Yesterday I plugged in a headphone/microphone to use Dragon, a voice recognition software. It may be just a coincidence, but since then I haven't been able to hear any sound off the internet. I have a High definition audio device 5.1 surround speaker system that still plays mp3's, and movie DVD's, just fine through my speakers and/or my headphones. If I make a mistake in typing, I hear the error bell or computer sound through my speakers. However, if I go to youtube or some news outlet, or anything online, I hear no sound.
I've gone to my device manager and selected each of the sound devices and set them as the default device, but it doesn't help. I check the properties on each of the devices and get the response that the device is working properly. It is hard to argue with a computer, but I certainly disagree, because I still get no Internet sounds.
I'm running Windows 8. Intel Core i7-3770 CPU 3.40GHz with 32GB RAM. DirectX version 11.