Hi Cheryl: Thanks
I updated all the drivers, I tried the speaker system on my iphone to ensure they work, I tried the PC headphone minijack output as well as the PC sound card minijack output, I configured the "Beats" software every which way and likewise for the control panel sound configuration. I called HP and the man there advised me that it was the upgrade to win 8.1 that was at fault and he could help me restore to 8.0. He said that MSFT was working on the problem and I might expect an 8.1x that works in 2 months. I was reluctant to restore to 8.0 so as not to wipe my software installations in win 8.0. I have never used the sound on this PC (bought the machine a year ago and never used it).
Bill