Manuel is a passionate, driven, and techsavvy AV technician, 
Firstly, have you accidentally muted your sound devices?
Check the small horn icon in the toolbar at the bottom right of your screen. If there is a dash in a red circle, it means you have muted your sound devices. Click on the horn and then click on the tiny frame next to Mute to cancel the Mute and adjust the slider until you receive a desirable amount of sound.
Secondly, is the sound driver installed correctly?
If the horn in the toolbar disappears, goes gray, has a red “X” on it or cannot change its qualities, in many situations it is due to a missing or broken sound driver. You may see an exclamation point or an interrogation point next to your sound device in the Device Manager. If so, delete it and reset up a brand-new sound driver.
Right-click on My Computer, select Properties, then the Hardware tab and open Device Manager. Double-click Sound, movie and game controllers to expand it. Look for an exclamation point or an interrogation point next to your sound device.
Additionally, if you install the sound driver that came with a program, it may cause incompatibility issues. Instead, choose the producer driver instead of the Windows default driver.
Thirdly, is there any conflict between the sound card and DirectX?
If your computer has no sound after installing an up-to-date DirectX tool, you need to update your sound driver. If it doesn’t work, unload the new DirectX and reset up the authentic one. Occasionally, when you update your DirectX to the newest adaptation, there may be sound when you start the computer or play MP3 in Winamp, but you may not hear sound in games.
Click on Start, select Run, and input “dxdiag”. Click Ok to open the DirectX Diagnostic Tool and select Sound. Beside the Hardware Sound Acceleration Level, adjust the slider to the left-most side to set it as No acceleration. Then, protect all info and Exist.
Fourthly, are the sound card installation and associated connections correct?
Some computer situations or sound cards have been produced not so well or installed unsteadily, which may cause a bad connection between your golden finger and the expansion slot. This is a common matter for independent sound cards. You can pull out and reinsert your sound card or amend it with a tool like pliers.
Fifthly, are the BIOS settings or Motherboard Jumper settings exact?
Enter BIOS and examine carefully if the associated settings are correct, especially the IRQ and PNP settings. Confirm all IRQ settings are modified because “PCI/ISA PNP”. If you are using an on-board sound, check if devices like AC97 Audio have been enabled. Refer to the motherboard manual or its signal to check whether the jumper setting is exact.
Sixthly, does the built-in sound card conflict with the exterior sound card?
Before installing an outside sound card, remember to disable associated integrated sound products in the BIOS or protect the on-board sound adapter through the motherboard jumper.
If the on-board sound is unable to be screened, you can initially install the integrated sound driver, then disable all sound devices listed under Sound, movie and game controllers in the Device Manager, and finally install an independent sound driver. You can also change to use each sound card by this method.
Lastly, is there any conflict or incompatibility between the sound card and other hardware?
Sometimes sound cards can have compatibility issues with devices such as modems with phonetic features. To solve this issue, try installing the sound card in a different slot and then resetting the sound devices.
Moreover, you should check if the sound card conflicts with other external cards. Since the PCI sound card and other PCI cards share the same slots, they might have IRQ conflicts. To fix this, you can try changing their positions in the PCI slots or modifying the resources they are using.
Manuel Marino is a seasoned Senior Producer, Music Composer, and Artist with over a decade of experience. He specializes in branded entertainment across various mediums, including video games, films, and advertising campaigns. With 20+ years as a game music composer, Manuel has worked on numerous platforms, creating diverse orchestral soundtracks. HIRE ME
