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PROBLEM OF THE FORTNIGHT
Why is my new monitor mute?
Q I have an Iiyama ProLite E2208HD PL2201 monitor, which was working fine with my computer. Both devices are quite a few years old. I have just bought an HP computer running Windows 11 and had to buy a new connecting lead, because the terminations were different. The monitor works well with the new computer but there's no sound. Does this mean I will have to buy a new display?
Harry Smith
A First, we’re certain that you won’t have to buy a new display – so don’t worry. But you will need to work through a few things to figure out why your old monitor is not emitting audio.
You didn’t tell us which connection you used before – or are using now – but the manual for your monitor tells us that it has both VGA (sometimes called D-Sub, because of the connector shape) and DVI-D inputs. Unlike the more modern HDMI standard, neither of these cable types is capable of carrying audio signals.
We suspect you’ve bought an HDMI-to-DVI-D cable (pictured above right) to connect your modern computer’s HDMI port to the monitor’s older DVI-D cable (as opposed to the even more ancient VGA socket). As it has HDMI on one end it’s possible that you assumed it would carry audio signals along with the video, but it won’t – because the DVI-D standard doesn’t support audio.
Instead, to pipe sound to its pair of built-in speakers, your ProLite monitor needs a standard 3.5mm audio-input jack. This connects via a standard 3.5mm-to-3.5mm stereo cable to the corresponding socket on your PC, be it a desktop PC or laptop. As the monitor has no other way of receiving audio signals, you must have had such a cable as part of your old setup. Perhaps you didn’t realise, or simply don’t remember? If you can’t find the old cord, then you can pick up a new one fairly cheaply (they’re around £6 from Amazon, www.snipca.com/47151, pictured below).
If you do have this cable connected, or attach a new one, but there’s still no sound, then clearly something else is causing the problem.
First, in Windows 11, right-click the little speaker icon in the notification area, at the far right of the taskbar, then choose ‘Sound settings’. Next, under the Output heading, click to choose the relevant output (your new computer’s 3.5mm output might be labelled Headphones, for example).
While you’re on this page, check also that the Volume slider is set to more than zero or otherwise isn’t muted (marked by a small X next to the speaker icon) – and adjust this if necessary.
If there’s stil
