I lost my Sound :-(

[Carol]

Hi Everyone,

I've just registered here today and have read the previous posts on sound issues (incase my problem had been solved previously) but couldn't find a solution.

 

Have copied below an email sent to my friend who 'knows' about PC's (well certainly more than me anyway) but he's stumped too.

 

I previously asked on a different forum (sorry guys, hadn't found you at this stage) but they gave up with me when nothing worked. :(

 

I lost my sound completely - one day I had sound and the next it had completely disappeared, also the little sound icon disappeared from my taskbar.

I clicked on 'volume' in the control panel/sounds/audio & I got the message 'windows error SndVol32.exe'.

This is fine now & I've got my volume icon back since downloading a new realtek driver but still no sound.

Have checked all obvious things in device manager, no exclamation marks etc and says 'device is working properly'.

Have checked ALL devices under sound, video and games in devices and all say 'working properly'.

I've run full system spyware, full virus check, registry fix, driver detective and still no sound.

Have made sure that nothing has been 'disabled' or ticked as 'mute' and now I'm completely out of ideas.

I've also uninstalled the realtek driver then rebooted and let XP relocate it, still made no difference.

I've looked at control panel/admin tools/services and made sure windows audio was set to automatic - which it was.

My PC is a HP Pavillion 734.uk, am using Windows XP Home SP3 (although up til yesterday it was SP2 and the problem was there a week ago so I'm absolutely sure it's not a SP3 problem) On my system there is RealTek AC97

Oh and I've also tried to do a system restore (before I installed SP3) but it wouldn't let me.

 

Have checked out the HP manual online and I have Multichannel sound option, this is set to 2/2.1.

Something else I've discovered, is that once again my multi-channel Sound Manager has reset itself (overnight & without any prompting) back to headphones again instead of 2/2.1 sound?

Fairly simple set up with these speakers, L speaker is attached to R speaker via cable,R speaker has power cable attached which (obviously) goes into power socket, Green plug goes into the back of R speaker (into Green Audio input) and this attaches to the Green Audio out socket at the back of the PC. Even I couldn't get it wrong :-))

I've checked the speakers on a MP3 player and on my mates PC, they work fine. Audio cable is also fine - used it to connect my mates speakers back into her PC.

I've been into BIOS and checked that Audio was set to 'enable'.

I did other bits in there too as advised by the online HP help thing - hitting F5 and then F10 and as a last resort, disabling power & holding in power switch for 20 seconds then reconnecting, go back to BIOS and do the F5/F10 thing again. I've STILL got no sound.......

I've done the dxdiag and run directSound Test. Asked me if I could hear sound (Grrrrrr) :-) Clicked 'no' and got the message 'Failure at step 19 (user verification of software): HRESULT = 0x00000000 (error code) which I assume means because I confirmed that I couldn't hear sound, the test is telling me there is an error with the sound.

Have tried the speaker jack in both blue and pink whilst on 5.1 - still absolute silence.

Have also tried 'gently' moving the jack around whilst in green/pink and blue but still silence.

 

I have of course checked that headphones do not work either - and they don't, but I'm curious as to why the Sound Manager has reset itself (again).

So as you can see, I've tried various solutions to solve this but to no avail. Can anyone suggest something that I've not thought of yet?

Sorry this post is so long but wanted to give you full details of what I've tried so far.

Many thanks - Carol

[Seth]

Hi Carol.

 

If one of us can zip that file, we can upload it here and you can extract it into your C:\Windows\System32 folder.

 

I'm just having some problems trying to upload it.

Edited October 4, 2008 by Seth

[Seth]

Got it.

[Seth]

Forgot this:

 

When you extract that zip to the System32 folder, if Window's asks, "The file exists. Overwrite?"

 

Choose Yes:)

[Carol]

Forgot this:

 

When you extract that zip to the System32 folder, if Window's asks, "The file exists. Overwrite?"

 

Choose Yes:)

 

 

Hi Seth,

Think my initial message was a bit 'rambly' because I already found that sndvol32 file when my sound icon first disappeared.

 

I have downloaded it again though, incase I made an error last time, and unzipped.

Unfortunately though, I still have no sound :(

 

I'm considering doing a system recovery now because nothing else seems to work. Have backed up my photo's, music and doc's incase I decide to go ahead.

 

Last night, my Windows Media Player disappeared from the desktop and I couldn't find it in programmes either...the old version is there (think it's V9) but not the one I've been using for ages - Version 11.

Feels like something is really wrong with my system and I just don't know what

Thanks for the file link anyway, much appreciated

Carol

[Seth]

You're welcome.

 

You've spent a lot of time on the problem and now have an unusual new one. So I agree, time to start fresh.

[Carol]

You're welcome.

 

You've spent a lot of time on the problem and now have an unusual new one. So I agree, time to start fresh.

 

 

Hi Seth,

Just to let you know that I first tried to do a basic restore (which failed) so in the end carried out a back to factory settings restore and guess what ? :mad: STILL no sound - lol

 

I give up...now going to buy a separate sound card and install it this week and see what happens then.

Thanks for trying to help me anyway

Carol

[Goku]

I think it is indeed the sound card. I had the issue myself when I installed Service Pack 3 on my machine. I thought it was a compatibility issue so I rolled back to Service Pack 2 and it didn't fix the problem either. The very next day, I re-upgraded my computer and still there was no sound. It was then I realized that the sound card must be probably on its last leg and not Service Pack 3. Fortunately, the sound returned on its own accord after a few days and has been working fine since.

 

Let us know if the new card resolves the problem or not. Good Luck.

 

-- Goku

[Carol]

Hello again,

 

Just a quick update to let you know that after still having no sound after restoring to factory settings, I did purchase and install a sound card and YAY! I have sound again.

 

I feel somewhat defeated that I couldn't get to the bottom of the initial problem but am happy to be able to hear again :D

 

Suppose it just goes to show that items showing as 'working properly' in device manager doesn't necessarily mean it is actually 'working properly' :rolleyes:

 

Regards, Carol

[Dalo Harkin]

Glad it's all sorted - 99% of the time the device manager is accurate, but a dedicated sound card is ALWAYS better than onboard :)