Help No computer sound

March 2, 2006 12:11 PM

I have no sound from my computer. I had to have a computer technician reformat my hard drive and reinstall Windows XP (Home edition service pack 2). Ever since than, no sound from speakers or headphones! I went into control panel - sounds - audio device says no audio device found. I am not terrible computer literate. I think I need to install a sound driver. Can anyone tell me what I need to download, where to get it on the internet and where to place the file? I even had my 17 year old son working on it and we both are stumped. Thanks soooo much....
posted by orlin to computers & internet (12 comments total)

I would recommend running windows updates as a first attempt at resolving the problem, if you are lucky the missing device driver will be found. To run windows update open Internet Explorer and select Windows Update from the Tools menu.

When you get to the Windows Update select the Custom update option. If you have not run windows update in a while you will be prompted to install an update to the “Windows Genuine Advantage Validation tool” once it has completed click the Continue button.

At this point you should see a progress bar and some text indicating that your computer is being checked for pending updates. When this has completed look on the left had column for a link labeled “Hardware (optional)”. Click on the link. If you are lucky your missing sound driver will be listed in the optional hardware updates, because they are optional you will need to add the sound driver update to your list of pending updates in order to actually install it.

If this does not work please respond with the manufacture and product number of your computer.
posted by phil at 12:25 PM on March 2, 2006

I have resolved similar situations by downloading a new audio driver as you suspect, and others will no doubt describe better than I can.

But can you also get some help from the technician? or your money back?
posted by theredpen at 12:30 PM on March 2, 2006

If it's a name-brand, can you post the exact model and type of your computer? That sort of information can really help in determining how sound is configured there.
posted by mdevore at 12:47 PM on March 2, 2006

Have you verified that the service is running? I had a very similar problem a year ago and even went so far as to get a new sound card; nothing worked. Turns out that the service just wasn't running.

Try this: Go to start > run. Type in services.msc and hit OK.

When the box pops up, scroll down and look for Windows Audio (or similar). Double click it. Make sure that the startup type is Automatic, change it to that if it isn't. Then click Start.

This has happened to me several times in the past year, and this fixed it every time. No idea what causes it.
posted by geckoinpdx at 12:56 PM on March 2, 2006

I installed XP professional and experienced the same thing.

I went to the control panel->system clicked on the hardware tab, expanded sound, video, game contollers. There was a yellow question mark beside audio drivers (indicating a problem, ie there wan't one) I believe i right clicked on it and you have an option for the computer to attempt to find a driver on the internet. Clicked that and i was done, delicious sound for all....
posted by skinnydipp at 1:00 PM on March 2, 2006

oops forgot to mention after clicking on the hardware tab you would click on the device manager tab..sorry
posted by skinnydipp at 1:06 PM on March 2, 2006

on preview skinnydipp pretty much nails it ...

If this is a brand name PC (like a Dell, Gateway, etc) you probably have a driver CD. It will be labelled something like 'Drivers and Utilities'. If you have it, put it in the PC.

Go to Start > Control Panel > System. Select the Hardware tab. Click the Device Manager button. You will see a list of devices. Check for anything that has a big yellow question mark or red X on it. There may be more than one. The one you are looking for is labeled Multimedia Audio Controller. Double click on it.

On the properties window that comes up click the button that says re-install driver. Click next and it should start searching for a driver. It will search your hard drive then the CD then the internet. Hopefully it will find the correct driver in one of those places.

If this doesn't work contact your "computer technician" and have him fix it.
posted by banshee at 1:13 PM on March 2, 2006

It sounds like the computer isn't even finding your audio controller. If bansee's technique doesn't work, go back to the device manager as he advises and then highlight any of the devices. You should see several new icons pop up. One of them looks like a desktop with a magnifying glass in front of it. The computer will search for new hardware and might find your controller. If that doesn't work, call the tech again.
posted by Ironmouth at 1:43 PM on March 2, 2006

Um, I forgot the key step of clicking on the icon that looks like a desktop with a magnifying glass in front of it!
posted by Ironmouth at 1:44 PM on March 2, 2006

1) I've tried the windows update (custom hardware) -- didn't work although did update some files. 2) Tried this (I went to the control panel->system clicked on the hardware tab, expanded sound, video, game contollers. There was a yellow question mark beside audio drivers (indicating a problem, ie there wan't one) I believe i right clicked on it and you have an option for the computer to attempt to find a driver on the internet.) and didn't work. 3) Tried this (I went to the control panel->system clicked on the hardware tab, expanded sound, video, game contollers. There was a yellow question mark beside audio drivers (indicating a problem, ie there wan't one) I believe i right clicked on it and you have an option for the computer to attempt to find a driver on the internet.) didn't work although there was a yellow icon I tried to update and the system said it was already updated. 4) Tried the Diagnostic tools recovery disc and didn't work. I'll probably have to take it in. I WANT TO THANK ALL OF YOU FOR YOUR TIME...
posted by orlin at 5:05 PM on March 2, 2006

I actually had a similar problem with my friend's computer. I couldn't think what the problem was, I had tried updating the sound driver, using windows update and even different codecs.

However out of curiosity I looked in the BIOS and the sound was disabled. Perhaps looking in the BIOS might work for you? I can't remember what it was called exactly, however I'm sure if you read through each of the options you will find the right menu.

Just simply press either "f12" or "del" as the computer boots up, the key varies from computer to computer, but it should say on the screen which button it is as the computer loads.

Best of luck.
posted by Sevenupcan at 6:54 PM on March 2, 2006

Wonder if you already took it in. If you didn't, and it's a purchased model from a company, if you give a model number and a brand, I might be able to look up a download for audio drivers.

It sounds like it just lost the driver. The 'Find the driver on the internet' thing has never worked for me. I once lost my sound driver after updating to Service Pack 2, and had to install drivers from the manufactuer's included CD. I've had other issues from time to time and either that or a trip to the manufactuer's website always turned up a driver that fixed my problems.
posted by Phynix at 2:40 PM on March 3, 2006