Hi guys, I would appreciate some advice regarding a problem with my parents pc.. Basically there has been no sound from the computer whatsoever. Looking at the sound mixer, there appears to no sound signal coming from the computer (Google chrome sounds, windows sounds etc) I've fitted a new sound card.... admittedly a cheap C-Media PCI card but after installing drivers i am having the same problems. I have disabled the onboard HD audio in the BIOS... and tbh im out of ideas, i just cant see why this isnt working. Running the drivers for Windows 7 from the disk that came with the card, i've tried and failed to get drivers off the c-media site, asks me to login to download and theres nowhere to register.... Device manager is not coming up with an error so i dont believe the driver to be the problem.. I cannot run test sounds in the sound levels window it just says "Failed to play test sound" Please find attatched photo with further details of what im dealing with... Many thanks for any advice I really am stumped
It sounds silly, but try setting the default outputs to whatever options you have available (I can't see the picture, wont load in work- You do so by right clicking- use as default) and then try to play the test sound, it does sound like a driver issue. You should also try going into advance and allowing windows to "take exclusive control" if it works then, its not a driver issue but a program hogging the sound options (some programs demand exclusive control of the sound card, admittedly few but they are out there ) And has it worked in the past? And by any chance stopped working on a Wednesday? (microsoft update day? ) Best of luck though!
HIya mate Thanks for the reply, shame you cant see the photo, but ive disabled every other output than the speakers. Also I have the "take exclusive control of this device" ticked and it does not work. I dont know if that photo shows it put when playing youtube or a song, there is no output on the little mixer that should light up green and move showing sound output.. Thanks for the advice mate, will keep thinking !!
does it show any reaction on any of the hdmi audio entries? if not that would be 3/3 sound outputs that don't work = broken audio stack in windows. try remove all audio devices from windows in device manager, do sfc scan and reboot. let windows autodetect the audio devices again and see if you have any luck.
Deders: The card is Asonic 8 Channel Soundcard C-media 8768 Chipset 3D - PCI http://www.ebuyer.com/product/98073 I appreciate its a POS, but surely it should work Thanks for the helps guys To Lysol, im kinda out of the loop with computers nowadays.... How would i remove all audio devices ? Uninstall them all from the device manager and then uninstall drivers and then delete any related registry keys ?
Uninstalling the drivers after disabling the on board sound in the bios should do it. How do these drivers work for you?
deders Just checked that the onboard HD audio is disabled in the BIOS and ive uninstalled and reinstalled the drivers.... Still not working. I'll try out those drivers you linked now and get back to you Thanks for the help
Deders I've installed those drivers you linked and still no sound whatsoever.. I really dont know where to go next... thanks for your help mate
Could be a dud device, You could just sign up for the latest drivers, probably less hassle than all this messing about, even if it is only 0.03 away from the ones i linked you.
First of all, what are those 4 other sound devices? Looks to me like some driver conflict. The programs you use probably send sound to the wrong sound device somehow. Have you tried to uninstall all of those audio devices listed in device manager?
Smilodon I've uninstalled everyone of those sound devices in the task manager and then uninstalled the C-Media drivers form add/remove (the ones Deders linked) restarted and then reinstalled the drivers, still no sound at all. Lysol What exactly are the implications of the audio stack being shagged... Reinstall windows ? Ive tried uninstalling every audio device and then reinstalled the single drivers for the new sound card... Still no good... Not sure where to go next now.. Thanks for all the help guys much appreciated
also i'm still wondering, if you activate one of the hdmi audio does it show activity on the volume bar? try to run the sfc /scannow command from elevated cmd prompt first, it may be able to fix it if thats the problem, otherwise you might have to reinstall windows. also try uninstall all audio devices from device manager, right click uninstall, reboot. don't install anything, let windows see if it can find driver itself over windows update. also it just occurred to me, have you checked and make sure the sound service isn't disabled for some reason under services?
