Vista can't find my soundcard?

September 14, 2009 12:24 AM

Why can't I record sound on my Vista box?

I was trying to record some streaming media from the internet (video + audio) with Camtasia. I also tried with CamStudio (freeware) . Recording the video worked like a charm, but none of them managed to find any sound. So I tried to record some sound with my Windows Recorder, and even that wouldn't find any sound, so I'm guessing I didn't configure the sound options right. Fwiw: I can hear the sound just fine in my headphone.

Problem: there's two distinct "sound" centers in my control panel. One called "Sound" and one called "Realtek HD Audio Manager".

I already read some stuff on the internet about enabling the Realtek "Stereo Mix", so I did just that. The result is the same: no sound.

So for some reason, Camtasia and Camstudio can't find my sound card, it seems. Can anyone help?

posted by NekulturnY to computers & internet (12 answers total)

Doesn't sound like the problem has anything to do with Camtasia. First, make sure you have the most recent sound drivers installed. Then, in your Control Panel, you should be able to run the "Troubleshoot audio recording" wizard (I'm on Win 7 but I believe there was something similar in Vista).
posted by wireless at 12:38 AM on September 14, 2009

one additionali piece of information: I don't have any speakers plugged in, only a USB headphone.
posted by NekulturnY at 12:48 AM on September 14, 2009

In Windows Recorder, what's the default device set to under Edit->Audio Properties->Audio Devices->Sound Recording?
posted by flabdablet at 1:03 AM on September 14, 2009

flabdablet: There's no function menu in the Sound Recorder (I thought it was called "Windows Recorder" but I was wrong). Pic here, it's the one on the bottom.
posted by NekulturnY at 1:15 AM on September 14, 2009

Pop into control panel, then sound. On the recording tab, make sure the "stereo mix" is set as the default recording device. There's a little VU meter next to all of the recording sources, so make sure when you are playing something that meter is animating.
If not, click on the stereo mix then press properties - I dunno what you'll find in there as I don't have the same set up as you but there should be a record volume in there that you might need to turn up.
posted by samj at 2:50 AM on September 14, 2009

Have you recently installed SP2? That plays merry hell with a lot of sound cards.
posted by Bodd at 4:44 AM on September 14, 2009

I didn't install SP2 afaik.
posted by NekulturnY at 4:50 AM on September 14, 2009

Do you have disabled sounds shown? If not, go into recording devices, right click, show disabled devices.
posted by QueenHawkeye at 5:43 AM on September 14, 2009

Yep, the disabled devices are showing. And Stereo Mix is set as "default".

Could the problem be that I have no speakers plugged into the back panel jacks? Hence, that there are no "speakers" where CamStudio can pick up the sound?
posted by NekulturnY at 5:47 AM on September 14, 2009

gum- "Vista isn't an operating system"?? Please. It works just fine. Most problems with it are user error, like trying to make a 64 bit OS do old 32 bit stuff well, or not learning how to use it. And crappy drivers for crappy equipment. I'll never understand how people will spend months tinkering with some other OS to make it work, instead of spending a weekend figuring out how to make Windows work for them.

(Bias disclosure- I like Windows, I think it is a fine OS. I'm sure I'd like MacOS if I ever had to use it. I use Linux too, I think it makes a fine server, and makes it really easy to do some low-level stuff that is pretty much impossible with Windows. But as a personal computer OS, it is still fiddly. After all, it is a text-based OS with a GUI sitting uncomfortably on top of it- the same thing people criticized Windows 9x for...)

That said, this is an issue. Not so much with Vista, but with the sound card drivers. Vista changed something about how the drivers are done, and a lot of sound card drivers (and older non-vista software) doesn't know how to work well with it. I had the same problem with my PC- if I twiddled with the drivers, I could get it to record. But doing that broke something else, so I put it back.

Your options are- download a livecd of some linux and see it that will do the job for you. Or wait for Realtek to make a driver that works correctly.
posted by gjc at 6:50 AM on September 14, 2009

The cogs in my brain eventually realised what is probably wrong - if you are listening to things on your USB headset and microphone then of course your on board soundcard "stereo mix" won't be able to record anything.
So you need to be outputting the sound through your sound card to record the output of it - you don't actually need speakers plugged in, but you need to switch the default audio output to your soundcard.
posted by samj at 8:23 AM on September 14, 2009

Yeah, I tried that, samj, but to no avail. I think this is one for the "stumped" tag.
posted by NekulturnY at 5:17 AM on September 15, 2009