Topic: Computer Not Recognizing Internal Speakers

[PennySludt]

The speakers on the PC Windows laptop suddenly stopped working. I've been running diagnostics and troubleshooting, but it seems to think there's two things plugged into the HDMI port (there aren't). When I went into the device manager to check things, in the 'System Speaker Properties' page under the 'General' tab, it says 'No drivers are installed for this device.' But when I go into the 'Driver' tab and run an update, it comes back saying the best drivers for the device are already installed. ?? Wha...? It has a driver date of 6/21/2006. I tried uninstalling and restarting the computer, then reinstalling the driver and restarting, and it still says the same thing. When I try to use headphones, there's still no sound at all.

When I go into the 'AMD High Definition Audio Device Properties', under the 'General' tab it says the device is working properly and the driver date is 11/16/2017. When I run a driver update, it says the best drivers are already installed. I updated the firmware driver and the laptop restarted again, but no luck. I don't know what else to do? Am I missing something, or have I done everything I can with diagnostics and software and it's a hardware problem?

[Vekseid]

Sometimes when something like this happens you can try disabling/removing the device entirely from the device manager, rebooting, reenabling it, then re-adding the drivers.

[PennySludt]

You mean like taking the actual speakers out? Or am I misunderstanding?

[Endorphin]

Veks is talking about uninstalling the device (not just the driver) and restarting the computer. Windows will often recognize the device upon booting, though you are likely to need to reinstall the appropriate drivers.

On another note, have you checked that you haven't just selected the wrong speaker output from multiple options? Often, when you plug/remove external devices such as monitors, speakers and headphones, Windows will attempt to choose the most appropriate device and output to that. It could simply be a case of selecting a different speaker.

[Vekseid]

You mean like taking the actual speakers out? Or am I misunderstanding?

No. In your device manager you should be able to uninstall the device completely.

Also what Endorphin said.

[Nowherewoman]

Also, did you get an OS update recently?  WIN10 is especially egregious about breaking shit when they update it. If so, check your update history and remove the most recent one.

[PennySludt]

Veks is talking about uninstalling the device (not just the driver) and restarting the computer. Windows will often recognize the device upon booting, though you are likely to need to reinstall the appropriate drivers.

On another note, have you checked that you haven't just selected the wrong speaker output from multiple options? Often, when you plug/remove external devices such as monitors, speakers and headphones, Windows will attempt to choose the most appropriate device and output to that. It could simply be a case of selecting a different speaker.

Definitely haven't selected the wrong speaker, since there are no options when I go into it. That was my first thought, actually. That it had gotten switched to something else. But it just absolutely doesn't think there's any speakers available. But for some reason when I do the troubleshoot thing, it seems to think there are two options plugged into the HDMI port, even though we've never plugged ANYTHING into the HDMI port ever! Lol!

I'll try uninstalling.

Also, did you get an OS update recently?  WIN10 is especially egregious about breaking shit when they update it. If so, check your update history and remove the most recent one.

There might have been, so I'll check that too.

Thanks guys!

[PennySludt]

Okay, I just did everything and it still isn't doing anything different. I took some images to show the lies it keeps telling.

It tells me these are the things I can troubleshoot when I hit the troubleshoot button, but there isn't anything plugged in.




Then it tells me there's no sound devices available at all.




When I went into the device manager and uninstalled the speaker, then restarted, it still showed that there were no drivers installed.




But when I go into the 'driver' tab it says there's one installed! (Lies, I tell you! Lies!)




When I search for an update, it tells me the driver is up to date.

[Vekseid]

Ack, sorry for the delay in responding.

System speaker isn't going to be the same thing as your audio device. Your speaker pretty much just beeps at you. What you want to disable/reboot/reenable is your audio device(s).

[PennySludt]

I tried everything to do with audio devices (I think I got them all) and restarted the computer several times, but it didn't work. Finally, I did the system wipe thing (technical term, I'm sure!) that resets everything except personal files and it fixed it for two days. But now it's happened again! I don't think there was an update, but since the kids have been using it, there may have been and I don't know about it? They don't have any games on there anymore except for Minecraft and Megaquarium, which are on two other computers and are fine. Maybe I'm just going to have to take it in somewhere?

[cincinnatus]

I'm a little late to the game, but here's a couple of things:

Your HDMI / Display Port outputs will show up as Audio Devices in Device Manager, since they can carry audio.  If you don't have anything plugged into them, they won't be available to select when you choose which audio output to use.  (this has caused me problems when the audio gets sent to an HDMI monitor that doesn't have speakers, but I digress)

And Vekseid is correct.  "System Speaker" isn't your soundcard, it's the simple beeper that's been part of PCs since the early 80's.  Not all machines have it anymore, and my desktop (that does, I hooked it up) doesn't have the device installed in Windows.

If you did a system restore of windows and it fixed it but came back...it might be a hardware issue.  My suggestions, check your BIOS / UEFI settings to make sure the onboard audio device hasn't been disabled, and is showing up there.  In device manager, you can check the option to "Show Hidden Devices", to see if your sound card is there but not being shown.  Then you can try to do a complete restore (back up your files first), and see if that helps.  If not, you can try taking it somewhere, or get a pair of USB headphones.  (Or bluetooth if the system has it).

[PennySludt]

Thanks. I wonder if the USB headphone idea might work, since it's trying to go through there. Nice idea! I'm thinking it's a hardware thing now, too. One of the kids who uses it the most has been slamming it shut when I tell her to get off it lately, so I'm starting to think it's something being knocked loose. It still continues to show up every time I reset the computer, but it's kind of a pain in the butt to have to do that every so often and then reinstall the programs we'd had. I think I'm just going to show her how to do it and make her do it from now on, maybe! Or she can pay for the service herself. Lol!