Sound does not work on Windows 10, we can really solve it

Sound does not work on Windows 10

Good afternoon, dear blog readers, today we will again talk about our beloved, freshly baked operating system Windows 10. This time, the sound does not work on Windows 10 , and another jamb with this OS. Below we look at how to fix this and return the normal function that allows you to interact with multimedia content.

And before we had time to rejoice over the victory over the fact that Windows 10 does not print, a new problem was not long in coming; in general, such behavior, new items, is already annoying. Many users who finally updated to 10 caught the same bug that the sound did not work, for some it disappeared completely, and for others it did not work through the front jack on the computer, or the sound itself became very quiet.

Automatically fix problems with missing sound

In many cases, even with Windows 7, it helped to solve this problem by running a tool to automatically fix sound problems; in Windows 10 it remains the same. To do this, right-click on the speaker icon and select Detect sound problems, Windows 10 will check if everything is working correctly, if something is wrong, the system will fix it, in 50 percent of cases this helps. If after this you have no sound in Windows 10, move on to the list of actions.

Sound does not work on Windows 10-1

The Troubleshooting Wizard will launch.

Sound does not work on Windows 10-2

The wizard may ask you to check whether additional tools are disabled; to do this, click open

Sound does not work on Windows 10-3

Sound does not work on windows 10-4

To test, turn off all effects. In my case, the technician did not find any problems with the sound.

Sound does not work on Windows 10-5

How to restore sound?

First you need to find out the reason for the lack of sound. You can find out this in different ways, but first you need to try the simplest one. So, step-by-step sound restoration. Each step you take will bring you closer to the desired result.

1). Try restarting the computer; there is a possibility that the sound will appear at startup after restarting the operating system. This happens when drivers for a sound card are updated.

2). Check that the speaker plug is firmly inserted into the power outlet, if at all. Check whether the speakers themselves are connected to the computer and whether the plug is inserted well. If you find these problems, correct them.

3). Check the switch on the speakers, it may be in the “off” position. Turn on the speakers, turn the volume control to increase. If everything is in order, then the LED on the column where the regulator knob is installed (present on almost all models) should light up.

The speakers must be turned on - the power light on one of them must be on.

4). On the taskbar, find the speaker icon. It should not be crossed out. If it is turned off, then you just need to turn on the sound by clicking on the “Turn on sound” button.

If the desktop icon appears as disabled. You need to click on the speaker logo.

5). There, on the taskbar, check the set speaker level; it may well be that it is reduced to a minimum or to zero. If so, increase the volume by raising the slider to the desired level.

6). It is worth checking the speakers for performance using any other sound source. On your phone, player or other computer.

7). Check Device Manager for any unknown devices. Such devices are indicated by an exclamation mark.

Open “Device Manager” like this: Start -> Control Panel -> System and Security. In the “System” section, find the inscription “Device Manager”. All devices displayed there must be recognized, i.e. There should be no exclamation point icons. An icon with an exclamation point indicates that the device is not working correctly; you need to install drivers for it. If such an icon is on the sound device, then you need to fix it.

The reason for the lack of sound can be found in the task manager.

8). Install all required drivers for your sound card. The sound processor can be installed on a separate sound card or built into the motherboard. Download the necessary drivers for the sound card from the manufacturer’s website and install them.

9). Try installing another sound card into the system unit, one that is known to work, for example, from another computer that has sound. You can ask your friends. If after these steps the problem is solved, you will have to buy a new sound card for your computer.

10). Try using System Restore to return your computer to its previous operating system state. “System Restore” in Windows is located in the “Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> System Restore” menu. This can help if the sound has disappeared after installing some third-party program by returning the system to the state before installing that program.

eleven). All that remains is to try reinstalling the operating system. And first of all, install the drivers for the sound card, naturally after installing the drivers for the computer’s motherboard. There may have been a hardware conflict. If the sound appears, you can continue installing programs and applications.

The sound can disappear at the most unexpected moment. This could be either a software conflict or a hardware conflict.

12). If none of the above helped and there is still no sound on the computer, then there is only one option left - contact a specialist or take the computer to a service workshop.

Before you do anything if there is no sound or its quality is poor, remember what you did, for example, yesterday, when there was still sound on the computer. What additional programs have you installed? Surely the problem will be solved if you remove this program. Or maybe you deleted some necessary file from your computer. If you have not installed anything, then try the 12 steps described above to fix no sound. Surely something suggested will help you.

