How do you diagnose a Chromebook headphone audio problem?
Some users of the Chromebook have reported having audio issues. They have reported completely silent sound or one that’s cutting out without warning. For both the sound from the speakers and headphones, there are a variety of problems that can cause this. If you are wondering Why wont my headphones work on my Chromebook? Don’t worry. There are a number of things you can do to diagnose and fix Chromebook headphone audio problems. Here are steps you can follow:
- Check that the headphones are securely plugged in.
For many, this might seem a silly and obvious solution but you might be having sound problems because you have not plugged into your headphone jack into the Chromebook fully. So, ensure you push the headphones jack in. A mild push won’t help. Give it a good push until you hear a click as the jack settles in.
- Try using a different set of headphones or ear-buds.
If you are not hearing any sound through your headphones, it might just be that your headphones are faulty. Your headphones might be broken and not the Chromebook. The solution is as simple as trying a different set of headphones to see if it works.
- Closing the lid of the Chromebook.
If your headphones are not working it could be that your Chromebook is not recognizing your audio devices. So unplug the headphones from the jack on the Chromebook. Close the lid of the Chromebook and wait for ten seconds. Plug the headphones back into the jack. When you open the lid, the Chromebook will rescan your audio devices. You can be sure your headphones will be found among the list of devices.
If that doesn’t work, unplug the headphones and turn off the Chromebook. Plug the headphones back into the jack and turn on the Chromebook again. The Chromebook should be able to rescan your audio devices on start-up. Your headphones are, certainly, going to be on the list of discovered devices.
- Check your sound settings.
To see your sound settings, check the right corner of your screen where you will see a series of icons. Click on your account profile picture at the very right so as to reveal a window showing information about the Chromebook. Ensure the audio volume is at a high volume. Unmute is if it’s unmuted. Also, check that the output settings are right. It should show ‘headphones’ if you are listening through your headphones. Similarly, change it to ‘speakers’ if you want to listen through the Chromebook speakers.
- Clear the cache.
If you are having audio issues, you can resolve some of them by clearing the cache. To clear the cache, follow these easy steps:
- Start by clicking on the chrome settings button in your browser. It looks like three horizontal lines at the top right corner of your screen.
- Click on ‘Tools’ followed by ‘Clear Browsing Data’.
- Select the option of clearing information ‘From the Beginning of time’.
- Ensure that you only select the ‘Empty the Cache’ option.
- Click on ‘Clear Browsing Data’.
Once you have cleared the cache, turn the Chromebook off and back on again. Try the sound now. Is it working? If it isn’t resolved, move to the next step.
- Disable all extensions.
The sound issues on your Chromebook could be the result of some faulty extensions. To solve this problem, you should disable all extensions and check if the sound is now working. If it is, then the problem was one of the extensions. Next re-enable each of these extensions, one-by-one as you check its effect on the sound. If one of your enabled extensions cause a break in the sound, there you have your culprit. Find instructions on how to disable your extensions on the Chromebook support page online. However, if turning off your extensions doesn’t work, turn all of them back on before moving to the next step.
- Browse as a guest.
First, turn off your Chromebook, wait till it’s completely off, and turn it on again. When you see the login screen, select ‘Browse as Guest’. With this, you will be able to run the Chromebook without any special settings that you might have added. While here, try to play the sound again. If it works, you are having some broken setting or component in your normal login. You need to fix this completely by resetting your Chromebook.
- Reset your Chromebook
By going through this step, you are going to wipe out all the data from your Chromebook. You, therefore, first need to run a data backup. Follow the following steps to bring your Chromebook back to the state it was when you bought it:
- Click on your account profile picture in the lower right corner of your screen.
- Click on ‘Settings’ to open a window showing various options.
- Look at the bottom of this window and click on ‘Show Advanced Settings’.
- Look for the ‘Powerwash’ label and when you find it click on ‘Reset’.
- A window will open. Look for ‘Restart’ and click on it.
The Chromebook should be able to restart. In the set-up window, enter your Google account information. When you are done, try playing a sound. If it works, congratulations!
Well, go on and fix your Chromebook’s sound problems.