No Sound on Your Computer? How to Fix It
Silent computer audio is almost never a blown speaker — it's usually the wrong output device selected, a per-app mute, or a driver that needs a nudge. Work through these checks from quickest to most involved, and use a browser sound test early to split a browser-only problem from a system-wide one.
Step 1 — Isolate browser vs. system in ten seconds
Before you touch any settings, find out how big the problem is. Open the online sound test and play the tone. This one check saves you an hour: if you hear it, your speakers, output device, and system volume are all fine and the silence is confined to one app — skip to the browser section. If you hear nothing here and nothing in any other app, it's system-wide, and the checks below apply.
Run the check now: play the sound test tone. Hear it? The problem is one app. Silence everywhere? Keep reading — it's a system or device setting.
Step 2 — Rule out the obvious (mute, mixer, device)
Most "dead" audio is one of three trivial things. Check them in this order:
- Hardware and OS mute. Look for a physical mute key on your keyboard or a mute switch on the speakers, then check the system volume isn't at zero or muted in the tray.
- The per-app volume mixer. A single app can be muted while everything else works. On Windows, right-click the speaker icon →
Open Volume mixerand check the slider for the app you're using isn't at zero or muted. On a Mac, apps can't be muted individually, but a browser tab can be — see below. - The output device. This is the single most common cause. Your PC may be playing to an HDMI monitor, a Bluetooth headset that wandered off, or "line out" instead of your speakers. Click the speaker icon and confirm the correct output device is selected, not a leftover from the last thing you plugged in.
Step 3 — The Windows 11 path
If it's system-wide on Windows 11, walk through these in order. Each is a common, real fix:
- Sound settings.
Settings → System → Sound. Under Output, pick the right device and click it to open its page — make sure it isn't disabled and that the volume there isn't separately turned down. - Restart the audio service. A wedged Windows Audio service produces total silence with no error. Press
Win+R, typeservices.msc, find Windows Audio and Windows Audio Endpoint Builder, right-click each and Restart. This fixes a surprising number of "suddenly no sound" cases. - Run the troubleshooter.
Settings → System → Sound → Troubleshoot common sound problems. It catches disabled devices and format mismatches automatically. - Reinstall the driver. Open Device Manager → Sound, video and game controllers, right-click your audio device → Uninstall device, then reboot. Windows reinstalls a clean driver on startup. This clears corrupted drivers that survive a normal restart.
Step 4 — The macOS path
On a Mac, the equivalent moves are:
- Sound settings.
System Settings → Sound → Output. Confirm the right device is selected and the output volume slider (and the balance slider) aren't at the extremes. - Restart Core Audio. If audio is glitching or dead across all apps, open Terminal and run
sudo killall coreaudiod. The audio daemon relaunches automatically — this is the Mac equivalent of restarting the Windows Audio service. - Reset NVRAM (Intel Macs). On an Intel Mac, sound settings and volume live in NVRAM; resetting it (hold
Option+Cmd+P+Rat boot) clears a corrupted stored state. Apple Silicon Macs manage this automatically, so there's nothing to reset.
When only the browser is silent
If the sound test above played fine but a specific site doesn't, the fault is inside the browser, not the OS:
- A muted tab. Right-click the tab — if it says Unmute site, that's your answer. A muted tab shows a small crossed-out speaker on its title.
- Site sound permission. Click the padlock/tune icon in the address bar and check Sound is set to Allow for that site.
- Autoplay blocking. Browsers block audio until you interact with the page — a click on the page usually releases it. That's why our tone only starts after you press play.
The HDMI / monitor trap
Here's the one that fools everyone: plug in an HDMI or DisplayPort cable to a monitor and Windows will happily route all audio to that monitor — even if the monitor has no speakers. You get a perfectly working PC with total silence, and nothing looks wrong. The fix is Step 2's device check: set output back to your actual speakers or headphones, not the display. This also explains sound that "vanishes" only when a second screen is connected.
| Symptom | Most likely cause | Where to fix it |
|---|---|---|
| Silent everywhere, no error | Wrong output device or wedged audio service | Device picker / services.msc |
| One app silent, others fine | Per-app mixer mute | Volume mixer |
| Only a website is silent | Muted tab or site permission | Browser tab / address bar |
| Silent only with a monitor plugged in | Audio routed to the display | Output device picker |
| Crackle/dropout, not silence | Driver or sample-rate issue | See the crackling guide |
When it's actually hardware
Suspect hardware only after the software checks come up empty. Tell-tale signs: sound works through headphones but not the built-in speakers (a blown speaker or a stuck headphone-jack detection switch), a burnt-electronics smell, or physical damage. On a laptop, a headphone jack that thinks something is plugged in — because of lint or a broken detection switch — mutes the speakers permanently; a careful clean of the jack with compressed air often frees it. If a single speaker is dead rather than both, run the left/right test to confirm which side before you open anything up. Genuinely blown built-in speakers on a laptop or all-in-one usually mean a service visit — but that's the last suspect, not the first.