<page xmlns="http://projectmallard.org/1.0/"
      type="topic" style="problem"
      id="sound-nosound">

  <info>
    <link type="guide" xref="sound-broken"/>

    <revision pkgversion="3.4.0" date="2012-02-19" status="outdated"/>
    <revision pkgversion="3.13.92" date="2014-09-22" status="review"/>

    <credit type="author">
      <name>GNOME Documentation Project</name>
      <email>gnome-doc-list@gnome.org</email>
    </credit>

    <include href="legal.xml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"/>

    <desc>Check that it is not muted, that cables are plugged in properly, and
    that the sound card is detected.</desc>
  </info>

<title>I can't hear any sounds on the computer</title>

  <p>If you cannot hear any sounds on your computer, for example when you try
  to play music, try these troubleshooting steps to see if you can fix the
  problem.</p>

<section id="mute">
  <title>Make sure that the sound is not muted</title>

  <p>Open the <gui xref="shell-terminology">system menu</gui> from the right
  side of the top bar and make sure that the sound is not muted or turned right
  down.</p>

  <p>Some laptops have mute switches or keys on their keyboards—try pressing
  that key to see if it unmutes the sound.</p>

  <p>You should also check that you have not muted the application that you are
  using to play sound (for example, your music player or movie player). The
  application may have a mute or volume button in its main window, so check
  that. Also, open <app>Settings</app> from the <gui>Activities</gui> overview
  and click <gui>Sound</gui>. Go to the <gui>Applications</gui> tab and check
  that your application is not muted.</p>

</section>

<section id="speakers">
 <title>Check that the speakers are turned on and connected properly</title>
 <p>If your computer has external speakers, make sure that they are turned on
 and that the volume is turned up. Make sure that the speaker cable is securely
 plugged into the "output" audio socket on your computer. This socket
 is usually light green in color.</p>

 <p>Some sound cards are able to switch which socket they use for output (to the
 speakers) and input (from a microphone, for instance). The output socket may be
 different when running Linux than on Windows or Mac OS. Try connecting the
 speaker cable to the different audio sockets on the computer in turn to see if
 that works.</p>

 <p>A final thing to check is that the audio cable is securely plugged into the
 back of the speakers. Some speakers have more than one input too.</p>
</section>

<section id="device">
  <title>Check that the right sound device is selected</title>

  <p>Some computers have multiple "sound devices" installed. Some of these are
  capable of outputting sound and some are not, so you should check that you
  have the correct one selected. This might involve some trial-and-error to
  choose the right one.</p>

  <steps>
    <item>
      <p>Open the <gui xref="shell-terminology">Activities</gui> overview and
      start typing <gui>Sound</gui>.</p>
    </item>
    <item>
      <p>Click on <gui>Sound</gui> to open the panel.</p>
    </item>
    <item>
      <p>In the <gui>Output</gui> tab. Make a note of which device and which
      profile are selected (so you can return to the default selections if
      changing them does not work).</p>
    </item>
    <item>
      <p>For the selected device, try changing the profile—play a sound after
      you change the profile to see if it works. You might need to go through
      the list and try each profile.</p>
    </item>
    <item>
      <p>If that does not work, you might want to try doing the same for any
      other devices that are listed.</p>
    </item>
  </steps>

</section>

<section id="hardware-detected">

 <title>Check that the sound card was detected properly</title>

  <p>Your sound card may not have been detected properly. If this has happened,
  your computer will think that it is not able to play sound. A possible reason
  for the card not being detected properly is that the drivers for the card are
  not installed. You may need to manually install the drivers for the card.
  How you do this will depend on the card you have.</p>

  <p>You can see what sound card you have by using the <cmd>lspci</cmd> command
  in the Terminal. Go to the <gui>Activities</gui> overview and open a Terminal.
  You may have to run <cmd>lspci</cmd> as
  <link xref="user-admin-explain">superuser</link>; either type
  <cmd>sudo lspci</cmd> and type your password, or type <cmd>su</cmd>, enter
  the <em>root</em> (administrative) password, then type <cmd>lspci</cmd>. See
  if an <em>audio controller</em> or <em>audio device</em> is listed—it should
  have the make and model number of the sound card. <cmd>lspci -v</cmd> will
  show a list with more detailed information.</p>

  <p>You may be able to find and install drivers for your card. It is best to
  ask on support forums (or otherwise) for your Linux distribution for
  instructions.</p>

  <p>If you cannot get drivers for your sound card, you might prefer to buy a
  new sound card. You can get sound cards that can be installed inside the
  computer and external USB sound cards.</p>

</section>

</page>
