Laptop Sound stopped working -.-

[Aksannyi]

Okay, I have a Compaq Presario F700 Notebook, it runs Vista Home Premium 32 bit. I've had it a little under a year now, and the sound no longer works. I've tested muting/un-muting it several times, and that doesn't work. I looked in the Device manager but nothing seems to be showing me a problem there.

I first noticed it when I turned on Windows Media Player to listen to some songs, and I got an error message, however, it was not stating that my sound was not working, but only that some songs would not play. None of them would, however, and no sound from any source (FFXI, IE, Firefox, WMP, Vent, etc.) will come out, with or without speakers.

At this point, I'm at a loss. I don't know how to fix laptops, and as my PC is not currently working I don't want to fuck this up beyond repair or I'll have no computer. Anyone know of any solutions? I will be downloading drivers shortly to see if that helps the problem, and if it doesn't, I'll be open to suggestions to fix this.

[Wintermute]

You remember the error message? Can you re-create it? Would help to narrow it down with the specific error.

If new drivers don't fix it I'd try a reformat, just in case it's a corrupt OS file.


Long Shot: You added any USB peripherals to it lately?

My uncle recently got a Skype phone that was over-riding his settings and setting the primary sound output to a Headset that didn't exist (the phone unit).

Right-click on the volume bar and hit properties, then check the "Audio" tab and see what's set to default and what options are in the drop-down menu Laptop should only have the one option plus a USB headset if you have one.

If you're recently added something might be a chance it's cocked up your defaults.

[Aksannyi]

The only thing I've changed is my controller for FFXI, but I've used this one before (newer one stopped working) and it was about four days ago so shouldn't have been affecting it for the first time today. At first I thought it was just my headset.

In Windows Media Player it just tells me to click the error icon next to the songs that won't play, which takes me to this link: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/win...nalid=80040154 which I will take a poke through, though a lot of that looks like what I've already tried at this point.

[Isiolia]

Second the suggestion to check that your sound output device is actually your sound card, and not set to some USB headset or whatnot.

[Omniyoji]

start > run

type services.msc

scroll down till you get to windows audio

Start the service otherwise restart it

worky?

[Aksannyi]

^^ Nope, thanks though.

[Aksannyi]

Not sure exactly what I just did, but sound is working now for the computer, might have to restart to get other shit to work though ... lol. I'll do that later, trying to xp and fix this at the same time haha.

[Kohan]

This is going to sound like a long shot, but as someone who worked specifically in a desktop and laptop repair center for a while, I'd like to mention it: if your speaker wiring passes through any area with hinges (e.g., by your screen) then they could have been crimped and/or worn out through regular use. This or other stressing matters could have resulted in your wires pulling away from the actual speakers. Sometimes the sound will work because you have a connection, and at others, it won't.

Naturally, software-related troubleshooting (like what the others have mentioned) is what you should do first, but if you're ever absolutely stumped and nothing else works, this is a potentially physical problem that people overlook.