In order to begin the process of hooking a laptop up to a stereo receiver, you must have a specific type of cable. This cable has a pair of RCA cables on one end and a universal headphone plug on the other and it can usually be found at RadioShack. It comes in various lengths.
Once this cable is gathered, start by placing the end with the headphone adapter into the headphone input on the laptop. Next, examine the back of the receiver for a free input like "CD" or "Tape" and there will be a pair of red and white RCA inputs. Take the red plug on the cable and place it in the red input and take the white plug and place it in the white input.
Turn on the receiver and select the input the cable is attached to in back. Next, make sure the volume on the laptop is about halfway to max level and play audio. The volume on the receiver may need to be adjusted up or down. It is best to always keep the volume on the laptop at the same level and adjust the receiver volume.
There should be audio playing from the laptop through the receiver now.