict, the sound on the laptop also does not work. To check this, go to “Device Manager” (how to do this is described above). If the sound card conflicts with another device, it will be marked with a red exclamation mark. If this is noticed, then you need to update its driver (how to do this is also described above).

And the last reason why the sound on a laptop or computer does not work may be a physically non-working sound card or speakers. Try connecting headphones or other speakers to your PC. Make sure they are in good working order. If there is sound from the connected speakers or headphones, it means there is sound on the laptop (those built into its case), and the sound card is working. In this case, they must be replaced at the service center. If there is no sound, most likely the sound card is faulty. Replacing it will cost more.

Since headphones have already been mentioned, we should describe another “problem” associated specifically with them. This word is in quotation marks because it is caused by user inattention. When the headphones on a laptop do not work, but the speakers function normally, most often the problem is in a small wire located on the wire, which is simply set to minimum.

All methods for diagnosing and troubleshooting the problem described above are suitable for both laptops and desktop computers. If they were unable to return sound to your computer, then it is best not to take unnecessary actions so as not to aggravate the situation, and contact a specialist.

On modern computers, a very common problem is that the sound on the laptop has disappeared. We’ll look further into what to do if this happens. In fact, there are not many reasons why this happens. Moreover, they are the same for different laptop models - HP, Lenovo, Acer and others. So, let's start with the simplest thing.

Settings failed

This problem is that for some reason the sound level is reduced to a minimum or completely turned off. Moreover, this may not affect the entire system as a whole, but only the browser or system sounds. There are a huge number of reasons for this phenomenon. The main one is carelessness - the user, due to inattention, can press the volume reduction buttons on his laptop. On the other hand, this could also be the work of some kind of malicious program, so checking the entire system using an antivirus would not be a bad idea.

As for solving this problem, everything is done extremely simply. Specifically, you need to do the following:

In the Quick Launch panel, right-click on the volume icon (highlighted in Figure 1 with a red frame). In the drop-down menu that opens, select “Open Volume Mixer” (highlighted in green).

After this, the window shown in Figure 2 opens. If we see a muted sound icon there (an example of this is highlighted in a red oval), we need to click on it, after which the sound will return to its normal state. In general, you need to raise the volume sliders (highlighted with a green frame).

As you can see, the volume mixer window displays all the sounds that are currently in the system. The first column is responsible for almost all sounds that come from the speakers. The second column is responsible for system sounds. These include the sound of a window closing, error sounds, and the like. Finally, other bars may appear depending on the programs running. For example, in Figure 2 there is a column with the Opera browser. It appears only if you watch a video in it or do some other operations in which the presence of sound effects is assumed. In the place where the browser appears in our example, there may be some kind of game or other program currently running. In general, the first thing to do when audio is missing is to open the mixer, move all the sliders up, and check to see if the audio icons are muted.

Driver failure

As you know, in order for hardware to communicate normally with software, drivers are needed. They serve as a kind of translator between these two important components of the computer. But drivers, like everything else in this world, are imperfect and can also break. In this case, we are talking about a device that is responsible for sending sound signals, that is, a sound card. It is its drivers that may stop working altogether or start working incorrectly. There may be several reasons for this phenomenon, the most important of which are as follows:

A virus gets onto your computer (again, we return to the fact that you need to check your laptop for viruses using an anti-virus program);
Incompatibility of installed programs;
Just some kind of glitch in the software;
The problem with updating is that the old driver has already been removed, but the new one has not yet been installed, and there is simply no one to service the sound.

As mentioned above, these are just the most common reasons. In fact, there can be quite a lot of them. But in this case (and this rarely happens when working with computers!) there is no need to look for a problem at all. The solution to the problem is to update the sound card drivers.

Driver update process

To update your sound card driver, you need to do the following:

Open the Start menu and find “Control Panel” there. Figure No. 3 is relevant for the Windows operating system. In other versions of Windows, this item may also be located in the Start menu, or maybe directly on the desktop or in other places. In any case, all versions of Windows have a search where we can enter the query “Control Panel” and easily find what we need.