You can also use the Help and Support section in the Start menu.

The Help and Support section -> Music and Sound can help you find and fix the reason for the lack of sound.

If the sound is wheezing, or quiet, or something else is wrong with it, then try using the sound settings in the program. It may well be that you added some kind of effect to the sound reproduction, so the sound quality is terrible. If there is no sound only in a certain program, then look at the settings of that program. It happens that errors occurred during installation and after reinstallation, sound appears.

Do not despair. Any problem can be resolved. Today you can buy a sound card, it doesn’t have to be fancy, sometimes something simple works much better.

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.

Sound not working after Windows 10 update

Oddly enough, an update can also be a source of problems, since in addition to critical updates that close security holes, drivers are also updated by default, and in your case the sound card driver was simply installed crookedly, first try to roll it back, to do this, go to the Manager devices. To do this, right-click on the start button and select Device Manager.

Find the Sound devices item, right-click on it > properties

Next tab Driver > Roll Back. This simple number of steps will help restore sound in Windows 10.

Don’t forget to disable automatic driver updates in Windows; it’s better to install everything yourself.

If in your device manager, your sound card is seen as a Device supporting High Definition Audio , then this means, guys, that you do not have drivers installed for it, and what will help us correctly is installing drivers in Windows 10, and not specifically, and all at once in one sitting; how to do this, read the link on the left. Yes, the good old driver solution pack helps us out, the main thing is to download the latest version, even if it weighs a lot, but you will update all devices, and such a collection is always convenient to keep at hand, and the Internet is not always available, I remember it was very annoying to climb all the sites manufacturers and look for everything you need, since enthusiasts make us happy.

It would seem simple, but many write that they have already done this, but nothing happens or changes and there is still no sound. Typically, this happens because even though the driver installer walks you through all the steps, the driver is not actually installed on the device (easy to check by looking at the driver properties in Device Manager). Moreover, installers from some manufacturers do not report the error.

There are the following ways to solve this problem:

Run the installer in compatibility mode for previous versions of Windows. It helps most of the time. For example, for installing Conexant SmartAudio and Via HD Audio on laptops, this option usually works (Windows 7 compatibility mode).
First remove the sound card (from the Sound, gaming and video devices section) and all devices from the audio inputs and audio outputs section through the device manager (right click on the device - delete),

if possible (if there is such a mark), together with the drivers. And immediately after uninstalling, run the installer (including through compatibility mode). If the driver still does not install, then in the device manager select “Action” - “Update hardware configuration”. It often works on Realtek, but not always.

If after this the old driver is installed, then right-click on the sound card, select “Update driver” - “Search for drivers on this computer” and see if new ones appear in the list of already installed drivers (except for Device supporting High Definition Audio) compatible drivers for your sound card. And if you know its name, then you can look among the incompatible ones.

Checking the built-in sound card in BIOS

After updating the BIOS, it happens that the sound card is simply turned off, and it is not displayed either in the “Device Manager” or in the tray, and it is impossible to install drivers on it. So we need to fix this. Restart your computer. During the initial startup, when the BIOS loading window is displayed, we need to go into the settings - to do this, hold down and do not release the auxiliary button.

Which button should I press? The most commonly used key is Delete or F2. In rarer cases, use the Esc or F10 buttons. If you have a laptop, then in addition to the main button, you also need to hold down the auxiliary Fn.

Once you get inside, you need to look for any mention of the word “Audio”. In older BIOS versions, the device is located in the “Advanced” section.

In UEFI, the audio is located in the “Advanced” or “Devices” section.

Your task is to turn the card into “Enabled” mode. After this, you need to save the settings and exit - usually this is done using the “F10” hotkey. But you can do this manually by selecting the correct item on the right.

No sound on Asus and Lenovo laptop

Yes, this line of laptops is especially susceptible to the fact that Windows 10 running on them has problems with sound. And so their sound chip is Via Audio, let's look at the algorithm of actions.

Go to Device Manager (right-click on Start), open Audio Inputs and Audio Outputs

By right-clicking on each item in the section, delete it; if there is a suggestion to delete the driver, do that too.

Go to the section Sound, game and video devices, remove them in the same way (except for HDMI devices).

