Sound problems on Acer laptop

[lanahsdad]

i have suddenly lost all sound from my Acer TM220. I have checked all the obvious things in control panel, uninstalled and reinstalled the sound device all to no avail. doesn't work thru external speakers or 'phones either. all was fine this morning!!! don't know if it's a coincidence but i also now have a blank space in my taskbar which if i right click it comes up DNT:open virus protection which is not something i've installed. running out of hair to pull out!!! any ideas clever people?

[Ethel]

How very odd. No idea what that DNT is.

Have you looked in your drivers to see if there is an exclamation mark? I assume this is Windows XP.

[lanahsdad]

yes it's xp, i've searched online for DNT but had no joy. I've done all usual stuff and checked for updated drivers etc and as far as device manager's concerned it all checks out. also ran spyware and antivirus scans but nothing was found. it's dead wierd to say the least. what makes it so odd is that i've not downloaded anything or installed anything and left the machine on as was halfway thru a game when i went out! noone's been anywhere near it.

[Ethel]

It's not muted? You've not gone deaf?

[Ethel]

If there is nothing plugged in to the headphone socket (if there is either push it in or take it out) and you know what you are doing and have tried absolutely everything - try a system restore.

[pjm012345]

i have a similar problem regulary with my laptop. usually i find that if you go to your device manager and uninstall the device then re-install it and reboot,it will normally resolve the problem.it could be a hardware conflict that causes this or if windows is trying to update you system,this often can cause this to happen ,you can check this by checking that you have all the latest updates on your computer

[Whickerman]

Try to see if any of the 'sliders' in the speaker graphic (down there beside your clock) are all the way down, or set to mute. It can happen that some websites do this!

[lanahsdad]

thanks people, your input is much appreciated, however you can't always cater for the lowest common denominator! the *&^$ing thing has a very small MANUAL volume control tucked away next to the line in/mic sockets which i had obviously inadvertantly turned right off. now feeling rather sheepish and off to plant turnips or something equally less taxing... never did find out what the mysterious blank space in the task bar was, system restore got shot of that, thanks Ethel.

[lanahsdad]

P.S. not deaf just stupid Ethel