Windows 7: Audio Devices Not in Mixer; nor Audacity

Now using Windows 7, but since Vista I have not been able to record sound from the speaker / sound device, using Audacity.
I recently found that when opening the "Volume Mixer" - right clicking speaker icon on taskbar - there are only 2 sliders present ; for "Device" > it's Speakers, and for
"Applications"> it's System Sounds. That's it.

Now if I r-click the icon and choose PLAYBACK, I see Speakers (Conexant HD SmartAudio)
and Nvidia HDMI Output. But choosing RECORDING > the same panel opens the Recording Devices Tab , where the ONLY item is MICROPHONE !



In Device Manager , both the Conexant HD and Nvidia HDMI Audio devices are present and "working properly". If an option is to remove one or both of these, and reboot - will
they be recovered without a disc being required? There is no disc.

What you see when you click on the speaker icon in the try is correct. All I have is "mixer" in mine.

Go to the Sound Panel/Recording section and RIGHT click in a blank area in the panel then click to show Disabled Devices and Disconnected Devices. If the sound drivers are installed correctly you should see more items and if you are lucky, one will be the "System Mixer". If the System Mixer shows up enabled it and then make it the default playback device. You can then use Audacity to record streaming audio from the Internet. If you still do not have the System Mixer, look for an updated audio driver.

Thanks , but I've tried the r-clicking in both the Playback and Recording Devices blank spaces, and both "show" choices are checked. Nothing changes from my first post on this. I've done every driver update that's been offered (at least with audio/video and critical)...... since Vista. Nothing has fixed Audacity's glitch. There's a lot to be found on
that, and I've tried what seems applicable to my system. Audacity still works fine on my XP pc.

It's not Audacity. The problem is in your sound drivers and the lack of those functions being available. If the devices, such as the System Mixer, are not in the RECORDING panel (the playback has nothing to do with recording functions such as what you want in Audacity) then Audacity or any other recording program will record.

".. the glitch with Audacity" to put it correctly. Not inferring... wait, implying- it's something wrong with Audacity.
Question still out there; Can I remove/ uninstall the sound devices, and get them back on a reboot.? That's something done in many other cases of problem devices, or drivers.?
How to explain this problem, beginning with VISTA - Aug. 09 - then carrying on to Win 7 upgrade, Dec. 09.... all the time updating drivers for audio, video......? As noted, I'm in a very large club with this problem. I dont have the link ready to insert here, but there's much to read about something that was changed by the Windows bunch..., beginning with Vista. Some have resorted to running an audio line OUT, then back IN to their PC ! That's sad.

I meant to point at that a few weeks ago , the speaker icon on taskbar has a red X on it after bootup. I just need to click on it to bring up the volume slider, and click on that, and all is well. A message usually pops up indicating the "Audio Service" is not running. ??? Why would that be? I've gone over and over all the services, and nothing at all related to audio is "manual", or disabled. At least going by the descriptions.
>> This is new! The Audacity problem has been ongoing for almost 1.5 yrs.
>> About the remove / uninstall - audio devices....... then reboot thing?

If you go to the Device Manager, you can uninstall the sound in the Device Manager, but DO NOT uninstall the drivers, then restart the PC and when Windows starts it should detect and reinstall the sound. You won't "lose" anything doing this.

In the Device Manager, RIGHT click on the entry for the sound module then LEFT click on "uninstall". If the status was corrupt in Windows, doing this will reset it.

By the way, I have a recording studio, so I work with audio daily.