Audio/Headphones Help

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 Suggestion #4. Otherwise follow each step in order until your sound is fixed.

Suggestion #1: Make sure the headphone are securely plugged in.

Make sure you really insert and push the headphones in - until you hear the click.

Suggestion #2: Try a different set of headphones or earbuds.

Suggestion #3: The “close lid” solution.

• Unplug your headphones.
• Close the lid of the Chromebook and wait ten seconds.
• Plug in the headphones.
• Open the lid. The Chromebook will re-scan for audio devices and should find your headphones.

OR, if that doesn’t work:

• Turn off your Chromebook.
• Plug in the headphones.
• Turn on the Chromebook. The Chromebook will re-scan for audio devices on startup and should find your headphones.

Suggestion #4: Check sound settings

Look to the lower right corner of your screen (see image below). 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, un-mute it. Also, 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.

Suggestion #5: Clear the cache

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

• Click on the chrome setting button in the browser in the top right corner (it looks like three horizontal lines).
• Click Tools and then Clear browsing Data.
• Specify that you want to clear information from the beginning of time.
• Make sure only Empty the Cache is selected.
• 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 Suggestion #6.

Suggestion #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.