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Computer Repair with Diagnostic Flowcharts
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Copyright 2012 by Morris Rosenthal
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Diagnostic Flowchart for Computer Sound and Speakers
Warning! You must unplug your ATX power supply from the wall before working inside the case.
Every PC comes built can make beeping sounds through a tiny annunciator on the motherboard, and the vast majority of PC's are equipped with with external speakers for playing music and games. The flowchart below for troubleshooting when there's no sound from the speakers is one of the seventeen hardware troubleshooting flowcharts from my published book, "Computer Repair with Diagnostic Flowcharts Revised Edition." You can reach the expanded text explanations from the book through the linked diamond shapes.
PC Sound Card Troubleshooting
Note that these steps correspond with decision points on the flowchart and are reached directly by clicking on the diamond symbols. The text below cannot be read sequentially.
Does any sound come from the PC or speakers besides a beep when you turn it on? The power-on beeps are independent of the computer's speakers, they come from a little piezoelectric annunciator on the motherboard that is only used for the POST (Power On Self Test) codes. Any sound you hear from the speakers, CD music, YouTube audio, a chime when you've got mail, means that your sound card and speakers are functioning, and it's a quality or volume problem. I deal with those issues on the troubleshooting flowchart for audio performance.
Is the operating system control for sound enabled? All Windows operating systems include a "Sounds" icon in Control Panel for defining how Windows should integrate sounds with operating system actions. The usual setup is to show a little speaker next to operating system events for which sound has been enabled. If only a few or none of these events are sound enabled, pick one you recognize, like "Device connect" which makes a sound when you plug in a USB device, and see if anything comes out of the speakers when you plug in a USB device. These Control Panel settings don't have anything to do with playing music CDs or listening to Internet audio, but it's a good place to start troubleshooting when you're not getting any sound at all.
Are your speakers connected to power through a transformer? The majority of PC speakers are independently powered and include their own amplification circuitry.These speakers will always include a volume control that can also turn off the amplifier and silence the speakers altogether. Some very old PC speakers were powered by battery, an ugly technological solution, but I haven't seen these for a very long time. And some manufactured PCs ship with unamplified speakers that are powered directly from the sound card which is usually integrated on the motherboard. They work (if the motherboard amplifier isn't blown) but they don't offer much in terms of amplification.
The very oldest sound cards used to have a volume dial mounted right on the card that you could work from the back of the case. If your PC is that old, just put the dial in the middle of its range of movement, to ensure it's not turned down all the way. Don't rush to call a tech who is going to laugh at you twice, once for your ancient PC and a second time for the volume dial being turned off.
Has the best and most recent software driver the sound card been installed? Search the web for the sound card manufacturer's site and see if there's an update for your sound card, because even if you bought it new, it may have been in stock at the retailer for many months (or years) before you purchased it. For brand name manufactured PCs which almost always integrate the sound card chipset on the motherboard, check the motherboard manufacturer website and see if they have an updated driver.
Did the sound card or the motherboard sound chipset show up in Device Manager? Even more importantly, if the audio hardware did show up in Device Manager, was it reported as working properly? Device Manager should be able to identify sound controller hardware by it's response even if no driver is installed. If Device Manager can't locate the sound card at all, make sure that it's seated properly in the PCI slot (if it's an add-in adapter) and that it's enabled in CMOS setup if it's on the motherboard..
If Device Manager sees a conflict between the resources required by the sound card and other PC hardware, check the resources for all the devices installed to find out where the conflict is being generated. New computers shouldn't have these problems because most devices today have their resources allocated by software, but some add in adapters may still hard wire an interrupt or the address space with jumpers. Try changing the resources allocation in Device Manager, and if that doesn't work, try pulling an add-in adapter to free up resource space and let the allocations reshuffle. Any time you see a "!," "?" or "i" in Device Manager for your audio hardware, move on to the flowchart for troubleshooting hardware conflicts.
