Lack of Audio since Installing Win7. Why?

Shangas · 20 Sep 2010

Hi Folks.

This place seemed as good a place as any to come and ask for help, so here goes...

My dad's been having internet problems for a long time now, mostly due to YouTube. I tried everything to fix it and in the end we decided that the only thing to do was to upgrade his computer to Windows 7.

We did so, and have since upgraded both his and my computer to Windows 7 Ultimate. Now here's the problem:

My computer has perfect audio. Movies, games, music, YouTube...everything works perfectly.

My dad's computer has NO audio AT ALL. Why this is so, I've no idea. I've tried installing some drivers that were recommended to me, but that's done absolutely nothing. The 'Speaker' symbol on the bottom right of the screen remains inactive with a red and white cross next to it.

I did a bit of reading through this site as well as some of my own troubleshooting and I'm fairly confident it's something wrong with the sound-card. The thing is, I'm not sure how to find out what sound-card that computer has! What do I need to do and how do I fix this problem?

oldfogey · 21 Sep 2010

the easy way to find your sound card details is download pc wizard 2010,its free and very easy to use,there are others you can use such as sandra light.

mw2 · 21 Sep 2010

hi

yeah i think it is something with the driver

try right clicking on the driver and clicking on update driver

hope it helps...

boohbah · 21 Sep 2010

This may sound silly but whilst the speaker icon has a red cross symbol can you left click the speaker and slide the volume control up and down to see if the cross disappears, some time ago my pc would display the cross with no sound and all i had to do was move the volume slider . its not a fix but a workaround , and if it works it will do untill someone more skilled than I comes along to give you the steps needed to correct the issue
my problem cleared up when i was forced to to a clean install and it went . i still dont know why it happened so im unable to shed any light on it for you
Oh and welcome to seven forums this IS the best site you could have chosen for help ,wait and see!

mpcrsc562 · 21 Sep 2010

Shangas said:

My computer has perfect audio. Movies, games, music, YouTube...everything works perfectly.

My dad's computer has NO audio AT ALL. Why this is so, I've no idea. I've tried installing some drivers that were recommended to me, but that's done absolutely nothing. The 'Speaker' symbol on the bottom right of the screen remains inactive with a red and white cross next to it.

What are the specs of your father's computer? Does he have a discrete sound card, or in other words, is there a physical, add-on sound card inserted in one of the slots inside the computer versus the sound that's included with the motherboard? Either way, you will need specific drivers for the sound device. Installing drivers without knowing the specific sound device may be opening yourself up to trouble in the future. Also, kinda elementary, but if there are no speakers connected then you will get the red cross in the system tray icon. What info does Device Manager give you?