Audio missing

Hey guys, I'm new here.

Ok I lost all my audio all of a sudden. I've tried three different sets of speakers, none work. There are no mutes on, all of the sliders in volume control are up at 100%.

The problem occured when I tried to get sound from my earphones. Didn't work so I checked volume control for the sliders. Looked good, so I thought whattahell, I don't them earphones anyway. But now there was no sound from the speakers either. So I'm thinking I messed something up. But there was nothing wrong with the sliders. I checked device management, and there was an exclamation mark next to my audio device. I installed a new audio driver and the mark went away but I didn't hear any sounds. Then the mark came back. Did this back and forth a couple times, uninstalling the the device and installing again, plugging and unplugging, updating the driver. Exclamation mark came and went all the time.

Right now there is no exclamation mark and the device should be working properly. Still there is no sound. I've tried system restore and motherboard author's drivers. What's wrong?

 

Hi,
I suggest you boot into Safe Mode and uninstall there. In Safe Mode, go to Add/Remove Programs and uninstall any software that is related to your audio (there will be a "sound manager" program).

There are several drivers that relate to audio (an example is the joystick controller). You may need to uninstall all drivers that you cannot identify as "non-audio" in the same Device Manager section (Sound, Video and Game Controllers).

When you boot back to normal Windows and the hardware wizard runs, click Cancel. When you are at the desktop run the driver installation from the motherboard drivers CD.

Matt

 

Thanks for your reply. I tried what you said but it didn't work. Any other ideas?

 

Hi spuik,

Just thinking out loud, but did you open up your box at all? Maybe a connection is loose.

 

In my "Sound Effect" manager that is in the system tray, it is possible to reconfigure the speaker jacks. Mine can be set to speakers, headphones or microphone. See if yours can be reconfigured and be set back to speakers.

In Device Manager go to the menu listing View, select "Show hidden devices ", uninstall any devices that show an error message and reboot.

There should be FAQs for audio at your motherboard manufacturer's website. Check through those.

Matt

 

I've taken everything out a dozen times and double checked every cable each time. Don't think it can be that.

I have tried speakers and headphones, they don't work. It's set to speakers.

None of the devices show error messages, not even the hidden ones.

Motherboard manufacturer FAQs were missing for my model... And ASRock doesn't seem to have the greatest FAQs anyway.

Thanks to you guys for replying but it seems like there's nothing that can be done.

 

Have a break from banging your head against it for a while. Do a review in another day or so.

If the jack is not physically damaged then the problem will be in the drivers or software.

Try uninstalling the software/manager and running without it for at least several boots. You can reinstall it by running the drivers program.

I saw the Asrock general audio FAQs the other day,
http://www.asrock.com.tw/support/faq.asp?Model=Audio
maybe not promising though.

When the audio drivers get stuck they can do this. I have found you really need to clean out all traces of all the different hardware involved. If there is a folder on your harddrive that has the drivers it may contain a Readme or other troubleshooting information. It may tell you what hardware drivers are installed so you can uninstall them in Safe Mode. Edit: look in the "Audio" folder of the motherboard drivers CD.

I take it that your audio is AC97 or C-media. You could try the support at the manufacturer's website (you may need to identify the manufacturer by looking at the audio chip on the motherboard).

I always look at drivers higher up the ladder, which in this case will probably be the main chipset drivers. Update or reinstall those, it may reset the audio drivers.

Matt

 

Check in control panel - administrative tools - then services. Check to see if Windows audio is started. Somehow (don't know how) this may have been disabled.

 

Yeah it's started.

I'll try to read mattman's post after I get a little energy. Really appreciate your help guys.

 

If you have the Sound Effect manager running, just check if you have set it to anything other than 2 speaker setup.

 

I uninstalled (in safe mode) EVERYTHING that had anything to do with audio. Then I let it be that way for many reboots. Now I finally installed things back from the drivers cd. I can't hear sounds. But something did happen. Before I did this, the speakers let out a very high sound whenever I put enough volume. That is now gone. Now there is no sound whatsoever.

 

The change could possibly be a positive one. Hopefully it will mean you are closer to fixing it.

I've had the same sorts of problems. I bang my head on it for a while, take a break for a day or so, then try again refreshed. It is probably one file (or maybe a setting) that will not be reset.

Maybe you could try getting even more serious
Remove all the items and software in Safe Mode. Shutdown, but when rebooting go into the BIOS/Startup settings (if you have not been there before, it will tell you at the start of the BIOS section in the Asrock motherboard manual). Disable the audio. Run like that for a few boots and double check there are no listings anywhere in Windows. Reenable the audio and try again. It may even be worth trying to install the drivers/software before reenabling the audio.

As you go through, double check everything, starting from connecting to the correct jack all the way through to playing a test sound. Look for any areas you may have missed before.

Do a bit of searching and reading on the net. Sometimes when reading I find areas I did not think to check.

Matt

 

Another thought, we could try making Widows "eat" the drivers. After removal in Safe Mode, when you reboot, the hardware wizard will run. In the hardware wizard, change the selection to choosing the driver from a list. There should also be a selection to "show compatible devices ". Find and highlight your model (mine would be Realtek AC97), then click the "Have disk" button. Direct Windows to the drivers CD or updated drivers that you have downloaded from the Asrock website and unzipped/decompressed into a folder.

This was from memory, so if you can't find what I am talking about, I'll uninstall my drivers and try to give you a walkthrough.

Matt

 

I really appreciate your contribution mattman. I'm gonna give at least one of your hints a try, because I'm heading to our summer place for the weekend. Then I'll try again refreshed. And by that time, I should have a sound card to put in the computer and try things with that. Although I highly doubt it'll help anything since both the standard jacks and the front panel jacks don't work at the moment.

I'll check again on monday and if nothing helps even then I think I'll reformat the whole thing. Wouldn't be such a big deal anyway, as I just did it like two weeks ago. Haven't had time to get any files worth saving.

Thanks again for your help.

edit:Oh and just to let you know, I'm using AC97 too. My drivers cd also contains C-Media but I don't use it.

 

All the best of luck with it. You don't sound any where near as frustrated as you did before and that should make it a lot easier to spot any discrepancies. If I can't solve a problem I look back at all the experience I have gained and it makes it worthwhile and it seems like you have come up against a real tough one.

Matt

 

I got the problem fixed with a new sound card. Apparently my less-than-month-old motherboard had lost it's audio chip functionality. Tons and tons of thanks to all who contributed, anyhow