Quote:
Originally Posted by storymilo
Dear Freebase,
I haz a big problem: my computer sound has stopped working. A couple days ago, my dad and I were trying to install some speakers but they wouldn't work, so after fiddling with the audio settings on my comp we gave up. I then discovered that sound only plays off iTunes, and I can only use the iTunes adjuster to change the volume. This annoys me a lot so I restart my computer in the hopes that it will end, but that only serves the make iTunes stop working as well. I now have no sound and no idea what to do. Plz help me.
-Story
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Dear Story,
Based on your description, my first instinct is that it's a driver problem. Maybe it has become corrupt. We'll go ahead and update your soundcard driver, as it won't hurt anything anyway, and we can eliminate this if it doesn't solve your problem.
Assuming you're running Windows (not sure about the differences in the following steps between XP and Vista/7 though), click your start button and find your computer icon. Right click it and choose "manage". Your computer management applet will pop up. Choose "device manager" on the left. On the right, you should see a list of hardware stuff. Locate and expand the sound category and take a note of your sound card manufacturer info. (i.e. Realtek High Definition Audio)
1. Is there a red X on it? If so, right click it and choose "enable", then test your sound. If all is good, stop reading.
2. Is there a yellow triangle? If so, continue on.
3. No indicator? Continue.
What we want to do is update the driver for your sound card. Don't choose Microsoft's way to do this, as it's crap. Instead, make a note of the name of the sound card and go to google. Type the name and go to the manufacturer's website. Navigate to their support section and find the driver download. It shouldn't be difficult. The only thing you'll want to ensure is that you get the right bit version. i.e... if you have Windows 7, 64 bit, you'll want to get that version of the driver.
Once it's downloaded, just run the file. It should do everything for you. Accept any defaults if there are any.
Restart computer.
Go into your sound mixer in Windows (you can get there through the control panel if you don't see the icon in your taskbar) and make sure nothing is muted and all your volumes are up. Test your sound.
If sound worky worky, great. If not, come back.
Edit:
If you need help finding the driver, just give me the name of your soundcard and I'll throw you a link.