How to fix the no sound problem on a Chromebook

Some users have reported that their having audio issues with their Chromebook. Either the sound is completely silent or it’s cutting in and out intermittently. There are a variety of problems that can cause this for both sound coming from the speakers and sound coming from headphones. If you’re listening only through the built-in speakers and not headphones then skip to Fix #4.

Otherwise follow each step in order until your sound is fixed! Good luck!

Fix #1: Make sure the headphone are securely plugged in

This seems like a silly and obvious solution but I’ve seen this problem fixed a few times because the headphones weren’t fully inserted into the headphone jack on the chromebook. Make sure you really insert and push the headphones in, chromebooks seem to have strange audio jacks so give it a good push until you hear the click.

Fix #2: Try a different set of headphones or earbuds

For some people the fix is just that simple. The problem lies with a pair of broken headphones rather than with the chromebook itself. So try a different set and see if that works for you.

Fix #3: The “close lid” solution

  1. Unplug your headphones.
  2. Close the lid of the chromebook and wait ten seconds.
  3. Plug in the headphones.
  4. Open the lid. The chromebook will re-scan for audio devices and should find your headphones.

OR, if that doesn’t work:

  1. Turn off your chromebook.
  2. Plug in the headphones
  3. Turn on the chromebook. The chromebook will re-scan for audio devices on startup and should find your headphones.

Fix #4: Check sound settings

Look to the lower right corner of your screen. There you will see a series of icons. Click on your account picture at the very right. A window will appear showing you information about your chromebook. Make sure that the audio is at a high volume. If it’s muted, unmute it. And make sure that the output is set to the proper destination; headphones if you want to listen through headphones, speakers if you want to listen through speakers.

Fix #5: Clear the cache

Clearing the cache on the chromebook can resolve some audio issues. To clear the cache do this:

  1. Click on the chrome setting button in the browser in the top right corner (it looks like three horizontal lines).
  2. Click Tools and then Clear browsing Data.
  3. Specify that you want to clear information From the beginning of time.
  4. Make sure only Empty the Cache is selected.
  5. Click Clear Browsing Data.

Turn the chrome book off and then on again and try the sound now. If it still doesn’t work then move onto Fix 6.

Fix #6: Disable all extensions

The sound issues could be the result of a faulty extension. To solve this you need to disable all of them. Check if the sound now works. If it does then the problem was one of those extensions. Now you need to re-enable each extension individually while checking the sound between each enable. Once the sound breaks again you’ve found your culprit.

You can find instruction for disabling extensions here: https://support.google.com/chromebook/answer/2589434?hl=en

(Note: if this doesn’t work then remember to turn on your extensions before moving onto Fix #7).

Fix #7: Browse as guest

Turn off your chromebook and then turn it back on. At the login screen select Browse as Guest. This will allow you to run the chromebook without any special settings that might have been added after the fact. Try to play sound now. If it works there is some broken setting or component in your regular login. To fix this permanently you’ll need to reset your chromebook. Go to Fix 8.

Fix #8: Completely reset your chromebook

This step will completely wipe your chromebook so you need to backup all of your data first. Again: this will erase EVERYTHING and bring your chromebook back to the state it was when you bought it.

  1. Click on your account picture in the lower-right corner of your screen.
  2. Click on Settings. A window will appear.
  3. Click on Show Advanced Settings at the bottom.
  4. Find the “Powerwash” label and click Reset.
  5. In the window that opens click Restart.

Once the chromebook restarts you will be presented with the setup window. Go through the setup and enter your google account information. Try to play a sound now, if it works then success!

Have any more ways to fix broken sound on the chromebook? Let us know in the comments below.

192 thoughts on “How to fix the no sound problem on a Chromebook”

  4. intermittent on and off. used all reset methods, more than once. power on and reset, mighta! fixed it. dont forget turning off YouTube on and off the browser… yt uses a lot of memory

  8. Did not know about the solution to go into my picture and set the headset – thank you!

  9. I tried almost all of these, the only one I didn’t do was the powerwash, browsing as a guest worked, but I really can’t always use browsing as guest. I don’t know what to do since I know it has something to do with the settings, I’ll probably just make a new account just because I no longer want to deal with this.

  12. OMG thank you so much Fix #3 worked I thought I broke my ChromeBook or my headphone, but now I know that its not!!! Thank you very much

  14. You can also press the power and refresh button. This worked for me so I expected it’ll work with anyone else’s. Good Luck.

  16. Switching off the chromebook, unplugging the headphones, switching on and plugging in the headphones worked. Thank you so much!

  17. My audio was only muted in google play music. Other apps and web pages were working. Then I noticed a hidden volume slider to the left of the mute icon on the bottom right of the web page.

    Hope this helps others out.

  18. What happened to me was I pressed m on my chromebook and it somehow disabled the sound. I just pressed it again and it fixed the problem.

  20. Wow, i tried at least five different websites and none of them worked. I got to the 3rd solution, the “closed-lid” one, and boom, problem solved! Thank you!!

  21. clearing the cache WORKS thank you so much I was afraid I broke it. Keep publishing this stuff it helps. thx

  22. I had to do a hard refresh to get my headphones to work, just press the refresh and power buttons at the same time.

  24. Well volume is not coming out of the speakers or my headphones. I’ve tried all of these suggestions and the aren’t working. What do I do??Please help.I listen to rain sounds to help with my sleeping problems and no sound is coming out at all, i’m freaking out.

  25. my audio works, but it’s really quiet through my headphones? and when i can hear stuff through them, it’s a watery noise? help.

  27. Thank you, No. 5 worked. No sound was coming out both my speakers and headphones. I dropped both last night so I freaked.

  28. The close lid solution worked first try, i am really shocked by this, thank you so much

  29. Thank you so much! I’m ashamed of the fact the audio problem occurred because of my headphones not the computer. I went through all the other steps except for that one. So once again, thank you.

  31. Omg Thank you!!! I was so worried I had broke my Lenovo chromebook and I freaked out this is the 3 website I tried and scrolling through them I wanted to try resetting my chromebook and I did and it worked you fake geeks really helped.

  33. I do have sound but it is not soft and not at full volume. The only way it works is in GUEST MODE…

  34. I wish there could be a solution for those of us where the sound works fine in GUEST MODE.
    Erasing everything–the Powerwash-#8 — even if backed up– is not an option

  35. The Acer Chromebook has 2 DIFFERENT volume settings on the keyboard—and it’s NOT marked on the second set.
    So, if you do not know this–you can accidentally lower sound without even knowing. That’s what happened–I must have pressed a key and it manually lowered sound.

    Try using the top keys marked with volume icon—and if that does not work, oddly enough it’s the arrows—the up and down arrows —-try pressing them on a youtube video and you will suddenly see a volume icon (<<<<) appear on the screen of the video!
    Pressing your up/down arrow keys–. THAT—fixed it.

  37. None of your “solutions” worked for me; I turned off the Chromebook and that automatically signs me out, too. When I powered back on, I signed back in to my Google account and the sound was back The sound disappeared after I downloaded an updated version for “Yahoo! mail” today. I also cleared my cache, which did not do anything except “forget” everything my computer was doing, history, etc.

  40. Thanks so much!! There was no sound coming out of my headphones. And I did not see the right arrow near the volume/sound settings.
    Tried fix #3 and it worked!

  41. THANKS SO MUCH
    I WENT TO ALL OVER THE INTERNET
    ‘EVEN CHROMEBOOK HELP’

  42. wow, thank youuu i thought i broke my volume but trick number 8 worked!! thank you so muchhhh!

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