Here in the search bar you should enter the query “Device Manager” (shown in red frame in Figure 4). You can also find it in the list that opens without any searches. In the resulting list, you must select “Update device drivers” (underlined in the same figure with a green line).

This will open the Device Manager. In it you should select the item “Sound, video and gaming devices” (underlined with a red line in Figure No. 5). This is very easy to do - click on the icon for opening a list of such devices (highlighted with a red oval). Next, a list of all available sound devices will open. By the name you can understand which of them are responsible for the sound - the word “Audio” will appear in the name. Although, to be on the safe side, it is better to update the drivers of all devices presented in this list. To do this, right-click on each device and select “Update drivers...” from the drop-down menu (circled in green).

Now we have two options available to us - automatically searching for drivers on the Internet or independently selecting a driver file. The second option assumes that we have already downloaded the driver for this device in advance or inserted a disk/flash drive with it into the computer. But in most cases, we still have to look for them on the Internet, so we choose the first option.

After this we will see the process of searching for the required program.

After this, the system will display a list of available drivers. The user will only have to select one of them by simply clicking on it with the left mouse button. Next, the installation process itself will begin. Although the system may display a message stating that “the drivers for this device do not need to be updated.” Then you just need to close the open update window and move on to another device.

Disabling the Windows Audio Service

The Windows operating system has such a simple system as Windows Audio. It, in fact, performs a very simple function - providing sound. In general, there are many similar systems in Windows, and then we will be able to see their entire list. In any case, Windows Audio may turn off, and the reasons for this are exactly the same as before - carelessness or inexperience of the user, the operation of virus programs, and so on. This problem can be solved very simply. To do this you need to do the following:

Press the Win+R key combination on your keyboard to launch the program execution window. In the window that appears, enter “services.msc” and press the Enter key on the keyboard or the “OK” button in the same window (highlighted with a red oval).

A window for all Windows services opens, including Windows Audio. Actually, we need to find it in all this diversity. Right-click on it and select “Run” from the drop-down menu.

Note: In Figure 9, the “Run” command is inactive, because the serviceWindows Audioworks fine. If there is no sound on the laptop and the “Run” command is inactive, then the problem is not with this service. Otherwise, it will be active and the service can be started.

Sound card turned off

Sometimes a phenomenon may occur that the sound card simply turns off and turns off. And the reasons for this are still the same, but most often it is disabled due to a software glitch. Without going into details, let's say that the solution to this problem is very simple - enable the sound card in the BIOS. The main difficulty is to enter this same BIOS at all. The main problem is the different login method on different brands of computers. We will look at how to enter BIOS on different brands of laptops later. Let's imagine that we have already gotten there. Now you need to understand what to do next.

And after we got into the BIOS, we need to find an item that is somehow related to sound. You can also recognize it by the word “Audio” in the name. In some cases, the title will include the word “Sound”. Examples of such names are as follows: Realtek Audio, Audio Controller, Onboard Sound, HDAudio. The latter can be seen in Figure No. 10.

Accordingly, you need to click on this item and select the “Enabled” option. In the above option, this option is already selected, but in the event of a breakdown in the sound card connection, another option will be selected. That's really all we need to do.

How to get into BIOS

In fact, how to get into the BIOS is already written in the boot screen. You can find an example below.

As you can see, it says that to start the installation you need to press the Delete button on the keyboard. It is also possible to press the F2 button. In general, all information on this matter can be found in the loading screen. To get into the BIOS, you need to press the indicated button until it loads into the BIOS.

Now the problem is that, again, depending on the laptop model, the interface can be completely different. This is what a classic AWARD BIOS looks like. The interface is very old, as it seems at first glance.

This is what an AMI BIOS looks like, which is also quite familiar to many at least somewhat advanced users.

