Sound suddenly stopped working

I have a major issue with my computer's sound, and I'm hoping 🙂 one of you geniuses can actually figure this out.

Everything was working perfectly until one day—boom—no sound. Now, whenever I try to watch a video or play music, all I get is static. My first thought? The old speakers finally kicked the bucket. So, I went out and bought new ones, only to be shocked when they don't work either! The old ones were a mystery, but the new ones are Logitech Z313.

I tried updating the drivers, but the computer claims everything is fine. In the DM under Sound, it shows: PnP audio Device and Unsupported standard game port. There aren't even any yellow exclamation marks showing up. 🤷 The volume isn't muted and everything is plugged in exactly where it should be.

I haven't downloaded or installed anything lately, so I don't know if it's a virus—I'm not exactly an expert—but I tried to run a malware scan just in case. That's when I hit another wall: the scanner crashes the second I click it.

I also attempted a system restore, but no luck there. Every time the computer finishes booting up, a window pops up telling me the system restore failed.

I even ran the troubleshooter, and it claims it can't find a single problem. 🤷

I am at my wit's end. Is there an actual solution for this, or am I stuck buying a new sound card or just nuking Windows entirely?

First off, tell me which version of Windows you're running, your full system specs, and all that good stuff.

Windows 7, 32-bit

Is this really it?

Go to Start, right-click on "Computer" ---> properties ---> device manager ---> expand the "Sound, video and game controllers" section and drop a screenshot here if you can.

If not, just type out what you see there. Any little "yellow exclamation marks" or whatever showing up under "other devices"?

I already told you: under Sound in my DM, it shows PnP audio Device and an Unsupported standard game port. There aren't even any yellow exclamation marks.

My bad, I wasn't really paying close attention there.

Anyway, none of that has helped me pin down what’s actually going wrong, so I’m going to need a few details from you:

1) Do you still have any of those CDs that came with the PC when you first bought it? (Might save you the headache of hunting for drivers since the right ones are definitely on there.)

2) Is the sound card integrated or is it a discrete external one?

3) This might sound stupid, but are you plugging the speakers into the front of the case or the back?

4) Go to Run --> type in dxdiag -----> save all informations -----> save it as a .txt file and either paste it here or just DM it to me.

Hopefully, once I have that, I can actually figure out how to fix this. 🙂

Best,

I also forgot to mention—try heading into your BIOS when you boot up. Check under the sound device names to see if they're set to anything other than "enable" or "auto." Maybe they got toggled to "disable" by mistake?

It would be incredibly helpful if someone could actually specify which motherboard (and the rest of the hardware) we're even talking about here.

I’m thinking the dxdiag list should spit out the motherboard name along with the rest of the hardware specs. (check under System Manufacturer and System Model) That's how it usually works on laptops anyway. I don't have a PC hooked up right now, so having that motherboard model handy would be a good move just in case. You can see all the components via dxdiag.

darkranger80 said:My bad, I wasn't paying close enough attention.

Anyway, none of that helped me pin down the issue yet, so I need you to give me some info:

1) Do you have any other CDs that came with the computer when you bought it? (Just so you don't waste time downloading drivers; the right ones are definitely on there.)

2) Is the sound integrated or is it an external (discrete) card?

3) This might sound stupid, but are you plugging the speakers into the front of the case or the back?

4) Go to Run -> type dxdiag -> save all information -> save it as a .txt file and paste it here or send it to me via DM.

Hopefully, then I can actually find the exact fix for your problem. 🙂

Best!

1. I don't have them on me. The last time the PC was a total mess, my father-in-law was tearing it apart, so the CD stayed with him, and he isn't close enough for me to go grab it. I want to fix this myself if possible; if I can't, then I'll just take the PC back to him and let him tear it apart again.

2. I think it's integrated, but I'm not sure what the name is. 🤷

3. I plug the speakers into the back because the jack on the front is all loose. Once, when headphones were plugged in, my little brother stepped on them and broke that damn thing you push in—we could barely get it out. Since then, I only use the back.

