Sound Card Going Bad?

Hi everyone, I could a bit of help here.

As recently as today I have found myself having to turn the volume of the external speakers almost all of the way up before I can hear anything. At first I thought that maybe the speakers themselves were bad (they are four or five years old). I checked my connections and audio settings and everything there looks good.

When using my headphones I get no sound at all. Once again the connections and settings are fine. Would the headset be affected at all if the external speakers are going bad? Could it be that the sound card needs to be replaced? It's the original card that came with the PC and the computer is probably six years old- give or take.

Thanks.

ok that is strange, only thing i can think of is the master or the wave setting are turned to low?

is the card on the motherboard or is it a real card? if its a card you can try to pull it out, blow the dust off of it, and put it back, or even try a different slot.

if all else fails you can try to reinstall the drivers.