Here is the most advanced interface that UEFI BIOS users can see today. In general, here the creators decided to move away from the canonical forms of AMI and AWARD.

What do we need to find in this most terrible BIOS for many users? Here we need a section that is responsible for the operation of built-in devices. Again, it will be called differently depending on the model. Example names: Advanced Features, Chipset or Intergrated Peripherals. In any case, you can understand from the meaning what this section is. For example, in the same AMI BIOS the corresponding menu item is located where the arrows point in Figure No. 15.

So we need to go there. And there we can already find those menu items that are shown in Figure No. 10.

Results

To summarize, we can say that there is definitely no need to panic if the sound on the laptop is lost. As you can see, there are very few possible reasons for this phenomenon, and the solutions are all very simple. By the way, if they don’t help, most likely the problem is in the sound card itself and it’s best to simply change it.

Advice: Do all the above steps twice just in case. The fact is that an inexperienced user may make some mistake when working with the BIOS and device manager.

The method associated with the device manager is clearly shown in the video below.

A fairly common situation is loss of sound on a personal computer or laptop. The article below will tell you how you can try to identify the problem yourself and solve it without involving any computer experts.

First, you need to determine why there is no sound on the computer. In most cases, the problems are as follows:

Problems with speakers or headphones - from a poorly connected wire to their breakdown;
Problems with the software - from incorrect settings to sound card drivers;
Sound card malfunction - in most cases, only repairs under warranty or repairs at your own expense in specialized service centers will help here;

Problems with speakers or headphones

The first thing to rule out is a malfunction of the sound output device. To begin with, it would be a good idea to check the wires - whether they are connected correctly and whether they are fully plugged into the connectors they need. The sound card connector into which you need to plug in speakers or headphones is usually green.

If everything is plugged in correctly, but there is still no sound, it would be a good idea to check the sound through some other speakers or headphones, thereby completely eliminating the possibility of a breakdown of the audio output device. If there is still no sound, then the problem is in the computer.

Problems with the software

It is quite possible that the system has some problems with the software - incorrect settings or “lost” drivers.

“Incorrect settings” means incorrect volume settings in the system.

In order to make sure that the sound settings are not at a minimum, you need to click on the sound icon in the tray (in the form of a speaker) and look at the position of the volume slider.

If the volume is set to 0, then this is equivalent to muting the sound in the system. In this case, you need to set the volume higher.

For various reasons, problems with drivers may occur on your computer - for example, due to viruses, or some kind of system failure. You can check the audio driver status as follows:

Reinstalling the driver

The very first thing you need to do is find the right driver. Most often, the easiest way will be to find it on the disk that came with the computer.

As an example, the photo shows the disk that came with the motherboard.

You can also download the required driver from the Internet; for this you need to know the model of your sound card. In most cases, it is built into the motherboard, so you can easily find the necessary information on the built-in sound card on the Internet.

Installing the Realtek sound card driver

In most modern computers, the sound card manufacturer is Realtek. You can download their sound card driver. To start downloading, you must first tick the “I accept to the above” box, and then click the “Next” button. Then, you will need to select the desired driver according to the bitness of the operating system (you can find out by opening “System Properties”).

For 32-bit (86-bit) operating systems Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows 10, you need to download drivers called " 32bits Vista, Windows7, Windows8, Windows8.1, Windows10 Driver only (Executable file)"
For 64-bit (64-bit) operating systems Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows 10, you need to download drivers called " 64bits Vista, Windows7, Windows8, Windows8.1, Windows10 Driver only (Executable file)"
For the Windows XP operating system, you need to download drivers called " Windows 2000, Windows XP/2003(32/64 bits) Driver only (Executable file)"

To load the selected driver, you must click on the "Global" button in the same line.

You need to run the downloaded file and follow the simplest instructions in Russian - in short, you just need to press the “Next” button all the time. At the end of the driver installation process, you will need to restart the computer, and then check whether the sound problems are resolved or not.

