weird wire in my speakers

[askj]

i have no clue what is wrong with my speakers... everything in the device control panel checks out, the speakers control in sounds and audio in the control panel tell me everything is a-ok.... but i have absolutely no sound.  the light on the speakers is green, and the power is way up on everything, and i know its plugged in in the correct spot in the cpu, so no stupid mistakes (i hope).  however, whenever i plug the wire from the main speaker into the cpu (and vice versa) it makes this weird crackling noise.  can anyone help?

[askj]

oh, i forgot to mention that when i plugged some headphones into the cpu, they didn't work either, although they are pretty old and i'm not sure if they work at all

[Dusty]

Welcome to the CH forums.

Have you checked that your outputs are not muted?

Please read this..

[askj]

yup i made sure, and everything seems to be working fine, or so the computer tells me.  it even says the sound card is working, but i still get absolutely zero sound.