4. Sending it via DM because it's too long and driving me crazy. 😁

Here is the condensed version:

System Information
------------------
Time of this report: 8/14/2014, 15:04:31
Machine name: DANIELA-PC
Operating System: Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit (6.1, Build 7601) Service Pack 1 (7601.win7sp1_gdr.140303-2144)
Language: American (Regional Setting: American)
System Manufacturer: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
System Model: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
BIOS: Default System BIOS
Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 5000+ (2 CPUs), ~2.6GHz
Memory: 4096MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 3360MB RAM
Page File: 1730MB used, 4986MB available
Windows Dir: C:\Windows
DirectX Version: DirectX 11
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
User DPI Setting: Using System DPI
System DPI Setting: 96 DPI (100 percent)
DWM DPI Scaling: Disabled
DxDiag Version: 6.01.7601.17514 32bit Unicode

Sound Devices
-------------
Description: Speakers (PnP audio Device )
Default Sound Playback: Yes
Default Voice Playback: Yes
Hardware ID: USB\VID_0D8C&PID_0201&REV_0010&MI_00
Manufacturer ID: 65535
Product ID: 65535
Type: WDM
Driver Name: USBAUDIO.sys
driver version : 6.01.7601.18208 (English)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
WHQL Logo'd: Yes
Date and Size: 1/20/2014 19:14:47, 80896 bytes
Other Files:
Driver Provider: Microsoft
HW Accel Level: Basic
Cap Flags: 0xF1F
Min/Max Sample Rate: 100, 200000
Static/Strm HW Mix Bufs: 1, 0
Static/Strm HW 3D Bufs: 0, 0
HW Memory: 0
Voice Management: No
EAX(tm) 2.0 Listen/Src: No, No
I3DL2(tm) Listen/Src: No, No
Sensaura(tm) ZoomFX(tm): No

---------------------
Sound Capture Devices
---------------------
Description: Microphone (PnP audio Device )
Default Sound Capture: Yes
default Voice capture: Yes
Driver Name: USBAUDIO.sys
driver version : 6.01.7601.18208 (English)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Date and Size: 1/20/2014 19:14:47, 80896 bytes
Cap Flags: 0x1
Format Flags: 0xFFFFF

Description: Line (PnP audio Device )
Default Sound Capture: No
default Voice capture: No
Driver Name: USBAUDIO.sys
driver version : 6.01.7601.18208 (English)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Date and Size: 1/20/2014 19:14:47, 80896 bytes
Cap Flags: 0x1
Format Flags: 0xFFFFF

darkranger80 said:Also, I forgot to mention—hit the BIOS during startup and check if the sound setting is set to disabled instead of enabled or auto.

There isn't even a "sound" option in my BIOS! 🤷 I've looked everywhere and I have absolutely no clue what I'm supposed to be looking for.

And I still don't get why this is happening when everything was working perfectly fine before. Is some kind of demon haunting my machine? I know for a fact I haven't downloaded or installed a single thing.

You don't even need to download or install anything; you just land on one malicious site and suddenly it's a total circus.

Try scanning everything with a different tool meant for dealing with this garbage.

Looks like the issue is finally sorted out. My husband took his father’s PC over to take a look, and before he even thought about wiping the drive, he hopped into the Control Panel and checked under Sony only to find some checkbox was set to USB instead of my Plug and Play audio device. How on earth did I miss that after checking a hundred times? 😵

Anyway, it’s working now. We'll see once my husband gets home and plugs everything back in, because it's not exactly unheard of for things to work perfectly at his dad's place and then completely fail at mine.

As long as the Sony works perfectly, who cares about anything else!

A toast to my father-in-law, the man, the myth, the legend! 🙂))

Everything is working perfectly now. Thanks to everyone for the assistance.

The new speakers absolutely kill it. 😁