No Audio Device / No Playback Device "Grayed-out"

[shakespeare79]

It is in the expantion slot! I went out and got a new sound card cause my audio that was originally on the computer was doing the same thing! Do you think that I might have something more serious with my computer? How could I find out when every thing is working properly and my anti virus is not detecting anything?

[bookworm]

Originally Posted by shakespeare79

It is in the expantion slot! I went out and got a new sound card cause my audio that was originally on the computer was doing the same thing! Do you think that I might have something more serious with my computer? How could I find out when every thing is working properly and my anti virus is not detecting anything?

1st - remove the sound card from comp

2nd go here to HP and under Original drivers - install the Chipset driver - then RESTART your comp
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/s...o duct=424349

3rd - install the drivers for the Sound card

4th - install Sound card in comp - Found new hardware Wizard shoulf find the hardware and install the driver you have installed

if this fails you need to check if onboard sound disabled in the BIOS see this from HP Step 7 http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/d...cname=bph07154
there could be a conflict with onboard and sound card

Set a System Restore Point before installing just in case
Start / All Programs / Accessories / System Tools / System Restore – click radio button Create a restore point and follow instructions

[dirkman]

bookworm, I appreciate your advice and the amount of time you spend helping folks through the vagaries of windose, but I think mine's a stumper. To recap:

Originally Posted by bookworm

Check Control Panel/ Sound & Audio Devices/ Audio tab/ Sound Playback click on down arrow and check that the correct audio is selected.

There is no drop-down. Menu is grayed out and displays "No playback device". Two functional sound devices that pass internal diags are installed w/ no error flags.

Originally Posted by bookworm

Start ... Component Services ... change to Automatic

Good tip, but never an issue. Checked BIOS, too. Integrated audio still enabled.

Originally Posted by bookworm

http://support.euro.dell.com/support...atid=&i mpid=
... first install the chipset driver - then RESTART your comp ...

Note, the rev-level on your euro site is earlier than the one on the US site by a few months. Doesn't make a difference -- and both do a restart dialog.

Originally Posted by bookworm

ADI 198x can be picky, ... <instructions to download, WinUnZip and Run Right There>

Done, and I did a full remove-restart-install-restart

NO CHANGE.

I am convinced this is a deep OS issue. BIOS-era tools can access and use the devices. Windows identifies the devices in Dev Mgr but something fails in startup -- at some point Win is supposed to go out and populate a list of valid working sound devices, and it's not doing that. Realize that at one point I had THREE sound devices installed through different i-faces (Mboard PCI, ext PCI, and USB). I've been doing tonight with two (the USB thumbcard was naughty in my sight and snuffed it).

If this was UNIX-land I'd be deep in somebody else's code by now, but that won't play in Redmond. So it's on to the Final Solution.

Originally Posted by bookworm

Set a System Restore Point before installing just in case

I just set the ultimate restore point -- my old 40G HD in an anti-stat bag, and a new .32TB drive mirrored and in the chassis. Now we'll see if Dell put a repair option in my OS reinstall disk. God, I hope I don't have to take this thing back to the walls just to get sound -- a five year old computer's Programs tree looks like a Boston pier covered with 200 years of oysters. Hard to tell the pearls from the rotten sushi.

Here we go, wish me luck...

and thanks for trying...

[dirkman]

New HD.
Full WinXP Pro Repair-mode reinstall.

No luck.

I don't get it -- pre-OS boot diags can frob the sound, so it CAN'T be an electronic problem, can it?

THIS MAKES NO SENSE!

[bookworm]

Originally Posted by dirkman

New HD.
Full WinXP Pro Repair-mode reinstall.

No luck.

I don't get it -- pre-OS boot diags can frob the sound, so it CAN'T be an electronic problem, can it?

THIS MAKES NO SENSE!

Are your audio plugs on the I/O plate or in an Expansion slot – see here – click image to focus
http://www.overclockeddoc.com/bookwo...0io%20slot.JPG

anything yellow flagged in Device manager

and look at this
http://www.tymes.net/swenum/fix-swenum0.htm

[dirkman]

Originally Posted by bookworm

Are your audio plugs on the I/O plate or in an Expansion slot – see here – click image to focus
http://www.overclockeddoc.com/bookwo...0io%20slot.JPG

Currently I'm trying to get the onboard integrated audio to work so they're plugged into the expansion slot. When I'm done making this year's Christmas card (I know! I know!) I'm going to start playing between the onboard and the PCI expansion card I bought. Big fun.

Originally Posted by bookworm

anything yellow flagged in Device manager

and look at this
http://www.tymes.net/swenum/fix-swenum0.htm

Nada. Device Mgr. is five by five.

[bookworm]

Originally Posted by dirkman

Currently I'm trying to get the onboard integrated audio to work so they're plugged into the expansion slot. When I'm done making this year's Christmas card (I know! I know!) I'm going to start playing between the onboard and the PCI expansion card I bought. Big fun.


