My computer tells me that audio is working just fine. You can see the levels going up and down. Doesn't matter if it is the internal speakers or the headphone socket. It's as if some hidden setting has turned audio off.
Tried an external sound card that worked fine.
Audio used to be rock solid, then became a bit temperamental and has now stopped completely.
I wonder if there is an update that has stopped this happening in windows 8.1. The netbook is an HP Mininote 5101