Download the Via Audio driver from Asus from the official website for your model, for Windows 8.1 or 7.

Run the driver installer in compatibility mode for Windows 8.1 or 7, preferably as Administrator.

I would like to draw your attention to the fact that older versions of drivers are time-tested and will work accurately, namely VIA 6.0.11.200 versions, and not newer drivers

Windows Settings

Let's now check which audio output device is in the Windows configuration.

“Start” – “Settings”.

"System".

Go to the "Sound" section. Make sure the output device has headphones or speakers (depending on what you are using). You can navigate by the name of the sound card. It happens that after installing some third-party program, the wrong device is selected in the Windows settings, and therefore the sound disappears.

NOTE! Be careful not to use speakers from AMD or Nvidia - this is usually the sound that is output through the video card to the device connected to the HDMI port. For example, if you need to output sound to a TV. If, on the contrary, you need to display an image with sound on a large screen, but there is no audio, then read these instructions.

If the speakers you need are not there, then follow the “Manage audio devices” link. Scroll to the inscription: “Disabled”, find your speakers or headphones there, select them and click the “Enable” button.

Once the speakers are in the Output section, select them and check the sound.

Complete shutdown of laptop with non-working sound

A very interesting story, there is an ASUS laptop with an ASUS H310M-k motherboard, where the sound does not work. I tried all the methods described above but it had no effect. This laptop had a completely dead battery that would not hold a charge. At some point the power was turned off and the laptop stood there for several hours. And what a surprise I was when, after turning it on, the SOUND WORKED . Apparently the motherboard needed a rest and reset something. So, if the sound does not work on your laptop with Windows 10 and nothing helps, then completely disconnect your equipment from the power supply at night and check the effect.

Checking the physical connection

First of all, check that the speakers are correctly connected to the sound card of your computer or laptop. On any system unit sound card, the headphone or speaker jack is green - make sure the cable is connected correctly. The output may be labeled “Out” or “Line Out”.

If you connect speakers or headphones not to the built-in sound card, but to an external one that is connected to the USB port, then check that the wire is inserted tightly. You can try to reboot such a card by removing and inserting the cable back. If you are using a sound card connected to the PCI bus, then I would also check that the sound card is tightly seated on the motherboard.

Buggy update KB4532695 breaks sound and causes BSOD (Update January 2020)

At the end of January 2020, Microsoft released a new cumulative update KB4532695 Windows 10 1903 and 1909 , which was supposed to fix a bunch of jambs released earlier. For example, right-clicking the mouse in Windows Explorer did not work. Microsoft wouldn't be Microsoft if it didn't break or fix something new with one update.

After installing KB4532695 and rebooting the computer, many users saw that the sound in the system no longer worked; the luckier ones received a blue infection. After this blue screen, they could not start their system and received a cyclic BSOD. The only option as of February 3, 2022 was to remove the installed update KB4532695.

Here is what several of my readers wrote to me: “I can confirm that I received a BSOD after installing KB4532695,” the reader said. “However, I did a clean install of Windows 10, installed KB4532695 again for testing and it is now stable,” another commenter noted.

Here are some more lucky users:

My Windows 10 just updated to 1909 and tried to reboot. It is locked and won't load. In fact, it doesn't respond to the power button at all. I can't access the BIOS or do anything at all. This update has been a problem on all my computers, usually slowing down the computer or locking the screen. This is the first time I have been unable to uninstall an update to restore use of my computer.

Ever since I got the latest update, I keep watching these looping downloads. Then when Windows boots it eventually crashes. I reinstalled Windows from an ISO image, same problems. I restored from a backup three weeks ago, same problems. I realized that this new update is a huge problem,” another user noted

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.

The speaker volume in the settings is set to 0.

The speaker volume in the settings is set to 50.

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:

Open computer properties. To do this, click the “Start” button, find “My Computer”, right-click on it and select “Properties” in the menu that appears;
Now in the computer properties window that opens, in the menu on the left, click on “Device Manager”;
In the “Device Manager” we look for “Sound, game and video devices”. Expand this tab by clicking the triangle on the side and look at the list of devices that opens.
- If a down arrow icon is displayed next to any of the devices, this means that the device is turned off in the system and needs to be turned on.
  This is done as follows: on the device you need to right-click and click on “Engage”;
- In addition, there may be a yellow exclamation mark on the device, then most likely there is a problem with this device.
  The most likely reason is a driver malfunction. You can read about how to fix this problem below, in the section “Reinstalling the driver.”;

How to remove the failed update KB4532695

If the sound just doesn't work for you, then open a command prompt as an administrator and enter:

wusa /uninstall /KB:4532695

We agree that we will remove the standalone package.

