Windows 10 and the updates seem to have a love-hate relationship. With each update, Microsoft fixes some issues and ends up breaking some more. Some users have recently reported one such case where a Windows 10 update broke the sound on their devices.
According to these users, they get no sound after the computer wakes up from sleep or hibernate mode. Users either need to put the computer back to sleep or hibernate or completely restart the system in order to get the sound functionality back.
Here I shall discuss how you can fix the ‘Windows 10 no sound after sleep’ error.
[SOLVED] Windows 10 No Sound After Sleep Or Hibernate
If the Windows 10 sound stops working after sleep on your computer as well, here are simple solutions that you can try in order to get the sound functionality back.
Solution 1: Check The Physical Connections
First and foremost, check the actual connections between the hardware and the computer. Check the cables and the jacks on your speaker and make sure that there is no damage to these.
Also, check for any physical damage to your external speakers or headphones if the error is limited to these. Make sure that there is no damage to the connections before moving on to other solutions.
Solution 2: Update The Audio Drivers
If the connections are all correctly configured, begin by updating the audio drivers for the devices. An outdated or incorrect audio driver may lead to the Windows 10 no sound after sleep error on your device. Updating the drivers to the latest version should solve the error.
If you do not how to update the drivers, you can check our article dedicated to updating device drivers.
If updating the drivers did not work, or you started seeing this error after updating your drivers, use the same guide to install the generic drivers for the device.
Solution 3: Restart The Audio Service
The Windows Audio Service is the core application responsible for keeping the audio on your device functional. Sometimes, this service may become locked down due to many reasons. Restarting the service should solve the error.
To know the detailed steps to restart the audio service, check out this solution where Windows shows ‘Device is being used by another application’.
After restarting the audio service, check if you still get no audio after sleep in Windows 10. The error should be resolved.
Solution 4: Run The Audio Troubleshooter
If the solutions provided above did not help you, try running the audio troubleshooter in order to diagnose the reason for this error. The built-in troubleshooters should help you diagnose and subsequently solve the no sound after sleep error in Windows 10.
To quickly find the audio troubleshooter, follow this solution from our article ‘audio distortion in Windows 10’.
Solution 5: Change The Default Audio Device
If the audio troubleshooter fails to find the problem, your speakers may not be selected as the default audio device. To ensure that the speakers are set as your default audio device, follow these steps:
- Right-click on the sound icon on your taskbar.
- Here, select Open Sound settings from the context menu that is revealed.
This will open a section of the Settings app.
- From the Choose your output device drop-down menu, select your speakers.
- Increase the volume from the Master volume slider.
Many users reported that this solved the ‘Windows 10 no sound after sleep’ error on their devices.
Solution 6: Change System Communication Settings
Some users have also reported that Windows detected the computer to be under communication by mistake. When this mode is enabled, Windows 10 automatically lowers the volume, or in some cases mutes all other sounds depending on the setting. If you suspect this is the case, you need to change the Communication Settings value.
To know the detailed steps for the same, check out this solution from our article ‘computer volume too low’.
Wrapping Up
So there you have it. Now you know how to fix the Windows 10 no sound after sleep error using one or a combination of the solutions provided above. Do comment below if you found this useful, and to discuss further the same.
For the third time in a month, none of this works. I lose sound after a sleep of an hour or more. The one glaring difference I see is I have no test tone. It says “Failed to play test tone”. Restore has been may way around this as a tech suggested it after he couldn’t fix it either. Thought I would let you know solution 2, items 8 sound and 9 playback do not exist. There may be something to this.
‘Failed to play test tone’ usually appears when there is a system file missing. Run SFC and DISM scans after connecting to the internet, and check if the error persists.
Disable then enable speakers worked for me. No device driver upgrade possible.
“Just gotta have sound sleep for Windows”
The only time I’ve had this problem is igf MSWORD (2000 in my case) was open when I put the computer to sleep. After closing Word, sound comes back. This problem will never occur if you close Word before putting the computer to sleep.
I have my desktop set to turn off the screen after 15 minutes. PC stays powered up. When screen goes to sleep sound stops as well. When I wake it, sound doesn’t return about 80% of time. Sometimes it does. I use HDMI from nvidia card. Something doesn’t work right with how Windows handles HDMI pathway sleep.
none of these worked infuriating
None of these methods helped me. Are there any known solving steps? I am tired of restarting my Laptop
I do this to restore sound after sleep: Open Device manager, right click on “Audio Inputs and outputs” and click Scan for hardware changes. Don’t fix problem but easier than restarting.
Also the same problem and it’s becoming really irritating. Only 2 solutions work:
1. Restarting the computer or
2. (easier) Going back to sleep mode and wake again.
Sound settings output devices. It forgets my external speakers in the monitor. Scan for new hardware finds the external speakers in the monitor and the sound resumes. Stupid microscoff.
#5 worked for me. Thanks!
The simplest workaround is increase the sound using mouse: Click speaker icon next clock at taskbar, slide the volume and sound come back in a blink. If you use keyboard to increase volume it won’t work. If you use mouse wheel to increase volume, volume won’t come back. Silly.