No Audio Output Device Installed

[Emiscary]

Alright, I give up. I've tried everything I can think of to fix this damned problem so now I'm left with no choice but to seek outside help. So, last night I updated windows after a minor leave of absence from doing so. and once everything was configured my computer started insisting I had no sound drivers installed. There's a neat little red X over my audio icon and everything. I checked the control panel, and there are in fact drivers installed. I tried updating them- still nothing. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling them- still nothing. Tried a system restore, that didn't work either either. So, suggestions? I'd appreciate any help you could give me.

 

[linnemeyerhere]

Emiscary,
Welcome to SF. Could you do us a huge favor and fill out your system spec's so we can get a better idea of components. I trust that no connections were changed all you did was an update?

 

[Emiscary]

Updated. Filled in the info I knew offhand, anything in particular that might be useful? And no, I didn't fiddle with anything else. I installed the updates and afterwards, nada.

 

[Sardonicus]

Check your bios and make sure that on-board audio is still enabled.

 

[Emiscary]

I probably should've mentioned this in the first post, but you're probably safe in assuming I don't know anything about do it yourself trouble shooting beyond the bare minimum. How do I go about doing the above exactly?

 

[linnemeyerhere]

This will make things a bit more awkward. The bios is an area where you should become familiar but also need to be very careful with and understanding the settings. It's not rocket science but it's not a cake walk either. Can you find your manual or get it downloaded and print the bios section from the manufacturers web site?

 

[Emiscary]

The manual I keep handy. So what's my first step now?

 

[linnemeyerhere]

OK so read up and find out how your motherboard enters into the bios mode on startup. Likely Delete key or F2 key or the like. Then use your arrow keys, enter key and esc key to move to/into and out of each category in the bios. If you aren't sure of what you're doing please contact a computer savvy friend......please. Remember any changes must be saved by hitting the F10 key. Find the tab which gets you to the audio portion and double check to see if it is enabled if it is then leave it alone if not then please enable, save and re-boot. Please advise us what you find and please have a look around but ask questions before changing anything else in the bios settings....we're just looking for the audio issue currently and I'm not interested in creating a whole host of other issues...lol !

 

[Emiscary]

Well I did some poking around and eventually found something audio related under the integrated peripherals menu. "Azalia Codec". Had 2 settings: auto, and disabled. Left it on auto. On an unrelated note, my computer now seems to be unable to update normally. Noticed it this morning, but like my sound- my computer now insists that windows update it not running. When I open windows update in the control panel, I get a neat little red X on my shield and if I check for updates, I get a neat little warning message that claims I can't at the moment because the service isn't running, and I need to restart. On a probably related note, whenever I shut down my computer now, the "installs updates before shutting down" icon appears, although it doesn't seem like whatever update it is installs properly because the message pops back up once the computer's running again.

 

[Emiscary]

As for a cause for the above, my best guess is it was either the system restore, or my attempt to reinstall older versions of my audio drivers saved on my system (one of the supposed solutions I drummed up searching for answers on google). Couldn't have been when I was poking around in BIOS seeing as how I didn't change anything or save said changes.

 

[linnemeyerhere]

Emiscary,
Exactly right, this all has to do with a failed windows update or some other issue. Please read the manual and boot up into "safe mode with networking" this on my system is tapping F8 on start up. Then please go to Start, All Programs and then Windows Update and with luck it will search and grab the updates and complete them. Let me know how this goes.

 

[Emiscary]

Well I've been pouring through the manual for some time now and discovered no less than three utilities that could've fixed my problem if I'd known about them earlier, but still have yet to find anything on booting up in safe mode. Any additional hints you could give as to where I could start looking? lol

 

[Emiscary]

Oh, and it seems running the windows update troubleshooter solved the update issue, it can check for and install updates normally. Little ashamed I didn't bother trying earlier >.>

 

[linnemeyerhere]

Well sorry I couldn't be of more help. It's funny how sometimes the answers are right in front of us......it happens to us all. Let it update and then go back and see if there are any more updates and then restart if it doesn't do it for you. Then see if your audio comes back or if you can go into audio setting and get it working, then let us know either way.

 

[Emiscary]

Well the update issue seems to have been entirely seperate. Results when I try to tinker with audio settings are the same as they've always been. Still tells me there's no audio outpit device installed, if I try and troubleshoot sounds it tells me the audio device is disabled, annnd when I open Sound "speakers" is listed as the default device, appears to be enabled, and can neither be disabled tested or configured. If I right click the icon and click anything but properties or "About Souftware MIDI Synthesizer", nothing happens.

Does the above narrow things down somewhat?

 

[stormy13]

What does it show in Device Manager under "Sound, video and game controllers"?

 

[Emiscary]

4 Identical entries called "NVIDIA High Definition Audio" and one called "Realtek High Definition Audio"