The KB4532695 removal process will take a couple of minutes.

After uninstalling the update, be sure to restart your Windows 10. Then be sure to check that the sound is working.

If it has a cyclic BSOD, then you need to try:

Boot into Windows safe mode - try to get into safe mode and remove this update there; if you can’t get into it, the same thing happens, then use the following methods.
Boot into Windows recovery mode and try to roll back to a restore point before installing update KB4532695
Create a bootable USB flash drive with Windows 10 and load Windows recovery tools from it
Use the Microsoft DaRT Windows 10 boot disk (Microsoft Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset)
Use any Live CD and remove the update through it.

If you can't get to the desktop and boot into Safe Mode, then you boot into Windows 10 Recovery Mode. This is done either through the built-in tools in Windows 10 itself, or through a bootable USB flash drive, or through Microsoft DaRT (All links above are like this do).

Tools , select Troubleshooting

Next, you select “Advanced options”. Here you can do “Restore the computer to its original state,” but you will lose all installed programs.

Select the item “ Uninstall updates ”.

Next, click on the item “ Remove latest fix ”.

Select a user account, in my case it is Pyatilistnik.org.

Specify the password for the local account.

Click the corresponding button.

Reboot and check for sound in your Windows 10.

If all else fails

If the above methods did not help and the problem is definitely not with the audio device itself, then it makes sense to reinstall Windows 10 or restore it to a certain point. The operating system periodically saves data about programs, system and registry settings. Information is written to system restore points. They can also be created manually.

After restoring the system, data will not be deleted from the computer; only system settings, drivers and other changes made to the OS over a certain period of time will be rolled back.

To start the recovery, follow the instructions below:

Enter the word “Recovery” in the taskbar search. Click on the corresponding icon.

In the window that opens, click “Run System Restore.”

Select a convenient restore point. You should choose a date as close as possible to the beginning of the problems, but before their occurrence.
Click "Next".
Click “Done”.

The automatic system recovery process will begin. Do not turn off the computer while it is running. The average duration is from 5 to 30 minutes, depending on the computer components and the clutter of the hard drive. After completing the procedure, the sound should return and work the same way as it functioned before.

Removing KB4532695 from Microsoft Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset

Above, I pointed you to the Microsoft DaRT Windows 10 disk, also known as Microsoft Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset. If you boot from it, you will have a “ Hotfix Uninstall ” section.

Select the latest updates and remove them.

Connecting to a computer

If the sound still doesn’t work, then here’s another reason that comes up from time to time. Here is his solution.

Unfold the system unit and check that the cable from the speakers is completely inserted into the corresponding connector.

Almost always it is highlighted in green; this is the speaker connector. Check that the cable is firmly inserted into this connector. And in general, to be on the safe side, I advise you to pull it out again and reinsert it again.

Sound stopped working in Windows 10 after the May update KB4556799 (2020)

While the whole world is fighting the disease, Microsoft is releasing new updates for some reason, and forcing users to once again repair the sound in Windows 10. This time, update package KB4556799 . It solved the security problems in Edge Chromium, but as usual, we fix one and fix the other.

Issues are occurring in Windows 10 due to KB4556799 released for Windows 10 versions 1903 and 1909. Ranging from Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) to changing fonts on Outlook and audio issues , various users have reported various errors after installing the latest Windows update 10. Someone couldn’t log into their profile at all. As a result, the registry is damaged and the user logs in through a temporary profile. Here is an example comment from the MS website:

Last night, my computer installed KB4556799 and KB4552931. BSOD twice in 10 minutes this morning. Every time I launch Firefox or Chrome browser I get a blue screen. I couldn't see the error message because the BSOD screen disappeared too quickly. I immediately uninstalled both updates and the problem went away

Problems with sound are also floating, for some the sound does not work completely, for others there is distortion during playback, for others the situation is that their sound is coming through both speakers and headphones at the same time. The fastest and most correct option is, as I showed above, to completely remove KB4556799. You can also try turning off sound enhancement. To do this, open the sound parameters through the context menu of the “Sound” icon (Right click on it)

Next, open the “ Sound Control Panel ”

Next, select your playback device and go to the “Advanced” tab, where you need to disable the “ Enable audio enhancements” . This may help when the sound does not work on a computer with Windows 10.

