Missing or lost sound in Windows 95
/ 98 / ME / 2K / XP.
Cause:This issue could be caused by any of
the below possibilities.
- Bad software settings.
- Corrupt or missing sound drivers.
- Compatibility issues with the
operating system and/or other hardware.
- Speaker related
issues.
- Bad or missing sound card.
Solution:
Verify software volume
control settings
First verify you see a small sound icon
in the
systray
(generally at the bottom
right hand corner of your screen). If this icon is missing follow
the below section.
Windows XP
-
Open the Control panel
-
Open the
"Sounds and Audio Devices" icon.
-
Verify the
"Place volume icon in the taskbar" checkbox
is checked. If this option is not available or is grayed out, skip
to the next section of this document.
-
If you were able
to check this box, click ok and close out of this window and
the Control Panel.
-
Double-click the
sound icon in the systray and verify that all the sound
volumes are mid-way or higher.
verify
the installed driver settings
-
Open the Windows Device Manager
-
Verify there are no conflicts or errors listed
anywhere in Device Manager. If conflicts exist skip down to conflicts
section.
-
Verify no other devices are listed. If other
devices are listed skip down to other devices
section.
-
Verify that your "Sound, video and game
controllers" category is listed, if not skip down to the missing
sound card section.
-
If no conflicts or other devices are listed and
your sound card is listed with no conflicts, skip to the next
section.
Conflicts section
If conflicts exists with your sound card and/or
other devices installed in your computer it is likely that
either the drivers are not properly installed for that device
and/or the sound card and/or other devices are conflicting. If
you open the properties of the device that is conflicting and
view the properties, additional details about the conflict can be
found. Additional information about error codes as well as help
with Device Manager can be found on our
Device Manager section.
If you are unable to locate additional
information about your issue or are unable to resolve the issue,
follow the below steps.
-
Under Sound, Video and game controllers
highlight each device and press the delete key to
remove the device.
-
Reboot the computer.
-
As the computer is booting the system will
detect the sound card and any of it's devices and re-install
those devices. If prompted for a location of drivers, try
pointing it to your sound card CD and/or your Windows CD. If
this does not work or is unable to locate the proper files,
you will need to get the latest
sound drivers from your sound card manufacturer.
Other devices section
If other devices are listed, it is possible that
these other devices could be the sound card or other devices
conflicting with the sound card. If any other devices are listed
it is recommended you remove those devices, reboot the computer
and let Windows redetect the devices.
If this does not work, attempt to determine which
device is not being detected and resolve that issue first.
Missing sound card section.
If you are missing the "Sound, video and
game controllers" category in Device Manager, it is likely
that the sound card drivers are not installed properly, sound
card has been disabled, sound card is bad, or no sound card is
available in the computer. First, verify no conflicts
or other devices are present in the Device Manager; if these are
present it is likely they are the sound card and/or devices
causing the sound card not to be detected. Second, verify that
the computer has a sound card and/or that the sound card is
enabled on the computer.
If this is an
on-board
sound card you can verify that it is enabled in BIOS setup.
Additional information on entering the BIOS setup can be found
on
document CH000192.
If you have no adapters and/or cannot click the down arrow to select the
correct adapter, close out of this Window. In Control Panel double-click the System icon /
click the
Device Manager tab within Device Manager and ensure
there are no yellow ! or red X.
If you have either of these on any of your sound devices, attempt to remove
everything under Sound Video game controllers and reboot the computer. If after rebooting
the computer you still have the same conflicts, double-click on the conflicting device and
refer to our
Device Manager error code section giving you
additional information on the error code you are experiencing.
Verify speaker
connections
Verify the speakers
settings and speakers are not at fault by running through speaker troubleshooting
steps in
document CH000034.
Sound card drivers
If you have followed the
above recommendations and you are still unable to get the sound card
to work, download and install the latest sound card drivers from the
computer or sound card manufacturer. A listing of sound card drivers
can be found on our
sound card driver
page.
wont let me play any music
My sound started acting funny so I tried to install new drivers. I am using XP and have SigmaTel HD. I installed new driver. In divice manager it says that it is woking fine. When i go to Sound and Audio Devices I can't select a default device.
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