No sound after format (Win XP Pro, SP2)

[DownerDog9955]

I recently reformatted my computer, last time being 8 months ago. And once agian, I am faced with the problem of not having any audio. Due to the time frame, I cant remember how I fixed this problem once before.

In my 'Sounds and Audio Device Properties' I have a 'No Audio Device' stated.
When I go to the Sounds tab and attempt to play a sound i get a 'Windows cannot play the sound *whatever*. Your sound card may be in use.'

In my Device Manager, Sounds, Unimodem Half-Duplex Audio Device Properties. The device status is:
This device is working properly.
If you are having problems with this device, click Troubleshoot to start the troubleshooter.

Using Everest to get a quick report I find that I have a 'Intel 82801DB(M) ICH4(-M) - AC'97 Audio Controller [A-1] '. Among my searching I found that Intel does not apparently give the drivers out for public download, but I happened to find that someone stated that if you download the proper video driver, it would then correspond with the audio drivers for them to function and in order to get those drivers, you must give your proper chipset.I use a intel 845e chipset. But I only get the run around and cant seem to find what I need.

Any help so that I can get my sound back would be greatly appeciated. Thanks.

[yoni5002]

Originally Posted by DownerDog9955

I recently reformatted my computer, last time being 8 months ago. And once agian, I am faced with the problem of not having any audio. Due to the time frame, I cant remember how I fixed this problem once before.

In my 'Sounds and Audio Device Properties' I have a 'No Audio Device' stated.
When I go to the Sounds tab and attempt to play a sound i get a 'Windows cannot play the sound *whatever*. Your sound card may be in use.'

In my Device Manager, Sounds, Unimodem Half-Duplex Audio Device Properties. The device status is:
This device is working properly.
If you are having problems with this device, click Troubleshoot to start the troubleshooter.

Using Everest to get a quick report I find that I have a 'Intel 82801DB(M) ICH4(-M) - AC'97 Audio Controller [A-1] '. Among my searching I found that Intel does not apparently give the drivers out for public download, but I happened to find that someone stated that if you download the proper video driver, it would then correspond with the audio drivers for them to function and in order to get those drivers, you must give your proper chipset.I use a intel 845e chipset. But I only get the run around and cant seem to find what I need.

Any help so that I can get my sound back would be greatly appeciated. Thanks.

Hi, did you try letting windows get conected and find the drivers for u???
automatic updates should find and download the drivers automatically...

Also if you know the drivers you are looking for then you can try this link: http://driversguide.com/

Yoni5002
________

[Jim Pivonka]

There is no sound, or at least system sounds including Windows startup and stop sounds are not playing.
The sound control in systray is missing.
Opening Control Panel > Sounds and Audio Devices > displays a properties sheet. The controls for device volume, place volume icon on the task bar, speaker volume, etc on the "Volume" tab are greyed out.
In some cases, sound plays in players other than Windows sounds and Windows Media Player.

Resolution: For Windows XP, open the Control Panel > Sounds and Audio Devices properties sheet. On the "Audio" tab, for Sound Playback > Default Device click on the 'down arrow' and check to be sure the proper audio device is selected. Typically, the problem will be that something like "modem line 0 playback" has been substituted for the proper audio device.

Changing the selection back to the correct device will fix the problem with no reboot necessary in Windows XP. In other Win OS setups reboot may be required.

This problem occurs frequently enough (often after reinstallation of or changes/updates to Windows) to be described frequently in help forums. The issue and most likely solution has not changed much since 1996 or earlier, when I first encountered it as a novice. The most common cause is the selection of the wrong - typically the modem - device as the default instead of the sound card. The modem cannot play many of the files used for system sounds! Or respond to Media Player sound features. The first step, ALWAYS, is to check and make sure that the right sound device is selected as default in audio device setup.

Unfortunately it seems the advice given in response is often misdirected. Typically, advice is given to uninstall and reinstall the audio card - sometimes recommending physical removal and reinsertion of the card or even its replacement - or reinstallation of the sound card drivers or installation of entirely new drivers for the card. Sometimes users are told they will have to reinstall Windows.

All of these things may - in some cases they apparently do not - result in correction of the basic problem with the selection of the default device. But they seem a lot of trouble to go through, just to change the default device selection from the modem - or some other obsoleted and redundant device - back to the device which should be handling sound on the machine.

[Jim Pivonka]

Installation of Windows Vista is apparently causing this problem on many machines. According to some posters, at various forums, the problem has been resolved by removing both the modem and sound drivers, and then reinstalling the sound drivers.

One report indicated that both sets of drivers reinstalled automatically after this procedure, but that the modem drivers no longer interfered with the sound drivers.

Checking to make sure the assignment of the default sound device is correct, and fixing it if it is not, is still the logical first step in resolving "No Audio output device" errors when Device Manager indicates the Drivers are present and OK.

If the controls that let the default device be assigned are greyed out, or inaccessible to and ADMIN user, then other measures will be needed to restore access to them; these may require uninstalling and reinstalling drivers, or more severe action.