Using BIOS

This happens very rarely. The sound may disappear due to a BIOS settings failure. Maybe someone was experimenting with the options, or the problem was caused by a glitch. I find it difficult to name the exact reason. How to fix? This is solved as follows.

We go into the BIOS (restart the PC and at the very beginning of the startup press Del or F2 - it all depends on the laptop manufacturer).
Let's go to the tab that is responsible for the functioning of devices. It can be called anything, but the most common options are: Intergated Peripherias, Chipset or Advance Feature.
There should be a list of “Onboard devices” that lists all the PC modules. We are looking for any hints of sound (audio, sound).
Turn on the device by setting the switch to the “Enabled” state.

If you managed to configure the BIOS correctly, then after restarting the laptop, sound should appear. If the situation has not changed for the better, we try the next method. Don't forget that you can ask questions in the comments.

The sound becomes quiet, wheezing, or the volume automatically decreases

If, despite the fact that the sound is played, there are some problems with it: it wheezes, is too quiet (and the volume can change itself), try the following solutions to the problem.

Go to playback devices by right-clicking on the speaker icon.
Right-click on the device with sound problems and select Properties.
On the Advanced Features tab, check Disable all effects. Apply the settings. You will be returned to the list of playback devices.
Open the Communications tab and turn off volume reduction or mute during communication, set No action required.

Apply the settings you made and check if the problem is resolved. If not, there is another option: try using the device manager to select your sound card - properties - update the driver and install not the “native” sound card driver (show a list of installed drivers), but one of the compatible ones that Windows 10 itself can offer. In this situation, it sometimes happens that the problem does not appear on “non-native” drivers.

A new update KB3140742 has been released, it is suggested to download it separately and install it manually, it can solve the problem with sound

This is how the problem is solved that the sound does not work on Windows 10, if you have any other methods, describe them in the comments.

The sound disappeared while the computer was running

If you notice that the sound has disappeared while the device is running, this may be due to a lack of RAM. For example, running a modern video game or a large number of tabs in the browser can cause a shortage of RAM. For unknown reasons, Win10 considers sound a lower priority than 50 tabs in Google Chrome. And the problem is that it is very difficult to turn the audio back on.

The main signs of low RAM:

A black screen appears while using a PC.
Reload browser tabs when switching to them.
Automatically disable any programs.
Low memory warning. Since the message does not specify which memory is insufficient, inexperienced users begin to delete files from the hard drive, not paying attention to the fact that the system asks to CLOSE some applications rather than delete them.
Browser low memory warning.
Reduced loading speed of applications and locations in video games.

To solve problems with RAM, you can install an additional memory stick in your PC. For comfortable use of the browser, it is recommended to have at least 8 GB of RAM in the system. If you have lost sound on your laptop, and the problem is in the RAM, then everything is more complicated here, since installing new brackets on laptops is either impossible or problematic, and their cost is much higher than that of analogues for desktop PCs. But you can also follow simple rules for saving RAM, which are also relevant for the above-mentioned desktop PCs.

Try to close unnecessary browser tabs. You can bookmark the most frequently visited pages.
When launching modern video games, close the browser or leave a minimum of tabs.
Create a swap file on one of your hard drives or SSDs.
In the tray (up arrow in the lower right corner of the screen), turn off programs that you do not currently need. Very often, when you click on the cross, you send the program to the tray, rather than closing it completely. Steam, for example, can settle there. If you don’t know what a program is needed for, then you shouldn’t touch it.

Also, the sound may not disappear, but begin to distort. This often happens with video: the media file slows down and the sound becomes buzzing and unpleasant. This may also be due to insufficient PC power, but this problem can be solved without additional purchases. There are several solutions.

Disabling exclusive mode.

Open Control Panel.
Go to Hardware and Sound.
LMB on Sound.
Double-click LMB on Dynamics.
Additionally.
Uncheck the Allow applications to use the device in exclusive mode checkbox (if checked).

If the problem continues to appear, try reinstalling the drivers. Instructions above.

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 check the box “I accept to the above”, 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.