Ubuntu Sound Suddenly Stopped Working? Try This.

Has your sound suddenly stopped working in Ubuntu? Here is a common solution to this problem.

After using Ubuntu 13.04 since its release (approximately 4 months ago as of this writing), the sound suddenly stopped working, despite Ubuntu showing the sound at full volume. Our search for a possible solution to this apparently common problem yielded a rather simple solution.

The directions below are given as an example which worked for us. You may encounter different options and solutions.

Open up the Terminal and type in the command alsamixer and press return.

Select F6 to select your sound card. In our example, we then selected “1 HD-Audio Generic” to open additional options.

We found that all of the volume levels here were set to 0, despite the Ubuntu sound option showing the volume at 100%.

You can use the arrow keys to change options. Up and down arrows will adjust the level, while left and right arrows will scroll across the options.

It has been suggested that an application may have set these to “0” and did not properly return them to their normal settings.

Have you found other solutions for sound issues with Ubuntu? Let us hear from you in the comments below.