Nada. Device Mgr. is five by five.

onboard audio plugs are on the I/O plate, it's the sound card that uses an expansion slot, also with a sound card and onboard, conflict arise, to use onboard remove the sound card.

[dirkman]

Okay, scroll back. I've got two working sound devices (well, I'm convinced even if the computer's not). The oldest and twitchiest can be played through with a pre-OS boot diag tool. Nothing is showing red flags or error messages, and all requisite services and settings appear correct.

The thread is named for the problem I have. Windows has grayed out the drop-down dialog in my Sound Playback devices menu. It is not a matter of getting the devices to work, it is a matter of getting Windows to list my two current sound devices in that drop-down.

The important question is: If you have working sound devices known to the system at boot time, what can cause that list to remain unpopulated? If I was dealing with an OS I trusted to behave properly, I would think that that list would be populated automatically by polling valid devices in the system. From the line of most of your questions, I would imagine that Windows does this. The question now is, does Windows do anything else? I mean, is there a magic config file on my system that reads
WIN32.IGNORE_THE_FACT_THAT_YOU_HAVE_FUNCTIONAL_SOU ND=TRUE
?

[dirkman]

Originally Posted by bookworm

onboard audio plugs are on the I/O plate, it's the sound card that uses an expansion slot, also with a sound card and onboard, conflict arise, to use onboard remove the sound card.

Oops misspoke -- plugged into I/O plate for integrated Audio.

The most 'popular' OS on the planet can't handle multiple devices of the same class? Oy gevalt! <sigh> Gimme a minute to power down...

[dirkman]

I thought I still had the other PCI device plugged in, actually the only thing in there is the old modem card. Jacks are in the right place for onboard audio (supported by success of BIOS diags). None of the drivers has anything so pedestrian as a device name associated with it, but I think these are the ones in the ADI pack -- the only drivers are various Codecs (no repeats in name) "Soundmax Digital Integrated Audio" and "MusCDriverV32" -- I think they were listed in my original BelArc dump.

If I can find the other sound card (got to be around here somewhere) I'll slap it in, delete all the current drivers and install the sound card from CD.

If you've got any other rabbits in the hat, I'd love to see them.

[bookworm]

Originally Posted by dirkman

I thought I still had the other PCI device plugged in, actually the only thing in there is the old modem card. Jacks are in the right place for onboard audio (supported by success of BIOS diags). None of the drivers has anything so pedestrian as a device name associated with it, but I think these are the ones in the ADI pack -- the only drivers are various Codecs (no repeats in name) "Soundmax Digital Integrated Audio" and "MusCDriverV32" -- I think they were listed in my original BelArc dump.

If I can find the other sound card (got to be around here somewhere) I'll slap it in, delete all the current drivers and install the sound card from CD.

If you've got any other rabbits in the hat, I'd love to see them.

did you install the chipset - then RESTART your comp before installing the audio driver

[dirkman]

Yeah, roger that. At least twice in the last few days:
- install chipset
- restart
- de-install all existing audio drivers and Codecs
- restart
- Install ADI 198x Audio driver
- restart
- check Bios enable on startup
- No change.

[mega_processor]

my mic is not working at all..the sound device shows a locked mic...every time i install i cannot get my mic working..can anyone help me with this thing please?

[myPCneedsPEPTO]

Hi... Give this a try...


Download...
Microsoft Universal Audio Architecture (UAA) Bus Driver for High Definition Audio

Available through HP's website:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/s...roduct=1817059

You must have Service Pack 2 (SP2) installed 1st before attempting to install the UAA.


Best of luck and Merry Christmas!
...myPCneedsPEPTO...

[the_birdman]

I have just managed to fix the same problem on my old Dell D505 laptop - exact same symptoms. And I had previously tried everything the Interwebs could throw up - nothing. The other interesting thing is I couldn't uninstall my soundcard - Windows claimed it needed it to boot!!

WARNING: If you're not comfortable deleting system files, be very careful. I take no responsibility for anything you do to your system - I'm posting this as it worked for me, and may help someone.

So, I went back to the old mechanics way of doing things - manually. I looked up the driver files in Device Manager (I use WindowsKey+R to get run and then devmgmt.msc - quickest way in. Go to your soundcard properties, then 'Driver' tab and 'Driver Details' - find the ones by your soundcard manufacturer, not Microsoft Corp), and then outside of Windows (I used a Linux live CD) delete the appropriate files, as well as any copies that Windows has made (do a search).

Booting back into Windows, it complained it had lost the drivers for the soundcard (duh!) - but this meant I could now uninstall the card. I then rebooted, installed the latest chipset drivers, rebooted, installed the latest soundcard drivers, and then it was working.

Hope this works for anyone else with the problem. I'm guessing the non-standard (surgical) removal of the driver files kicked Windows enough to reset it's WDM/Microsoft Kernel driver setup and the reinstalls then worked.