If all else fails

If checking audio output devices (speakers/headphones), checking volume settings and reinstalling the driver did not help, then it is quite possible that the problem is already at the hardware level. In any case, it would be a good idea to contact a service center, where they will carry out diagnostics and identify the problem.

If the sound does not work on a laptop, the reasons need to be looked for both in devices (built-in, external) and in the software and settings of the operating system. Using Windows 10 and an Asus laptop as an example, let’s look at why the sound stopped working and the main ways to solve the problem.

Adjusting the volume

If the sound on the laptop is quiet, we offer a banal solution - check the volume. On the ten it is adjusted with the slider in the lower right corner of the screen. In older versions of Windows, the slider is vertical.

To adjust the volume in detail, we will need an audio mixer. Right-click on the designated icon and go to the appropriate settings.

We see two controls here – speakers and system sounds. It may turn out that one or both of them are turned off and are indicated by a red crossed out circle. Click on it and turn it on.

Sound diagnostics in Windows 10

Often the problem is solved by the built-in wizard of the operating system. We also right-click on the volume icon and select “Troubleshoot sound problems.”

The service will start looking for problems on its own, checking devices and settings. Our master decided that turning off sound effects would increase the overall sound quality. Let's take his advice and open up more funds.

We immediately opened the necessary improvements section, where we put a tick in front of disabling all effects.

By the way, while we turned off the effects, the diagnostics continued. Windows Wizard found the problem (device sound is muted) and fixed it.

Testing playback devices

Right-click on the sound icon again and go to sound settings.

Scroll down and click on “Device and application volume settings.”

Here we are interested in which device the sound is played (output) through. Choose the right one. In our case, there is only one – built-in Realtek speakers.

If the output device is installed correctly, but the sound in the laptop still does not work, we will need the “Sound Control Panel”. We go back and go to the specified section.

In the pop-up window, the first section “Playback” is important to us, in which all sound devices are displayed. In our case, there is only one thing - standard built-in speakers. There are several. If the sound stops working, it may be going to the wrong device.

Incorrect device selection by the system is one of the possible reasons why the sound does not work after headphones or external speakers. After turning off the device, it is possible that the system does not automatically switch to internal speakers.

Let's check our built-in. Right-click and select “Set up speakers.”

Click on the green triangle “Check”. The sound should be played alternately from the left and right speakers. If there is no playback, we will solve the problem further.

Sound drivers

You can't do without checking and configuring drivers. According to statistics, more than half of the cases of sound problems are associated with incorrect operation of the sound driver.

Press the Win+Pause/Break key combination and go to Device Manager.

We are looking for the sound devices section. There may be several of them on the list, so you need to choose. We previously learned that our speakers are Realtek High Definition Audio. If there is a problem with the device driver, an icon with an exclamation point in a yellow triangle will usually appear on the left. We don't seem to have any problems, but we'll still try to update.

Right-click and select “Update Driver”.

If the service finds errors or current driver versions, it will offer to install them. Otherwise we will see the following message.

You can update the driver using the Driver Pack Solutions program. We wrote about it in detail in this.

After updating the driver, you must restart your computer. Reinstalling the driver also often helps when the sound button does not work.

Sound card in Bios

The sound card may be disabled in the Bios settings. In an Asus laptop, the BIOS is turned on by pressing the F2 key after rebooting the computer. For more information on how to enter the BIOS on an HP laptop, see. In Lenovo computers, the F2 key is also predominantly used.

We need the Advanced tab, in which we will see our device. The names may be different: High Definition Audio, Onboard Audio Function. If it is disabled (Disable), we need to enable it (Enable). Save and exit using the F10 key.

Not all motherboards display audio hardware in the BIOS settings. The case is quite rare, but worth a try.

Audio codecs

When the sound disappears when playing audio or video, and everything else is fine, the problem is almost 100% with the codecs. Their damage or outdated version leads to loss of sound when listening to music or watching movies or videos.