Check the documentation for the sound card if the symbols stamped into the metal above the audio jacks aren't obvious to you or clearly color coded. If the speakers aren't plugged into the right jack, you can't expect them to work. Most new sound cards support some variety of surround sound, 5.1, 7.1, 8.1 audio, but always try to get the front speakers working first. The stereo audio jacks should all be plugged firmly into the corresponding ports, and the cables shouldn't display signs of having been pinched to the point of crushing. Of course, if you are running USB speakers, they bypass the standard sound system entirely, and will work as long as the right driver is installed and the USB hardware hasn't failed.
If you are troubleshooting USB speakers or a USB sound card (really an external sound system connected by USB), move the connection to a different USB port on your PC. The USB ports on the front of the PC case are always connected to the motherboard by wires, while the USB ports on the back of the PC are generally mounted directly on the motherboard in the I/O core. The USB ports can fail physically when something outside the PC jerks on a connected cord, like tripping over a connected printer or dropping a USB keyboard. Try your USB speakers on another computer or laptop. If you can get the USB sound to work on another system, you know that there's a problem with your USB ports or that the software isn't installed properly. Of course, it could also mean that you have the "muted" all sound in the software mixer on your PC and took a wrong turn in the troubleshooting flowchart.
Software volume settings are the main culprit when PC sound suddenly fails, and it can be tough for you to find the mixer controls if you've never used them yourself, but somebody else turned down the sound while working on your computer - perhaps so you wouldn't hear them playing video games all night! There are often multiple volume controls to go along with the main volume in the system tray at the bottom of the Windows Desktop. Some devices include their own mixer panel to allow you to disable other sound functions in the computer when using them, and if the software is poorly written, sound may appear to be enabled in one place and disabled in another. It's much less of a problem on new PCs, and almost unheard of with brand names, but if you've built your own PC with an add-in sound card, a DVD recorder, and installed recording and communications software that offers a lot of options, hunt through the sound controls for these to check for "mute" buttons being enabled or volume sliders being turned off.
Do you get all of the sounds you expect out of your PC except you can't hear music CDs? See the troubleshooting flowchart for CD and DVD playback if this is the case. A test you can do for your speakers and cables is simply moving them to any other sound producing device like a laptop or an old radio that has an unamplified speaker (line) jack. Any time you try using powered speakers on a different system, turn the volume control on the speakers and the stereo all the way down first, in case the audio output is actually amplified. If your speakers don't work anywhere, their internal amplifier or their power supply is blown or the cables have failed. You can try swapping the cables if they plug in at both ends, rather than being molded to the speakers. And if you have a multi-meter, you can measure the output of the power transformer and see if it matches the label.
If the sound card is only recognized by Device Manager after you remove every other add-in card except the video adapter, it means there's a hard wired conflict or an incompatibility between the sound card and one of the adapters that's been removed. If we're talking about a brand new sound card or a newly built PC, check the manufacturer's instructions for the exact procedure they wanted you to follow when installing the sound card. It may be that the software had to be installed before adding the sound card, or it could be the hardware was expected before the software was run. If this was done backwards, you must uninstall the audio software in Control Panel, shut down, do a clean reboot, shut down again and then start the installation process over again.
If you don't have an add-in sound card and the integrated motherboard sound controller is your only audio source (ie, no USB speakers), restart the PC and enter CMOS Setup to make sure the motherboard sound is enabled. If you have the motherboard documentation, you should also check that there isn't a jumper on the motherboard for disabling the built-in sound controller. But if you are using an add-in sound card, you absolutely have to disable and motherboard sound controllers before it will work properly. If you determine that your motherboard sound has failed, the easiest fix is to buy a pair of USB speakers. If you are looking for higher quality sound for gaming, a USB sound card that does 7.1 sound would probably be your choice. But if you play CDs or DVDs on your PC and you make the change to USB sound, those drives must support DAE (Digital Audio Extraction). USB sound won't be able to play analog music unless DAE is supported by the drives.
In the case where Windows won't register a sound card in Device Manager no matter what you try, strip every adapter except the video card out of the PC, shut down and reboot, and let Windows adjust to the minimal configuration. After you go through the reboot cycle and Windows stops reporting errors, shut down, install the sound card according to instructions, and give it another shot. If Device Manager still won't recognize the sound card, it's either incompatible with your motherboard or it's bad out of the box.
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