No Sound Troubleshooter

No Sound Troubleshooter

DISCLAIMER: UpgradeNRepair (UNR), the owner, and any representatives of UpgradeNRepair (UNR) is not liable for any data loss or hardware failure because of the following procedure. The Information provided is a guide to assist the customer with an issue with their system or software. The procedures offered here may or may not harm your files. Even procedures that are not designed to harm files, can harm files, depending on the issue with the system. Because there is too many unknowns, UpgradeNRepair is unable to guarantee the safety of the files. Customer is responsible for their data and their actions. Before following the directions on this page and the pages these links are linked to, any data the customer does not want to loose will have to be saved. Saving the data is the sole responsibility of the customer. Some or all of the following procedures or information may not apply to your situation.

Safety precautions before opening system

To troubleshoot a no sound issue, follow the following steps

1. Check Device Manager for any bangs (Click the operating system for instructions)

Windows 95 Windows 98 Windows Me Windows 2000 Windows XP

2. Check to make sure volume is not muted and the volume is up. (Click the operating system for instructions)

Windows 95 Windows 98 Windows Me Windows 2000 Windows XP

3. Make sure your speakers are connected correctly. (sometimes people will mistaken the wrong connector on the sound card and this can cause no sound)

4. Make sure the speakers are turned on and the volume is up.

5. Try the speakers on a stereo to see if they work or try another set of speakers. (Do not try the headphone jack on the CD-ROM. Their is some computers that the headphone jack doesn't work on).

6. Make sure sound is selected in sound and multimedia

Windows 95 Windows 98 Windows Me Windows 2000 Windows XP

7. If you have no sound icon by the clock, click here for help with this issue.

8. Try limiting MSCONFIG (Click the operating system for instructions)

Windows 98 Windows Me Windows XP

9. You can try doing a System Restore

Windows Me Windows XP

10. Remove Multimedia from Add/Remove Programs in Control Panel (not available in Win2k and WinXP) (Click the operating system for instructions)

Windows 95 Windows 98 Windows Me

11. Go to sound Icon in Control panel and remove Audio Codecs. (Click the operating system for instructions)

Windows 95 Windows 98 Windows Me Windows 2000 Windows XP

12. Remove sound from Add/Remove Programs (Click the operating system for instructions)

Windows 95 Windows 98 Windows Me Windows 2000 Windows XP

13. Make sure sound devices are deleted in Device manager. If they are there then delete them. (Click the operating system for instructions)

Windows 95 Windows 98 Windows Me Windows 2000 Windows XP

14. Boot to Safe Mode

Windows 95 Windows 98 Windows Me Windows XP

15. When your in Safe Mode, see if there is any Ghost drivers in Device manager. (If there is, try to delete them. It may or may not let you delete them.)

Device Manager (This will open in a different window)

16. Boot to the BIOS. Try setting BIOS to default and clear NVRAM.

Click here for info on setting the BIOS.

17. Some motherboards will let you set it to Maintenance Mode. Please consult your manual or manufacturer on assistance on that procedure.

18. Reinstall sound card drivers.

Click here for instructions on installing Drivers.

19. Reseat the sound card in the computer.

Click here for instructions

20. Use the PCI card troubleshooter.

Click here for instructions

21. Try a modem or another PCI card you know works in the slot that the sound card was in.

Click here for instructions

22. Try removing all PCI cards except for the sound card. Sometimes another PCI card can conflict with another card.

23. If you have another system with a sound card, you can try that sound card on this system and try this sound card with that system.

24. If you have a CD that has Diagnostics on it (most manufacturers have diags on their disk. Contact the manufacturer for information on running the diags.) If you have sound running diags in DOS, your sound card works and it is a software issue.

25. Use Software Troubleshooter to troubleshoot your system.

Click here to use the Software Troubleshooter

26. If you have verified that all hardware is working, then it is a software issue. Try running a repair of Windows. (Click the operating system for instructions)

NOTE: This can harm your data. Safe any files you don't want to loose before following this step!

Windows XP

27. If you are still having trouble with the sound, you may want to contact the computer manufacturer or the manufacturer of the sound card. They have more information on the system or sound card than I would.

28. If you have tried everything and still have no sound, you may want to save your personal files and do a reinstall of the operating system. Click the links for instructions on reinstalling the OS. (Click the operating system for instructions)

Windows 95 Windows 98 Windows Me Windows 2000 Windows XP

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