The K-Lite Codec Pack offers complete support for the necessary codecs. You can download them on the official site. The developer offers several packages - Basic, Standard, Full and Mega. We recommend downloading the basic or standard set, or at least the Full set. The Mega package is aimed more at audio specialists.

After clicking “Download” on the next tab, select a server. It doesn't matter which one. The download will start automatically.

It is better not to change the settings suggested during installation unless you understand it. Leave all the checkboxes as default, click “Next” and complete the installation.

After updating the codecs, problems with sound in audio or video should be resolved. If problems occur when playing in a browser, you may need to update Flash Player. We told you how. For other operating systems the process is identical.

External devices

A few more words about external sound devices. Before connecting, you need to check the integrity of the cables and the devices themselves. Test your speakers or headphones on another computer, tablet, or phone. Perhaps they do not work on their own and you need to contact service or buy new ones.

If problems with sound still remain, all that remains is to show your computer to a specialist. The sound card may have failed. Unfortunately, it will not be possible to replace it on a laptop. An alternative to buying a new laptop is buying an external audio card.

But most often, the methods listed above help, and the sound returns.

Today's post will be devoted directly to small mobile devices - laptops. Hello, dear readers of the temowind blog. Laptops have specific technological equipment and some unique problems that are practically not found on PCs.

However, if there is no sound on the laptop, what to do in this situation and where to dig? Most often, the problem is very trivial and can be solved using one of the classic troubleshooting methods (or simply the result of a user oversight). In this article, we will learn recommendations regarding what exactly causes loss of sound on a laptop and how to independently not only diagnose your mobile PC, but also get rid of such problems without contacting service.

There is no sound on the laptop - what to do and where to look first?

I recommend that you familiarize yourself with the list of problems and their solutions presented below. Most often, it is for these reasons that users lose sound on their laptop and those people who do not have experience in handling equipment often take it for repair. And, as practice shows, it’s completely in vain, since the problem can be minor and can be easily fixed on your own, and you will have to pay a decent amount of money to pay for repairs. So, the most likely causes of sound loss on a laptop and solutions to this problem:

Problem #1 - Very often the user accidentally presses the so-called “hot key” on the laptop keyboard, which is responsible for completely muting the sound. Such a key may be called “Mute” or something else, with a drawn icon of a crossed out horn or speaker. The solution is trivial - find this key and press it again, which activates the sound to the previous level;

If you can’t find the “Mute” key, and at random you get something completely strange, then you can turn on the sound from under the operating system. Notice the column icon in the lower left corner of the screen. Most likely, it will either be crossed out with a red cross, or drawn in white (although this does not necessarily mean the presence of sound). You need to click on this icon with the left mouse button and if the slider is at a low level, adjust it a little higher. In addition, in the technical documentation of the laptop or on the Internet, you can find a description of your laptop, in which you will find the meaning of all the laptop keys.

Problem No. 2 - Another reason why the sound on a laptop may disappear is a minor system glitch, due to which, for example, there will be sound in certain applications, but not in others. To fix this problem, find again our white column icon in the lower right, click on it with the right mouse button. A small menu will open in which you will be interested in the top item - “Volume Mixer”. We left-click on this mixer and get into a small window - all your programs and applications will be listed there with separate volume sliders. We adjust everything to maximum and try to see if the sound appears.

Problem #3 - The next common problem that causes the sound to disappear on a laptop is a failure in the system for setting up and maintaining drivers. Drivers are special software that allows the operating system to be friendly with the laptop hardware. Due to the fault of the left OS, or because of a crooked driver, on laptops the sound very often fails at the driver level. What can be done in such a situation and how to check it? There is a simple way - follow this path - “Start” - “Control Panel” - “Device Manager” and see what it shows you in the window that opens.

