If you have a sound card, try re-seating it. If it is on board sound, it may be that the onboard sound has quit. If that is the case, you can buy a sound card and install it.

You can verify for sure where the problem lies by connecting the speakers to another computer to see if they work there. If they work then something is amiss with your PC (not the speakers). Also, have you messed around in the Control Panel's Sounds and Audio Devices?

Try clicking Start/Control panel/Sounds and Audio devices and poke around in there for clues.

Or Start/Control panel/System/Hardware/Device manager and look for yellow exclamation marks.

it could be something as simple as your sound got muted, definitely try going to the sounds and audio devices and make sure nothing is muted and the volumes are up. do the actual speakers happen to have a knob or switch on them that changes the voulume or mute? And make sure you do have the speakers plugged into the speaker plug in the back of the pc, some of those look just alike.

Success! I love you people! Spent the past hour or two checking out your recommendations and printing out each step/window so I'd know where I'd been!

DayLily, Frankly I don't know if I have a sound card or on-board sound. I can't find any reference to answer those questions (that I can interpret anyway) from running Belarc Advisor. I'd rather buy another computer than open up mine! Moths and dust would undoubtedly fly out! :)
I appreciate your input. Thank you.

Luis, My speakers are connected directly to my monitor. Since I didn't want to unplug a bunch of things and lug either my monitor and speakers into the other room or disconnect my husband's computer and bring it in here, I decided to check out the Control Panel's Sounds and Audio Devices. The first tab (Volume) had 'Mute' checked! Couldn't believe it. I thought I'd gone into every nook and cranny by now! I unchecked 'Mute' and really did look everywhere in that window this time. Also, under Advanced Audio Properties > Speakers, I changed the Speaker Setup from 'Monitor stereo speakers' to 'Desktop stereo speakers.' (Wouldn't have done that except the latter had pictures that shows my setup. Ha.) One or more of those actions must have done the trick. 'Thanks' is not adequate enough! But I do thank you so much

Owbist, I went everywhere you suggested. I had been in some of those 'places' before, but I guess just not where to fix the problem. I'd seen those yellow exclamation marks, (...System Properties > Device Manager > Sound...), but when I'd click on one of the yellow jobbers > Unknown device Properties > DRIVER TAB > Driver Details or Update Driver, I'd get some kind of error message when I'd try to update a driver. It wasn't until I went to the GENERAL TAB and then REINSTALL DRIVER that worked to banish the yellows! Wow! Thanks!

Raven, If you've read this novel this far, you were probably right about the sound being muted and I just hadn't seen that particular window before, although I'd seen the volume window somewhere in my earlier travels and no mute boxes were checked and I'd raised the volume sliders up higher. Several times prior, I'd moved the couch, gotten out my flashlight and trusty magnifying glass and unplugged, re-plugged, and deciphered the almost invisible icons on my monitor, speakers, and computer backside. :)
Thank you.

Well, folks, before I posted this, I listened to 3 songs and did a Hallelujah! I'm thrilled. And it's all because of you.

I'm going to bed now. Hope I never have to travel in this particular labyrinth again! Good night. Kat

CrabbyPatty,
Your computer needs the dust gotten out of the tower. Dust equals heat build up. Heat is the enemy of the hard drive and can shut down the computer when you are in the middle of something important.

You are right, Daylily. I'll take care of the outside, but will have my son take care of the inside when he's next in town. Kat