Samsung Ativ Book 9, bought August 2013. Can anyone help me get the sound back?

[Chayah]

Update: I think the problem is caused by Windows Media Player. If I play something using WMP and then shut WMP down, sound goes away. If I go right to some other player, everything plays fine. When I get the annual tune-up, I'll ask the tech geeks to uninstall and reinstall WMP.

Samsung Ativ Book 9, bought August 2013.
I've had no sound for the past couple of weeks. I've tried playing CNN videos, YouTube videos, MP3s, Facebook videos, etc.
The speaker volume for the laptop is 100%.
The speaker volume for the media that I've tried to play is 100%.
I've set FN Lock to on and pressed F8 to make sure the speakers are set to 100%.
I've checked Control Panel > Sound, and everything is allegedly working correctly.
Still no sound.
Samsung Support suggested doing a Refresh, but after reading the instructions I'm a bit concerned about doing it on my own.
And so I thought I would post to this forum to find out whether anyone else is experiencing a similar problem.
Any help will be much appreciated.

 

[fooball]

My first guess is to try downloading the latest drivers from the samsung support website

 

[fooball]

Did you try playing sound through external speakers or headphones?
You could also provide your model number and specs.

 

[Chayah]

The model number is NP880Z5E-X. I've got a 15-inch, Windows 8 system, i7 Core, 8-GB RAM, 1-Terabyte Drive, RealTek High-Definition audio. I have not updated to Windows 8.1 because Best Buy Geek Squad, about six months ago, said that there were known problems with this model and the 8.1 update that could force me to reinstall everything.
I tried playing sound through the Samsung-provided headphone. No sound.

 

[fooball]

The model number is NP880Z5E-X. I've got a 15-inch, Windows 8 system, i7 Core, 8-GB RAM, 1-Terabyte Drive, RealTek High-Definition audio. I have not updated to Windows 8.1 because Best Buy Geek Squad, about six months ago, said that there were known problems with this model and the 8.1 update that could force me to reinstall everything.
I tried playing sound through the Samsung-provided headphone. No sound.

Try going here and fill in your model number/find your laptop model. Then download the "Samsung update plus" (which I'm guessing is the right program) or if that doesn't work, "Easy Software Manager" or anything that says something about "drivers" in the download description.
Install/run the program and download and install at least the latest drivers for audio/speakers, preferably all drivers if you have the time. Then, restart your computer and test the speakers and headphones again.

 

[Chayah]

Thanks to both of you for your timely and most useful information. I went to SW Update and installed only the Settings utility (I don't like to install too many things at the same time in case I run into problems). The sound is back! Now I'll go back and install some of the other updates.

 

[fooball]

No problem. Happy that your problem was solved.
You can pick the best answer so that future readers of this forum will hopefully find the solution to their problem.