loss of sound- windows xp

[mowki]

Hi , new here, hope someone can help.

 

lost sound from speakers last week, had been working fine up till then. I have spent the week trying to sort the problem , been on microsoft etc , trouble shooting and as far as i can make out sound card is compatible, updated and supposedly working! REALTEK

 

The only thing i did , without particularly needing to:o was download IE 8 and SP3 and wonder if the problem is related?

 

The only other relevant thing might be a couple of months ago my son couldn't play a new pc game cos our graphics card was incompatible and i downloaded NVIDIa and we have been working fine until last week.

 

Any advice would be really appreciated.:)

[Plastic Nev]

Hi Mowki,

Sound was OK till last week? when did you install service pack3, was it before or after the sound went off?

Blame Microsoft if you want, but there is a known conflict between service pack3 and the realtek sound drivers, so you are correct about a link between them both.

 

To help further and in order to find the correct drivers to download, we need to know some more details if you can find them. Those are, the exact type of sound system, and also the make and model number of your motherboard, or at the very least the full make and model number of your computer.

 

Once we know that we can advise further.

Nev.

[mowki]

thank you Plastic Nev..

 

To be honest I think the sound went before downloading IE8/ SP3, I downloaded foolishly thinking the update might solve the problem!

Anyway...

 

The PC is a compaq presario FP5315

AMD Athlon XP 2600+

1.91Ghz 704 MB RAM.

 

Sound card - I think - if i have looked in the correct place - device manager -

REALTEK AC 97.

version 5.10.0.5730.

date 1/10/94.

 

Whilst waiting for your reply I downlaoded Driver Detectiveand they say i need 12 drivers updated , obviously haven't proceeded with that - do you want the info they suggest needs updated? would it help at all?

mowki.

[Plastic Nev]

Ok thanks for the details, they will help if we need to look for new drivers. For the moment leave that till we get there.

First is some simple checks, which are the obvious I know, but I still have to ask.

Have you checked the speakers themselves by trying them on something known to be working?

Also are they plugged in correctly and not worked out of the socket by vibration or been pulled on.

Next one is what is showing in device manager? Click "Start"> run > and type in the box (without punctuation marks) "devmgmt.msc" then scroll down till you get to "Sounds and games controllers" Click on the + sign and see if there are any yellow exclamation marks or red question marks.

Let us know what you find, and we can go on from there.

[mowki]

Hi Plastic Nev,

sorry for not replying sooner - ISP problems yesterday and i lost access to the net just as i was getting somewhere!

 

The speakers are integrated to the monitor - may be being dim , are there separate cables?

I have tried CD though and itunes and nothing.

 

Have checked device manager as you said - no yellow/ red question/ exclamation marks.

 

Thanks.

[mowki]

I AM AN IDIOT!!!!

Cable loose at back....:o

Say no more..

Thank you VERY much for all your help, and sorry for wasting your time.

Think I will revise my profile to complete novice!

Mowki

[Plastic Nev]

Hi again, thanks for the info about the speakers being built in, some monitors have a separate cable for the sound and others don't when the speakers are built in, there must be two pins in the "D" shaped plug and socket for that purpose.

 

In that case we need to see if headphones or a separate speaker set will work if plugged into the small jack socket for speakers/headphones. The socket is at the back of the tower normally, (though I have seen the odd machine with them at the front also)

If you do find headphones work, remove the "D" plug for the monitor, check all pins are straight and none bent.

 

One other obvious question that I forgot to ask, have you got the small speaker icon on the right of the bottom task bar? A double click on it should open the control panel, check all sliders are at or near the top and no ticks in any "mute" boxes.

 

All simple stuff so far but we need to get that out of the way before we go any deeper, so please let us know how you get on.

[Plastic Nev]

I was writing and posting so didn't see your last post Mowki. No problem, we all have suffered a loose connection before now:D

Just glad you are up and running again, and thanks for letting us know.