How to turn on and adjust the sound on your Xiaomi TV

When you don't hear a sound after you turn on a Xiaomi or Mi Box TV, it can be taken by surprise. Often the problem is that you have a "no sound" mode that is too trivial to turn off or a volume that is too low to overlook, but in more complex cases, the absence of an audio signal can indicate a software failure or a misconfigured signal output setting.

Before you panic and bring the device to the service, it is worth doing a basic diagnosis. Android TV system, on which the modern TV brand, has many levels of audio control. This includes system settings, application settings and external device settings. Understanding where exactly the failure occurred, will help quickly return your favorite TV series or music to your home.

In this article, we'll look at all possible scenarios, from simple remote control actions to complex manipulations of the engineering menu, and we'll look at why sound can disappear when connected via HDMI, how to set up the optical output, and what to do if the speakers are working, but the system "thinks" differently.

⚠️ Warning: Before any setup work begins, make sure the TV is connected to the grid stably.Sharp voltage surges during system setting changes can lead to incorrect recording of configuration files.

Initial check of audio and remote

The most obvious step that is often ignored is to check the physical condition of the remote control. Many Xiaomi and Mi Remote models have a separate button to control volume or switch audio modes, sometimes users accidentally press it, thinking they are switching channels, or touch when moving the remote.

Check to see if Mute is activated (no sound) and the screen usually displays the corresponding icon of the crossed-out speaker. If the indicator is on, just press the volume button or the special audio recovery key, and you should also pay attention to the side panel of the TV itself if the remote is dead or lost.

• 🔊 Check the position of the volume slider - it should be above zero.
• 🔇 Make sure that the “No Sound” indicator on the screen is not lit.
• 🔋 Replace the batteries in the remote, as a weak charge can distort signal transmission.
• 📺 Try to control volume through the Mi Remote app on your smartphone.

If the physical buttons and remote are working properly but there is no sound, the problem may be in the software. Rebooting the system often helps to reset the temporary errors of the audio drivers. You don't have to pull the cord out of the socket; you just need to perform a software restart through the menu.

⚠️ Warning: Do not use Quick Start when diagnosing audio problems, and in this mode, the TV does not turn off completely, but goes to sleep, which can save program errors.

Configure system sound parameters in the menu

The main audio control center is in the system settings of the TV. To get there, click the menu button on the remote and select Settings. Next, you're interested in a section that can be called Sound, Audio or part of the General tab, and that's where the key switches that are responsible for output of the audio stream.

First, check the Digital Output option. If you don't have an external speaker or soundbar connected, this option should be set to PCM or Automatic. Choosing Passthrough mode without a connected receiver often leads to complete silence as the TV tries to send the raw signal to the external port, ignoring the built-in speakers.

It's also worth checking the equalizer and sound profiles. Xiaomi TVs with PatchWall shell or pure Android TV can activate specific modes, such as "Night" or "Cinema," that sometimes work incorrectly with certain content. Reset the audio settings to factory values to rule out software conflict.

Pay special attention to Dolby Audio or DTS settings if they are present in your model. While these technologies are designed to improve quality, on some budget models, activating them when viewing low-quality content can cause artifacts or the sound to disappear altogether. Try turning off advanced audio effects.

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Take a screenshot of your current audio settings before changing them, which will allow you to quickly return to the original settings if the new settings do not solve the problem.

Diagnostics of connected external devices and HDMI

Often, the absence of sound is not observed in all applications, but only when external devices such as consoles, game consoles or computers are connected, in which case the HDMI protocol may misidentify the capabilities of the TV, the TV may “think” that the connected device does not support audio, or vice versa, sends a signal in a format that the TV cannot decode.

Check the audio output settings on the connected device itself. For example, if you connect a laptop or PC, make sure that your Xiaomi TV is the default output device on the operating system, not the computer's built-in speakers. Sometimes the system automatically switches output back to the computer when you update the drivers.

If the problem occurs with a particular console or media player, try the following:

• 🔌 Reconnect. HDMI-cable to another TV port.
• 🎞️ Replace the cable with a quality version with support ARC/eARC, if you use a sound panel.
• ⚙️ Change the audio format on the source from Bitstream to «PCM».
• 📺 Check if the function is enabled HDMI-CEC TV settings.

HDMI-CEC allows you to control the volume of your TV with the remote control from the connected console, but it often causes conflicts. If the sound appears, then disappears when you switch sources, try to completely disable HDMI control in the settings of the TV.

Working with applications and online services

Cases where sound is missing from only one app (like YouTube, Netflix or online cinemas) indicate a problem in the software of a particular service.The mechanism of Android TV is such that each application has its own audio settings that can override the system.

Go to the settings of the problem application and find the section "Sound" or "Audio" and check if it selects the language of the audio track that is not in the file, or if the description mode for the visually impaired is turned on, which sometimes drowns out the main track, and it is also worth clearing the cache of the application.

To clean the cache memory, perform the following steps:

1. Go to Settings → Applications.

2. Find the problem app in the list.

3. Select Clear cache (not to be confused with Clear data if you do not want to reset logins).

4. Restart the application.

If the problem persists, try reinstalling the app or checking its version. Outdated versions of players may not work properly with new codecs used by streaming services. Updating through Google Play Store or the built-in app store often solves the compatibility problem.

⚠️ Note: When using third-party applications for IPTV or watching movies USB-Make sure that the device is in the player (for example, VLC or MX Player) the right audio decoder is selected. Sometimes automatic selection fails to cope with the format. AAC or AC3.

Resetting and system update

If none of the above methods worked, there may have been a lot of critical errors in the operating system, in which case the effective solution is to reset the sound settings or completely restart the system, and before that, it is recommended to create a checklist of actions to avoid missing anything.

Updating the firmware is another important step. Xiaomi developers regularly release patches that fix audio drivers bugs. Go to Settings → System → System Update. If a new version is available, install it. It is important that the TV is connected to the Internet consistently during the upgrade.

In the extreme case, when a software failure blocks the sound completely, a factory reset helps, and it will delete all your data and applications, returning the TV to the "out of the box" state, which is a radical but often the only method to work for deep system errors.

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Resetting to factory settings eliminates 90% of software sound problems caused by update conflicts or incorrect system configurations.

Table of main causes and solutions

So for the sake of diagnostics, we've created a composite table that can help you quickly identify the problem by your symptoms, and use it as a cheat sheet when you look for a malfunction.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)