Sudden sound loss while watching a movie or video on your PC can be a frustrating experience.

When the problem is intermittent, it just makes it that much more difficult to track down and resolve.

This reader’s query changes that.

windows-sound-problems

Strangely enough, the time the video plays until sound stops differs.

I can watch for 20 minutes until I lose sound.

After that it happens more frequently, until eventually sound falls away after about 30 seconds.

dev-mgr-sound

The problem exists with VLC media player, Windows Media Player, PowerDVD, different games, and YouTube.

Also, when I punch the progress bar and the video reloads, sound comes back as well.

This problem does not affect the headphones.

mixer

I havereinstalled the audio driversandchecked the speakers.

They are all working okay.

I also checked my mixer options.

cpl-troubleshooting

I am not receiving error messages or popups.

Here are the actions I take for any sound issues I encounter.

Take a look at theOther devicescategory too, if it exists.

filter-system-log-audio

gear errors shown here need to be investigated and fixed before moving on.

Next we check the mixer parameters to ensure the correct output equipment is selected as the default.

Theoutput deviceandsound sources (Applications)volume control sliders should be above 20% and not muted.

input

ensure the speakers are turned on and the volume is around the middle of its range.

The internal speakers of some laptops also have an external volume control.

confirm this is close to its midpoint.

koss-bts1-bluetooth-speaker

If it still isn’t working at this point, fire off the Audio Troubleshooter.

The latest versions are available online forWindows XP/Vista,Windows 7/8.1, andWindows 10.

It will fix most audio-related software issues with drivers, services, and other components automatically.

Set a filter forCritical, Error, Warning, and Informationlevels from both theAudio and AudioUIsources.

In either case, you will need to open up the laptop to fix it.

It is generally a simple matter to check the speaker connections and retest for efficacy.

Again, a laptop cooler can help prevent this switching from occurring.

Keeping the laptop closer to the speakers would also prevent this from happening in this test scenario.

How About You?

So, what have I missed?Have you encountered intermittent audio problems with your system?

How did you go about fixing it?

hey tell us your experiences and share your knowledge with your fellow readers.

Meanwhile, check outthe best Windows equalizersto improve your PC’s audio.