Oh no! What happened? I was doing great and then,, no sound!

What’s worse is that there is a Red X over my speaker icon. When I highlighted it the dreaded words pop out “no audio output device is installed”. What did I do next? Exactly what you are doing and that is I am hitting the net for answers. Guess what I found out? I am not alone and neither are you. Read On!

I have scoured the info-highway looking for answers and there seems to be an infinite number of people with this same problem but never fear, there is a fix and with this fix there are people out there who have been to the promised land and they say that sound has never sounded sweeter. I bring you their success.

Now, not everyone has the same cause but I will go over a few. The most common cause is that a new windows update popped up, you installed it and now “puff”, sound gone. Hate to say it but “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!”, you probably shouldn’t have downloaded that update. There is also many who updated to Vista and your sound device performed a houdini on you and now you hear it, now you don’t. There are other causes but less common. Now before you start messing around with your settings and spend alot of time on this, you may want to check you computer for errors in general, a quick error fixing program can be your fastest solution. If you want to check your computer for errors then CLICK HERE. This programs seems to be the most effective, but there are others out there.

So what is happening that you are getting this, no audio output device installed message? Well it seems that your computer is having trouble with the driver in most cases. How do you know? You can go into your device manager and check for the speaker icon that reads “sound, video and game controllers”. Go ahead and hit that little plus so you can see your sound device. If your are like me, you will see your device (in my case it was the Sigma tel high definition audio codec) with a yellow caution triangle letting you know that the device in not working..

Now what? Well you can try what everyone else try’s (including the 9 tech’s I chatted with from Gateway techsupport.) Yes you read it correctly I said nine, and guess what, they all tried the same thing by remote access. Problem was I kept losing them when they would restart my computer, what’s worse is the red x would always be waiting for me when the computer was up again . Yes, I told all of them what the last tech did but that didn’t deter any of them, huh, guess they had to try it for themselves.” What is it that they all tried? They tried reinstalling the driver. Now it is worth trying becuase this action alone does resolve the issure for MANY people. So go ahead and find the latest version of your driver, download it, uninstall your current driver and install the new one. If you need help with this and or would like to do it the fast and easy way try this LINK.

Unfortuneatly I was one of those few who this didn’t work for so what did I try next? I went to microsoft who seems to be aware of this problem and tried their recomendations without success. I tried installing the driver in safe mode without success (this may work in some cases) and after many days of working in a deafening silence I became desperate and finally tried the ultimate repair. The reset the computer to the original factory settings. Did it work, well it did repair another logging off error I had (yeay!) but the hated and traumatizing red x was waiting for me when I got back up again. It was just sitting there in the corner mocking my every efforts and taunting me with no sound. And what was worse is I had to reinstall all of my programs back again. But my computer was clean. Again this does work for a few people who updated their windows.

The recommendations that we have covered so far have worked for most people, I seemed to be an exception but I will now list the one that worked for me. Here is the recommendation: Step one is to go to control panel, and click on device manager. Look up Sound, video, and game controllers. Next click this (+) to see what kind of audio device you have, then right click it to open properties. Go to driver, and uninstall your device. Make sure you didn’t uninstall your speakers. Next step is to go to Programs, and features. Find your audio system and uninstall it with it’s wizard. Next step is to close your programs, and restart. Windows Vista will restart your machine. Wait… A system wizard will appear and ask you if you want to install. Allow it to install and Walla! No more red x! No more – no audio output device is installed- message. The user was once again in sound heaven. There where many testimonies to similiar experiences so why not give it a try. What is the worst that can happen? No sound? You already got that .

Now if you are like me and prefer to fix problems yourself then you may want to check out these videos. I wish I had seen them earlier, they would have saved me a lot of aggravation not to mention CASH! I didn’t know I could get A+ quality Antivirus and Spyware removal for free did you? A total newbie could do this just by following these videos.

 

.One more suggestion about the sound problem. After uninstalling the driver and reboot it to automatically reinstall it, the audio still may not work. Amazingly though, sometimes after putting the system in hibernate mode and coming back, the audio worked. Try it, just don’t forget to hibernate the system & “wake” it up first.

I had been without sound for too many days (without your favorite grooves you would be cranky also) So I’ve decided to put up a page to share my story (hey, After spending many, many, many hours going around in circles you tend to learn a lot and if I can spare some poor soul some frustration and many hours of work then it is totally worth it (that and I get to vent . I hope this page helped!

Remember, no doubt that he who perseverses achieves and reaches his goals. I am living proof as the sound from my computer has never sounded so sweet. I hope my story helps you reach your goals and may you soon be rocking in music bliss.

God Bless.

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P.S. Remember you may want to checkout these videos or this software.