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right-clicking and checking Show Disabled Devices—then select the output
device and click the Set Default button. If you aren’t sure which one you want to
use, try each of the devices in the list until you hear audio.
DISABLE AUDIO ENHANCEMENTS
When you’re having audio troubles, Microsoft recommends disabling any audio
enhancements that might be turned on. From that same Sound menu, select the
audio device you’re trying to use, click Properties, and poke around the options
that appear.
Make sure the right supported formats are checked, any enhancements are
disabled, and Exclusive Mode is unchecked in the Advanced Tab. You might try
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and see if any of those options were the cause of your troubles.
INSTALL OR UPDATE YOUR DRIVERS
When in doubt, if a piece of PC hardware isn’t working, check the drivers. Click
the Start Menu and type “device manager,” pressing Enter when the option
appears. Scroll down to Sound, Video and Game Controllers and expand the
menu to show all the possible audio output devices in your PC.
If there’s a yellow exclamation mark next to any of these, that’s a sign you may
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installing the driver is worth a shot anyway. You can also try uninstalling the
driver: Right-click the one you’re trying to use—my laptop uses Realtek Audio—
and choose Uninstall Device. Reboot Windows, and it will attempt to reinstall
its generic drivers, which may bring the speakers back to life.