The iPad volume control doesn't work. I hit the Home button twice to show the Multitask bar and the volume control is missing from the Volume Control button.

The problem appears and disappears by itself, not found a stable solution yet. What I wouldn't recommend doing though is reset the device. None of the resets worked for me - you'll just waste your time restoring the settings.

In my case it appeared to be a dock port failure. As some users mentioned, when it's dirty or down, the iPad thinks it's connected to some media device. I managed to work around it by plugging the power cable in and moving it slightly until sound came back. Im afraid, though, the port replacement is looming.

1. If Side Switch is set to Mute, check to make sure it's not muted

http://i1224.photobucket.com/albums/ee374/Diavonex/1237fb40.jpg

2. Check the Volume buttons

http://i1224.photobucket.com/albums/ee374/Diavonex/00bf6eae.jpg

3. Double-click the Home button; swipe the Task Bar to the right. Check the Mute and Volume settings.

http://i1224.photobucket.com/albums/ee374/Diavonex/acd1c239.jpg

Try a reset. Hold the Sleep and Home button down for about 10 seconds until you see the Apple logo. Ignore the red slider.

Do you have AirPlay on and have another device selected?

I have the exact same problem. I've even tried toggling the lock rotation / mute option in the settings. My 3rd gen iPad is less than a week old.

This may have been solved but I thought I'd post how I resolved the same problem today on a first gen iPad.

I double-pressed the Home button to see what apps were running in multi-task mode and then closed ALL of them - immediately the sound buttons started working again (I'm guessing that one of the running APPS was somehow hogging the sound controls).

I hope that this helps someone else :-)

Called Apple: they had me Reset all settings, and do a restore through iTunes. Still no sound or volume control slider. iPad 3rd gen has been replace by apple. (free of charge) Problem solved.

I recently purchased a speaker dock and I thought that was the problem. I deleted the bluetooth settings and the app for the dock and it still dosen't play music through the internal speakers. (Sound effects still work though)

The only way I can get sound playing back through its external speaker from my iPad (other than pluggin in my headphones) is if I plug in my HDMI adapter. Model number A1388. I don't have to plug in an HDMI cable nor do I have to plug it to a TV, but as soon as I plug that adapter in, all sound comes back as if it was normal. But if I take the adapter out, the iPad goes mute again - volume slider gone, volume rocker does not respond, etc.

This is pesky. It's a hardware and OS bug. If the OS team is watching this - this needs to be fixed!

I'm having the same problem. The volume control works in settings under general>sound

The volume control doesn't work on the task bar an doesn't work on the volume buttons on iPad's side.

When I press the side volume buttons a small window appears for SOUNDS EFFECTS but no volume appears.

SAme issue. I've tried everything. Nothing works. This happened suddenly with NO damage or even use of the iPad.