How to Fix Sound Not Working on HP Laptop in Windows

I want to spare my leisure afternoon with movies or music, while I found the sound stopped working on my HP laptop. What a vexing question it is! What am I to do?

If you are encountered with sound failures on your HP laptop, you can try the following methods to figure out it. In this post, we will walk you through how to fix sound not working on HP laptop in Windows to help you recover the normal audio service.

1. Fix No Sound by Audio Settings in Windows

1.1 Check the volume icon

It may occur that you accidentally mute the volume on your HP laptop. You can check the volume icon on the lower right side of the taskbar and make sure there is no cross on the speaker icon. Click the icon, and the volume at present can be seen. Try to turn up the volume and check if the sound recovers.

1.2 Check the audio device is set as default or not

You can also check the audio device settings, for related errors may result in sound problems.

Step 1: Double click Control Panel, select Hardware and Sound in the popup window.

Step 2: In the Hardware and Sound interface, click Manage audio devices under the Sound column.

Step 3: And then the Sound window pops up. See the speaker or audio output device is set as default or not under the Playback tab. If it is, there is a green tick-mark on it(as the picture shown below). If it is not, you need to select the audio device, and click on Set Default option, then OK to set the Playback device as default.

1.3 Change the audio format

Sometimes, audio format accounts for an error in sound not working. Thus, you can choose to change the sound formats to deal with the sound problem.

Steps: Click on the Properties option on the Playback tab in the Sound window(as shown in 1.2). Now you're directed to Speakers Properties window, and then navigate to Advanced tab, switch the audio rate in Default Format section, click Test button to confirm if the sound format can regain sound for your HP laptop.

1.4 Check the startup type of audio service

If the audio service isn't set as automatic when your HP laptop boots up, sometimes it may be not started after PC startup. Therefore, we can check if audio service automatically start in startup as following steps:

Step 1: Press Windows Key + R to open Run app and type services.msc in Run app, then tap on Enter.

Step 2: On the popup Services window, navigate to Windows Audio in the Name Column, double click it and the Windows Audio Properties window will pop up. Under the General tab, make sure the startup type of audio service is Automatic.

2. Fix No Sound by Windows Troubleshooter

In windows, you can apply the Windows Troubleshooter to find out the culprit of audio not working issue. Follow the steps below to troubleshoot it and the instructions to complete the process:

Open the Start menu, navigate to Settings, double click it and then System in Windows Settings window, select Sound option on the left panel, and click Troubleshoot button on the right panel.

3. Fix No Sound by Audio Driver Update

Sometimes, HP laptop ran into sound problems after its system update, most of which were caused by installation errors of audio driver or its incompatibility with the computer system. The solution is to check if the audio driver on the PC is compatible with the upgraded system. You can find the audio driver by following the steps below:

Right - click This PC -> Properties -> Device Manager, double click Sound, video and game controllers in the middle column, and then the audio devices installed on your HP laptop can be seen. Right click on the sound device and select Update driver option.

Then you will be asked to make a decision on "Search and Install the Latest Driver Automatically" or "Browse Updated Drivers from your System Manually". Select one to proceed:

Tips: If you want to search the matched sound driver by yourself, it is necessary to know the type of hardware device that is well matched with your PC. The steps to get the information are as following:

Press Windows Key + R -> Run -> enter the command: dxdiag -> tap Enter, and the DirectX Diagnostic Tool window pops up. Then choose the Sound tab, and you can see the default device type of your HP laptop.

4. Fix No Sound by Audio Driver Reinstallation

If you found the audio device installed on your PC is up-to-date, you can try to reinstall the audio driver in case it is buggy or incorrect, to fix the problem of sound cannot work.

Right-click This PC -> Properties -> Device Manager, double click Sound, video and game controllers in the middle column, and then right-click the audio device to expand, and choose Uninstall device. You need to check the option of Delete the driver software, then click on Uninstall.

Now, reboot your HP laptop. Windows will automatically install the driver for your Sound Device.

Note: If there is a yellow exclamation mark next to audio device, it means you need to find and install the audio driver from the manufacturer's website. You can choose to download HP Support Assistant to settle the sound issue by Audio Check on the software.