New
#1
Sound Control panel takes 2 minutes to open; HDMI sound inconsistent
Brand new Windows 7 Home Premium (6 bit) computer. When I click on the Sound control panel item, sometimes it takes 1-2 minutes to open. But that's kind of minor (although I'd like to know how to fix it), because sometimes the HDMI sound to my HDTV works fine, and sometimes it doesn't work at all. The only sure fix is to reboot the computer, which isn't really what I want to do every time I want sound coming from the HDTV speakers.
More details: if I reboot the computer, and then switch from the monitor to the HDTV for my video output, I can open the Sound control panel (opens at normal speed) and then I select the HDTV to be the default sound device; and everything is good. At some point, I stop watching the HDMI output to the HDTV, switch the video to my main monitor, and the sound now comes out of the computer speakers. Great. That's what I want. I can even turn off the HDTV, come back 20 minutes later, switch the video back to the HDTV and the sound goes through the HDTV speakers. Switch back and forth a couple of times and everything works as expected. Great. That's what I want.
But at some later point in time, it stops working, and I don't know what triggers this. At this later point in time, I switch the video from the monitor to the HDTV, but now the sound remains with the computer speakers, if I try to open the sound control panel, it takes 1-2 minutes, and when it finally opens the sound control panel no longer lets me select the HDTV to be the default sound device. What's wrong? How do I fix this?