another computer question

[gopher]

thought i might jump on the bandwagon and ask a computer related question also.
we're having a problem with the sound not working (windows xp)and when i go to check the volume like the troubleshooter says
i get "no sound devices installed" but when i go to device manager it says the sound is working properly and if i try reinstalling it i get a message that its already installed and would i like to use the troubleshooter.
anyone have an idea what to do?

[VS Omega]

Possibly the drivers it's using are old ones that came with windows and aren't 100% compatable. Try reinstalling the drivers that came with your motherboard if you don't have a soundcard or if you have a seperate soundcard install the drivers for that and see how you go.

What are you computers specs?

[TheForgotten]

delete the driver program and re-install.
do you have sp1 or sp2? I've found sp2 has more problems than sp1.
maybe eyeball microsoft.com

[gopher]

i've updated the drivers
i've deleted the drivers & reinstalled but still nothing

it is sp2 but it worked fine until recently when it just stopped (there was nothing new put on or removed from computer)
what specs would you need to know?

[gocommygo]

maybe your sound card is F****D? even if its not just use it as an excuse to get new sound card and new sound system

[VS Omega]

what specs would you need to know?

Just enough to know if you computer should be in a museum J/K

Is there anyone else who could have played with the computer when you weren't around? (kids, pets)

Also by knowing if your soundcard is integrated onto the motherboard or if it's a PCI soundcard will help to know if the problem could be hardware or software.. troubleshooting process should start with hardware, then work onto software, this is what I've been taught

[gopher]

lol its about 2 years old

2.2 ghz 512 meg memory onboard sound and video i think

its possible someone else could have played with it
but getting anyone to admit to it

[gocommygo]

juzza did you leave msn?

[VS Omega]

juzza did you leave msn?

Don't use MSN anymore lol, but I'm right here

gopher: If you feel comfortable grab a look at the BIOS settings (when you turn on the PC it says push a certain key to enter it), and see if the "onboard audio device" or whatever they call it is enabled.

Also just curious, do you know the model of motherboard you have? This will help in troubleshooting and locating a driver (Windows is iffy, and it's possible to install a wrong driver (not necessarily you) and it will think that driver is better than the real thing, but a newer one can always help)

[gopher]

If you feel comfortable grab a look at the BIOS settings (when you turn on the PC it says push a certain key to enter it), and see if the "onboard audio device" or whatever they call it is enabled

done that there are two options auto or disabled and it was set to auto.

i just dug out the book for the motherboard its an Asus P4SGL-MX

might go to there website and see if i can find anything

[holdensupporter2005]

http://dlsvr01.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mis.../CM0638_XP.zip

Download this driver, It is a link from the asus website for the sound driver for windows xp for your motherboard. Hope this helps.

[gopher]

thanks for that but i've already tried that one about ten times.

what i have found is if i test the sound through directx9 it works but if you try anything else it is either "no audio or your hardware can't play sounds"
is it possible directx is causing the problem?

[VS Omega]

This is interesting.. hmmm.. I'll tell you a few things you could try

Goto Start -> Run -> type in "dxdiag" (without the quotation marks) > go to the sound tab and see if hardware acceleration level is set to full

Also try:

Start (or My Computer) -> Control Panel (classic view) -> Sounds and Audio Devices -> Audio Tab and then try changing the default device for Sound playback if there's any other options

[gopher]

no other options to change the default
the default is the one installed

hardware acceleration on dxdiag sound1 and sound 2 is set to full

[VS Omega]

This is indeed baffling.. what programs do you get the sound error in? Anything in specific or everything you try?

Try booting into safe mode (keep pressing F8 just before the windows logo when you turn the PC on) and when you're there completely remove the drivers (right click on the device in device manager and click "uninstall", then go to action (at the top) and click on scan for hardware changes, then point the thing to the drivers you downloaded..

Then reboot and let us know how you went

[holdensupporter2005]

how long since it has stopped working??? (within the last week or so). if so you could do a system restore

Start---> All Programs ---> Accessories ---> System Tools ---> System Restore.

Then select "Restore my computer to an earlier time"
Then select a Bold Date around the time that the sound was working.

NOTE:
System Restore will take the system back to the date that was selected, meaning any programs that were installed after the date selected will not work afterwards / or will disappear. System Restore will not delete documents only programs that have been installed after that date. Another important note is not to go back too far, just a week or so. ALWAYS BACKUP BEFORE DOING A SYSTEM RESTORE.

[gopher]

it stopped working quite a while ago
it started where it would play some things like cds and some programs then it all stopped.
it hasn't really bothered me all that much until now.

i have tried system restore already i'll try booting in safe mode

[VS Omega]

It could also be that Windows has crapped itself, this seems to happen sometimes, I've seen Windows installs last for years, mine on the other hand seem to break within 3 months (too many customisations, trying different things, like the fresh performance of a new Windows install).. if you can't get it sorted after exhausting everything we can throw at you, you might want to consider the ol' reinstall

[holdensupporter2005]

try running the system file checker. this will check the windows files against the windows files on your windows cd and will repair any files that may have changed / corrupted up.

to do this click
Start --> Run --> Type in 'sfc /scannow' --> Press 'Enter'

you may have to have windows cd in the drive while it runs.

[VS Omega]

try running the system file checker. this will check the windows files against the windows files on your windows cd and will repair any files that may have changed / corrupted up.

to do this click
Start --> Run --> Type in 'sfc /scannow' --> Press 'Enter'

you may have to have windows cd in the drive while it runs.

If you want to do this just be sure your copy of Windows is genuine, some dodgy copies rely on files being edited (specificly winlogon hooking a DLL in MCE2005), and windows will pick this up and prompt you to replace the files with the original one, killing Windows

[Zharklm]

Post screenshots of the error, your device manager with sound, video and game controllers expanded and the audio tab of sounds and audio devices in control panel.

Another good trick to try is open up your volume settings and go into options and then properties. Select recording instead of playback and tick all the options that you have. Then from the list of volumes select something like wav or what you hear or master as the recording source. After you do that open up sound recorder from start > run > sndrec32 and start recording. While you are doing that play some audio, a wav file or mp3 or something like that. If you see the green line move then you know that you hardware is working. This is a good method to make sure that the soundcard is working without actually hearing it.

[Hairy Eater]

turn comp off... take out the sound card.... turn comp on.... then turn comp off again... put the sound card in a different slot.... turn the comp on.... windows should auto detect sound card.... click yes for windows to search the net for drivers... if you get errors, copy and paste the error into GOOGLE search....

[SLugg]

disable onboard sound , buy creative sound card install - enjoy