[JamesMio]

Did you get (and more importantly... have you still got?!) the drivers CD that came with it?

What kind of Laptop is it?

Oh, and make sure you check the daft things too - i.e it's not just muted / volume turned down etc.

My money would be on it needing the Audio Drivers reinstalled, which shouldn't really be a big job. You can even get windows to try doing it automatically for you.

Go into Device Manager (Right-Click on My Computer-Properties-Hardware Tab), if there are any Yellow Question Marks in the list, then you've got some drivers missing. If so, right click onto the item(s) in question and hit Update Driver, and let Windows Automatically search for the correct one (Including letting it search the Internet for it).

Good luck!