If the list of devices contains yellow exclamation marks or questions, then the drivers for this hardware are not installed or are working crookedly. Take a closer look at the item - Sound devices - most likely the problem will be found there. What to do with this and where to get drivers? There are two options - either download the driver for the sound card separately on the Internet (of course, from the official website, and not from somewhere else) in order to successfully update the drivers on your laptop.

You can also try updating the driver using the system. For the second solution, you will need to right-click on the problematic device and select the first top item - Update driver. The update program will start, which most often installs the driver yourself either from the files of your laptop, or downloads it from the Internet (it’s done differently on different operating systems - newer ones offer driver installation completely independently and do it almost offline). So, if the sound on the laptop suddenly disappears, what should you do in this case? Let's move on to the next point.

Problem No. 4 - Another problem that requires much more serious intervention - there was a powerful failure not only in the laptop system itself, but also in its internal control system - “BIOS”. You can find out more about BIOS in this article:

This is where all laptop devices are disconnected and connected at the software level. Checking a sound card in the BIOS is not difficult, and first you need to go into it. They enter the BIOS in different ways, it depends directly on the laptop model, but most often this is done while loading the operating system by pressing the F2 or F12 or DEL key.

Once in the laptop's BIOS, you need to use the arrows to switch to the top menu tab - “Advanced”. In it you should look for the item responsible for sound output. Most often this is “Audio Controlle” or “HD Audio Controller”. In it you need to pay attention to which option for the position of this controller is selected - “Enable” or “Disable”. The first is on, the second is off. Therefore, you and I are interested in the first one.
I must warn you that you should not go through other options in the BIOS and thoughtlessly switch them for experimental purposes - something else on the laptop may fail: the video card, RAM, hard drive and much more.

If you decide to go into the BIOS, then only go where I wrote to you. If you don’t find the “Audio Control” item, then it’s better not to experiment with similar settings and just exit back to the operating system. So we went into the BIOS, found the necessary items, enabled them if necessary, then saved all the set values before exiting the BIOS (in the above-mentioned article I described in detail how this is done).

Problem No. 5 - It also happens that the sound on the laptop disappears due to the disabled service of the built-in “Widows Audio” type. Naturally, you can check the status of this service and, if necessary, enable it yourself. To do this, in the “Start” menu, then in the “Run” line, type the name of the service and its extension, namely in English small letters “services.msc” (without quotes, of course). At the next stage, press “Enter” and after that we find ourselves in a window with a whole list of different services. In it, you and I need to find a service called “Windows Audio” and see its status there. If it is disabled, start it.

Problem No. 6 - If you still don’t know what to do, if there is no sound on your laptop and all of the above solutions did not help you, then you should go to the article below, which provides a number of other probable reasons for the disappearance of sound on your laptop or computer.

If none of the above solutions suddenly helped you, then it’s time to think about a mechanical malfunction of the device (the sound card has failed), or about its incorrect configuration in terms of the operating system and its content. All sorts of viruses can easily lead to loss of sound (and not only that), so as a bonus piece of advice I can only recommend that you use high-quality anti-virus software to be more confident in the security of your laptop.

So, to summarize, it should be said that all of the above problems are considered the most common reasons for the lack of sound on a laptop. Therefore, I have given you options for solving them.

But as practice shows, if there is no sound on the laptop, then the most likely reason for the loss of sound on the laptop is a simple oversight by the users themselves or faulty drivers. Almost all problems with sound on a laptop can be solved on your own. In fact, it is not at all difficult, even if you have no experience working with drivers or BIOS.

The only problem with sound on a laptop that may require third-party qualified intervention is mechanical. Namely: failed speakers, broken or melted cables, burnt out tracks on the printed circuit board responsible for the central audio processor, and much more.

But at the same time, of course, it is IMPORTANT for you to know and remember that it is not the gods who burn the pots, so if you carefully read what you are doing with the laptop and follow my recommendations in general, I am completely sure that you, dear friends, will probably have everything can be done easily.