I can’t get the sound on my PC to work. It used to work just fine, then, one day, it stopped working, and I haven’t been able to get it working since.

My system is Windows XP Pro SP2.
My motherboard is ASUS A7N266.
I recently purchased a new PCI sound card (Creative Sound Blaster 128 – CT4810).

I know that it’s not a problem with wiring or my speakers. I have tested the cables and speakers with my laptop and they work fine.

It seems like the audio “device” is just simply not recognized. From the Control Panel, when I go to “Sounds and Audio Devices”, I see the message: “No Audio Devices”. So, there’s the problem. Of course, the issue is that I DO indeed have an audio device, so this statement is wrong.

I was originally using the onboard sound card with my motherboard. I never had any problems with it. After the sound disappeared, I tried the following:

I uninstalled and reinstalled the latest driver for the motherboard and sound card – same problem. I disabled and then enabled the device – same problem. I checked the IRQs, looking for a conflict – there wasn’t one. Looking in the device manager, there were no yellow exclamation points, and all of the devices listed under “Sound, Video, and Game Controllers” had properties which all said “This device is working properly”. I even ran the Windows Audio Troubleshooter – it was useless and didn’t get me anywhere.

Thinking it was a problem with my motherboard’s audio hardware, I went out and bought a PCI audio card (see above). According to some docs I read on the web, I needed to disable my onboard audio through BIOS in order to get the PCI card to work. I did this. Next I installed the driver for the sound card. Everything seemed to go fine.

Looking in the device manager currently, all items under the “Sound, Video, and Game Controllers” section are ok and have no yellow exclamation points (and have properties which say “This device is working properly”) except the “Game Port for Creative” item. Big deal, I figure…

But now, I still have the same things as before.: The audio “device” is just not recognized. Under “Sounds and Audio Devices”, I see the message: “No Audio Devices”.

As I mentioned before, my audio used to work just fine. For years. Then, I used my computer one day and the audio was completely gone! Argh! This is driving me nuts! Please HELP!

1. Can anyone fathom what could possibly be going on?

2. Can anyone give me some suggestions on how I can diagnose the problem, or steps I can take to correct the problem?

Go into your device manager and uninstall everything on your Audio Ports, reboot the computer, it should reconfigure your sound when the computer comes back on

Tried that already. It doesn't make any difference. The same end result happens again after I re-install all the drivers.

Any other suggestions, anyone?

A friend of mine had this problem awhile back. I would try Physically removing the sound card from the computer and the driver for it and put it back in as if it was the first time. I know it sounds weird, but it worked for him.

Well, I can try this, though I'm almost positive it won't have any effect. The reason is because I already did do this. As I mentioned, after I couldn't get the onboard audio to work, I went out an bough a PCI audio card. So, effectly, I did take it out, since it was never installed before. After inserting it and installing the drivers, I had the same problem as before.

This leads me to believe it has nothing to do with the PCI card, since it's the exact same problem I was experiencing with the onboard audio. Wouldn't you agree?

It has to be something else.