Suddenly no sound. "Failed to play test sound" Is this unsolvable?

Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast

  1. Posts : 10
    Windows 7
       #1

    Suddenly no sound. "Failed to play test sound" Is this unsolvable?


    A few days ago we had a power outage. I don't have an UPS on my Win 7 64 bit Professional PC Dell Optiplex 780. When it powered up again I found I had no sound.

    This is what my onboard sound looks like in device manager:



    Is it odd to have that many devices?

    Here are the things I've tried:

    • Went to Control Panel->Sound->Speakers->Properties. Everything says working fine. Turned on disable all enhancements. No sound. Went to advance. Changed format to DVD. Pressed test and received the "Failed to play test sound"
    • Went to services and restarted Windows Audio. No sound.
    • Ran 'sfc /scannow' from Admin command prompt. Said it found some problems and fixed them. Needed to reboot. Rebooted. No sound. Here's my CBS log file from this try (Dropbox - CBS.log)
    • Run virus/malware scan using AVGFree and Malware Bytes. No threats found. No sound.
    • Uninstall sound drivers, reboot and reinstalled them using the drivers from Dell's website for this model. Still no sound.
    • Booted Win 7 install disc. Chose 'Repair PC'. Windows said it found problems but couldn't fix it.
    • Ran chkdsk with the fix option. Found some files and repaired them. No sound.
    • Windows update . No sound.
    • Bought a cheap USB sound dongle. Installed drivers. No sound. Went into Control Panel->Sound->Speakers->Properties and got "Failed to play test sound" for the new device. You've got to be kidding me!!
    • Ran
      Code:
      dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth
      but get a error code 87 saying that restorehealth is not recognized in this context




    I'm not sure where to go from here. I do not have restore points to go back to. Does anyone have any ideas on how to fix this? My family would be most grateful for your help!
    Last edited by dinki; 17 Jan 2019 at 09:55. Reason: more detail
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 2,246
    Windows 7 Pro SP1 64 bit
       #2

    In addition to a number of other files, the shutdown did a number on audiokse.dll.

    I found this from the microsoft fixit-

    AUDIOKSE.DLL – Microsoft Support

    It doesn't say what to use to scan your registry with and it later suggests downloading and running paretologic. I couldn't get it to run but I only spent a couple of minutes with it.
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 10
    Windows 7
    Thread Starter
       #3

    Thanks for this. I did download that registry cleaner and just cleaned up the registry. It did find problems and repaired them. I did this next:

    Code:
    C:\Windows\system32>sfc /scanfile=C:\Windows\System32\AUDIOKSE.dll
    
    Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files but was unable to fix some of th
    em.
    So something is definitely no good. I just remembered that I had cloned the original hard drive that this PC came with to the SSD I'm currently using. I'm guessing that the audiokse.dll on the original hard drive is not corrupted. Is it possible/advisable to copy this file over the corrupted one? Will windows even allow me to do this as administrator?
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 2,798
    Windows 7 x64, Vista x64, 8.1 smartphone
       #4

    Hi dinki

    You can try DISM again. Only the /restorehealth switch doess not work in Windows 7. Hence your error message.
    Try:
    Code:
    DISM /online /cleanup-image
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 10
    Windows 7
    Thread Starter
       #5

    Gave this a try and I could have sworn I was able to run this before:
    Code:
    C:\Windows\system32>dism /Online /Cleanup-Image
    
    Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
    Version: 6.1.7600.16385
    
    Image Version: 6.1.7601.18489
    
    
    Error: 87
    
    An error occurred while processing the command.
    Ensure that the command-line arguments are valid. For more information, review t
    he log file.
    
    The DISM log file can be found at C:\Windows\Logs\DISM\dism.log
    
    C:\Windows\system32>
    Here's a link to that log file: Dropbox - dism.log

    I can't thank you enough for your guidance and for trying to help!
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 2,798
    Windows 7 x64, Vista x64, 8.1 smartphone
       #6

    Hello dinki,

    When you run DISM, do you have admin privileges (elevated command prompt)?
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 6,021
    Win 7 HP SP1 64-bit Vista HB SP2 32-bit Linux Mint 18.3
       #7

    Hi dinki,

    Welcome to SevenForums!

    As iko22 has pointed out, run it from an elevated command prompt:

    Click Start.
    • In the search box type cmd.
    • Right-click the cmd icon from the search results under Programs and select Run as administrator.
    • The elevated command prompt window will now open.
    I hope this helps!
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 10
    Windows 7
    Thread Starter
       #8

    Thanks guys. I certainly am using elevated command prompt as @Paul Black stated above:

      My Computer


  9. Posts : 6,021
    Win 7 HP SP1 64-bit Vista HB SP2 32-bit Linux Mint 18.3
       #9

    Hi dinki,

    I don't know if this will help but might it be worth a try!

    Run an Extended Disk Cleanup [with ALL the options checked]. This gets rid of all the superfluous files etc.

    I hope this helps!
      My Computer


  10. Posts : 10
    Windows 7
    Thread Starter
       #10

    Just tried the clean up and didn't make a difference. Sigh... Unsolvable?
      My Computer


 
Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast

  Related Discussions
Our Sites
Site Links
About Us
Windows 7 Forums is an independent web site and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Microsoft Corporation. "Windows 7" and related materials are trademarks of Microsoft Corp.

© Designer Media Ltd
All times are GMT -5. The time now is 10:33.
Find Us