No sound on Linux – fix audio on Ubuntu and Mint
No sound on Linux after a fresh install is almost always a settings or driver issue rather than broken hardware, and it’s usually fixed in minutes. Work through these steps in order — they go from the most common cause to the rarest.
Step 1 – Check the obvious first
Click the speaker icon in the system tray: is the output muted, or is the volume at zero? Then open Settings → Sound and look at the Output Device dropdown. The most frequent cause of no sound on Linux is the wrong output being selected — for example HDMI audio while your speakers are on the headphone jack, or vice versa. Try each device in the list while playing music.
Step 2 – Test with a different application
Play a video in Firefox and a local file in your music player. If one works and the other doesn’t, the problem is that application’s own volume — open the sound settings’ Applications tab and check per-app levels.
Step 3 – Restart the audio system
Modern Ubuntu and Mint use PipeWire; older releases use PulseAudio. Restart whichever is present:
systemctl --user restart pipewire pipewire-pulse
pulseaudio -kLog out and back in if sound doesn’t return immediately.
Step 4 – Check the hardware level with ALSA
alsamixerUse the arrow keys and check that Master, PCM and Speaker channels aren’t muted (an MM label means muted — press M to unmute). Laptops sometimes ship with Auto-Mute Mode enabled, which silences speakers permanently; set it to Disabled here.
Step 5 – Still silent?
Run aplay -l to confirm Linux sees your sound card at all. If no card is listed, the codec may need a newer kernel — updating the system often resolves this on recent hardware.
HDMI, USB and Bluetooth audio quirks
External audio has its own pitfalls. HDMI sound only flows while the monitor or TV is the selected output device, and some displays must be on before the PC boots to be detected. USB headsets register as a separate sound card – select them explicitly in Settings, then check their volume independently. Bluetooth headphones that connect but stay silent are usually in the wrong profile: switch from the low-quality HSP/HFP profile to A2DP in the sound settings.
Sound that just works
Audio quirks are exactly the kind of thing we iron out before a machine leaves our bench. Every ArkPC Linux desktop and laptop is tested with working sound on your chosen distro before shipping anywhere in Australia. Stuck on your own hardware? ArkPC support is local and happy to help.
