Old IBM ThinkPad volume far too low.

[Ezzy__]

I'm having a weird problem with my hand me down laptop. The sound is virtually nonexistent. The only time I can get any sound out of it is if I plug in my headphones, and turn the volume to 100%. The physical sound buttons seem to do nothing, except while the computer is booting, I can use the ThinkVantage button to interrupt normal startup. After it starts, however, the button seems to be disabled.

 

[Natsukage]

Hello.

What is your model? It usually is written next to the Thinkvantage icon, such as T23, or R61.

These old laptops sometimes will have sound issues after a few years...such as broken audio cards and faulty capacitors. An external sound card is an option if it is hardware related.