Big Problem with Sound

[braird]

Hi, I'm new and I really don't know how common or uncommon this problem may be, so I hope you'll be patient with me.

My computer isn't playing any sound at all, and it hasn't for two days. When I clicked on the little volume icon in the bottom right corner of the screen, nothing even popped up, and when I checked again the icon was gone altogether. When I go to the sounds area in Control Panel, absolutely everything is grayed out. How can I fix this???

Thank you very much, I look forward to some helpful hints.

 

[raybay]

Check your audio devices in Control Panel... System-> hardware-> Device Manager. If the sound drivers are greyed out there, or have a red or yellow flag, disable the drivers and download new ones from your manufacturer, being very careful to follow their install instructions.
If you have been driving the speakers to loud levels, you may have damaged the system as they are very fragile when driven hard.
Try you speakers in another system to be sure they work properly.