I just came back from a few weeks back in the UK. Switched on my Samsung 32 inch HDTV and setup my PS3 that I brought back with me, everything seemed fine until I noticed there was no sound at all. I tried all settings on the TV (which had been switched off and unused for the last 2 weeks) and PS3 but nothing worked. I then tried my old DVD player, still the same. Finally I plugged in some headphones (into the TV) they work, does this mean the speakers in the TV have broken? If so how and why?? It was fine when I left and been unused for the last couple of weeks.....

Assuming you've checked the Mute button and turned up the volume, so maybe check the settings, audio and make sure the "TV Speakers" are selected rather than the "External Speakers".

yeah mute is off, volume way up, there is no option on the TV for 'external speakers' or tv ones, in sound options you can choose a 'mode' between standard/music/movie/speech/custom, mine is on custom (I assume it was on that when I left) and all other options are in grey and cannot be selected....

Also last time I used it was with an xbox 360 and all worked fine, never touched the settings too..

What is the model number?

samsung La32r71ba

http://www.samsung.com/ae/consumer/tv-audio-video/television/lcd-tv/LA32R71BAX/XSG/index.idx?pagetype=prd_detail

Maybe try a factory reset?

Also I cant see any option for external/tv speakers, there is one option within the main 'sound' option that says 'sound select' and then 'main' with an arrow showing that you can go further into the menu system but that is in grey so cant select or change it and tried with all sorts of settings but always in grey...

Maybe double-check the "Internal Mute" setting in the Sound sub-menu.

Or try the Reset, in the Sound sub-menu.

See pages 22/23 of the manual.

It seems like there is some linkage between Game Mode and the Sound settings on that model. Probably something simple; I doubt the speakers/audio-subsystem failed after no use?

Yeah internal mute is off, tried several times with Game mode on/off, downloading that manual now.

If I got a hmdi cable would that solve the problem?

Tried everything in the manual, nothing changed

If there's no overall Factory Reset it's probably time to get the man in Samsung service seems pretty good in BKK

Called them via Skype in UAE and they called me back which was impressive but all the guy could do was give me the contact number for Thailand, he did tell me how to do the factory reset (hold down the EXIT button for 30 seconds) but it didnt work

Sounds like there are no (or faulty) audio cable connections (left/right) between your device with the TV.

I use a separate (5:1) sound system. My audio connections from my cable TV transponder goes directly into the sound system while the AV goes into the TV. Thus I have picture on the TV but no sound through it, but only through the sound system.

But my HD media player has sound through both the TV and the sound system because there are audio connections from it to the sound system, while both sound and picture signals are carried to the TV through the HDMI connection.

Check your audio connections to the TV.

Most likely, the External Speaker (or headphone) jack is corroded. They work such that when you plug in a 3.5 mm cable to th jack, the internal speakers are automatically turned off, by means of a contact in the jack itself. If the contact gets bent, or corrosion prevents it from making contact, the speakers will remain off, even though there is no cable plugged in.

A little WD-40 in the jack, followed by inserting and removing the plug a few times will generally fix it, IF it's corrosion. If the contact has become bent, the jack will have to be replaced...

Hope it's corrosion...

I dont get why it would be corrosion though, I never use headphones with it, in fact I think yesterday was the first time I did.

On Samsung Televisions.. they can often have the sound screwed up in different ways through the HDMI port. Not sure exactly how or why. But you can undo these changes by doing a hard reset.

On my Samsung you can do this with the remote by pressing and holding the "Exit" button until it hard resets.. about 20 seconds or so. This might be the same for your model, if not RTFM..

I dont get why it would be corrosion though, I never use headphones with it, in fact I think yesterday was the first time I did.

It was just a suggestion.

Corrosion occurs in humid environments, like we have here...other possibilities are problematic, if the headphones produce sound. It would be rare, for instance, that the power amplifier for the speakers would fail for BOTH channels. Software could also be the culprit, since it senses whether the headphones are plugged in or not. At aforementioned hard reset might help, in that case.

Good luck.

Thanks for all the info and advice, I managed to do a hard reset but nothing changed.

What about these options?

1 - I buy some external speakers plus an sub woofer and plug the red/white cables into the back of the TV? OR the red white cables from the PS3/DVD player into the sub woofer?

2 - Run external speakers through the headphone jack? I did a Google search on this and it seems its possible:

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Can_speakers_go_into_a_headphone_socket