I believe I have an onboard sound card. The driver installed is from C-Media. I can't remember the specific details but I can provide them later when I get home. I'm running Windows XP with all the service packs.

My computer's sound just stopped working. I've gone through the whole troubleshooting steps provided by Windows XP. The computer sees my sound card in the Device Manager and even says that it is enabled and working properly. I've checked all the volume settings and none of them are set to mute. I've also ensured my speaker's connections to the sound card and, yes, the speaker is turned ON. When I go to Control Panel > Sounds and try to play one of the system sounds (i.e. Alert, Window Close, etc) my computer doesn't give an error but it DOES NOT play any sound either.

I'm starting to think that this is a hardware problem. I'm thinking of buying a new sound card (just the cheaper ones as I don't really need high-end sound performance). But I want to ask the kind people of this forum first if my problems can be fixed before I buy a new sound card. For all I know, installing a new sound card may not even solve the problem I have.

I'd also like to note that this problem started right after I tried installing a game demo. The game was not installed because there was a problem during installation then I noticed that was the time I started to lose the sound in my computer. I don't know if this is relevant or just a coincidence.

Thanks!

What is listed under Start/Run/ dxdiag | Sound

Also check the Device Manager: RT click My Computer then click Manage then Device Manager or go to start/run/ devmgmt.msc for any "!"

Also are you familiar with System Restore?

Start/Run/ %systemroot%\system32\restore\rstrui.exe

Have you tried that?

Thanks for replying so promptly. I'm sorry I couldn't provide you with the details of my Device Manager now. I'll try to post again later when I get home. (It's my home PC that has a problem)

It's been a while since this problem started. It's probably a month already since it first started. I don't use my home computer much but my little brother does. He's probably installed a few games since then. Will running System Restore mean that we'll lose everything installed after the restore date?

Thanks.

System Restore will probably (if successfull) take you back to the point you choose.

So yes eliminating everything since.

Check dxdiag & Device Manager first.

dxdiag results:

Device Name: C-Media Wave Device
Device ID: PCI\VEN13F6DEV_0111SUBSYS_80E21043REV
Driver Name: cmaudio.sys
Version: 5.12.0001.0643
Date: 18/11/2002
WHQL Logo'd: n/a
Provider: C-Media
Note:
No problems found.

Here's what I noticed today. Some sound can be heard during the first 30 seconds upon booting up. After that, no more sounds. When I reboot I notice that the mixer.exe process goes through the "End Now" dialog box that Windows XP usually throws at you when a program hangs. I've already uninstalled the driver and when I restarted XP was "helpful" enough to automatically install a driver for the sound card. Again, there was sound for the first few seconds then it's gone again. I'm now going to try to update the driver by going through the prompts when I click Update Driver in Device Manager.

I won't know if it works until I disconnect and reboot my computer. But does anyone have other ideas about what's causing my sounds to stop working after a few seconds upon startup? It'll be great to hear recommendations from more knowledgeable people here in the forum.

Thanks.

By the way, I checked Device Manager and found no hardware device in conflict. I didn't see any !

After updating the driver, I restarted my computer. The sound worked again but stopped after about 30 seconds.

Is this a sound card problem? Would replacing the sound card fix my problem?

Thanks.

dxdiag results:

Device Name: C-Media Wave Device
Device ID: PCI\VEN13F6DEV_0111SUBSYS_80E21043REV
Driver Name: cmaudio.sys
Version: 5.12.0001.0643
Date: 18/11/2002
WHQL Logo'd: n/a
Provider: C-Media
Note:
No problems found.

Here's what I noticed today. Some sound can be heard during the first 30 seconds upon booting up. After that, no more sounds. When I reboot I notice that the mixer.exe process goes through the "End Now" dialog box that Windows XP usually throws at you when a program hangs. I've already uninstalled the driver and when I restarted XP was "helpful" enough to automatically install a driver for the sound card. Again, there was sound for the first few seconds then it's gone again. I'm now going to try to update the driver by going through the prompts when I click Update Driver in Device Manager.

I won't know if it works until I disconnect and reboot my computer. But does anyone have other ideas about what's causing my sounds to stop working after a few seconds upon startup? It'll be great to hear recommendations from more knowledgeable people here in the forum.

Thanks.

"Some sound can be heard during the first 30 seconds ...."

It appears that you've verified that the sound device and speakers are in working order. I would go with a system restore as jephree suggested. This way the elements which are killing the sound will be gone. Files from any of the games/software download/installs will still be there, but those can be hunted down and removed.

Originally Posted by Dan Penny

"Some sound can be heard during the first 30 seconds ...."

It appears that you've verified that the sound device and speakers are in working order. I would go with a system restore as jephree suggested. This way the elements which are killing the sound will be gone. Files from any of the games/software download/installs will still be there, but those can be hunted down and removed.

Thanks. I'll try a system restore. If that doesn't work I might try to reformat the computer.