The Problem

This appears to be an issue primarily with the College's older desktop computers:  Dell 755's, 760's, and 780's.

At some point, a Windows update (not sure which one) will cause the Audio Service to not start.  Users typically see the following icon in the taskbar notification area:

Note the red X in the audio notification.  This indicates either not speakers are plugged in or the Windows Audio Service has not started.  This article discusses the latter.

The Solution

The Quick, Temporary Fix

1. Left click on the Audio icon in the taskbar notification area.
2. Allow the troubleshooter to run.

The Long Term Fix

1. Type services.msc in the Windows Search bar and hit enter.
   
2. The Registry editor will open.

3. Go to  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control

4. Right click on the right hand side and select New > DWORD (32-bit) Value

5. Name the new service ServicesPipeTimeout 

6. Right click on the new entry

7. Select Modify

8. Change the base to Decimal and set the value to 60000

9. The final entry will look like this:
   

10. Click OK

11. Reboot the PC.