No sound from laptop speakers

[DoreenC]

I no longer have sound coming from my laptop speakers. Originally I thought the problem was because I had plugged in some Boze external speakers and perhaps they weren't unplugged or my machine wasn't turned off properly and some internal setting had changed.

I have checked device manager (nothing disabled or marked with an "x"), audio settings, driver status/updates. Everthing seems to be working fine.

I can get sound if I plug in headphones.

Interestingly, on two occasions, after performing a full backup of the system (using Acronis True Image 2017) I HAD sound coming out of the laptop's speakers. I thought the "glitch" had been fixed (somehow!!) but upon restarting the machine....NO sound. 

I'm at a loss and really fustrated and annoyed. I'd appreciate any help. 

Thanks, Doreen

[DoreenC · Accepted solution]

For anyone else experiencing this problem, my solution was to switch audio  drivers as follows:

1. Open the Device Manager (find it in the Control Panel, or
type devmgmt.msc into the search box).
2. Expand the "Sound, video & game controllers" and right click on
"Realtek High Definition Audio".
3. Select to "Update Driver Software".
4. Click on "Browse my computer for driver software".
5. Click "Let me pick from a list of drivers on my computer".
6. Put a check in the box "Show compatible hardware" if not already checked
7. In the list of devices, click "High Definition Audio" (the native driver).
8. Click "Next".
9. On the Update Driver Warning box, click "Yes" (install the driver).
10. Restart the laptop.

I had sound coming from the speakers before restart....the typical Windows "ding" when clicking on something...but I restarted anyway.

[cocodos]

Thank you very much. I better bookmark this since I'll probably have to do it again.

[cocodos]

Thank you very much. I'll bookmark the page since I will probably have to use this again.

[hbananaa1]

This solution worked, but the audio quality is LOW. I had to turn my volume to 25 to be able to hear it. Also, the quality isn't as great as the Realtek is. HP REALLY needs to find the solution to why the Realtek audio hardwear stops working.