No audio playing despite audio devices *apparently* OK

[LePhuronn]

OK, I'm stumped on this one. Thought I'd throw this out to you all before I just wipe the damn thing and start again.

Phenom II X4 955BE at stock
8GB RAM (Kingston I believe) at 1333MHz
Asus 785G chipset motherboard (can't recall which one)
Radeon 5550 1GB
Windows 7 Professional 64-bit

Randomly, it stops producing audio one day after using the onboard since it was built (about a year old at this point). However, the volume control icon is still there, and everything that could report on the device status all says it's there an working fine.

Try to play anything with audio however and nowt happens - no sound, not even any activity on Windows' little volume meters.

Checked the default audio device, disabled the ATI HD audio on the graphics card, even ripped the Radeon out and uninstalled it so there's only 1 audio device.

Still nothing.


So, I get the guys over at the shop we use to have a look, they say it's OK after putting in a cheapo PCI sound card. Go to use the thing today and nothing's changed. And now, Windows Media Player won't even do anything - open a wave file, a WMV and AVI, hit play and nothing, not even actually progressing through the file.

Similarly, Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 won't play anything back, and I mean nothing happens not just video plays back with no audio.


I can't afford to have this machine offline any longer so I'm about to just wipe the bloody thing and start over, but if anybody has any suggestions as to what else I can try I'm all ears.

Ta muchly - give me a shout if you need any more info.

 

[Supernova1138]

Have you tried reinstalling the sound drivers for your onboard sound. I had a similar problem with the onboard sound no longer working, but the device was still listed in the device manager, reinstalling the sound drivers fixed the problem. Disconnect the cheapo PCI sound card and try to dig up your motherboard's driver CD, or download the drivers from Asus's website and reinstall them.

For the download option you will have to know your motherboard's model number, but you can get that off of your BIOS splash screen when the system starts up, or simply open the case, the model number should be printed on the board itself.

 

[davcon]

VT1708S
http://www.via.com.tw/en/support/drivers.jsp

 

[LePhuronn]

Sorry, I neglected to mention I've already tried driver updates for both the onboard and the PCI card.

Doesn't hurt to try again.

What I don't get is even if the onboard had gone faulty or drivers had gotten screwed, I've disabled it and put in a separate card. Still nothing, and as I said there's no sign of activity at all.

It's almost as if Windows' multimedia subsystem has gotten screwed.

 

[davcon]

Sorry, I neglected to mention I've already tried driver updates for both the onboard and the PCI card.

Doesn't hurt to try again.

What I don't get is even if the onboard had gone faulty or drivers had gotten screwed, I've disabled it and put in a separate card. Still nothing, and as I said there's no sign of activity at all.

It's almost as if Windows' multimedia subsystem has gotten screwed.

It won't hurt to scrub out audio driver renmants.
Try DriverSweeper and get rid of them.
Has always worked for me both audio and video wise.

 

[LePhuronn]

Cheers Davcon

I'll have a go when I'm back in the office tomorrow and give you an update.

Thanks to you both so far.

 

[king smp]

first do scan file
http://windows.about.com/od/maintainandfix/ss/scansystemfiles.htm
then Do a windows repair using install disk just in case
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/3413-repair-install.html

if all fails it cant hurt
might save you from complete reinstall

 

[HEXiT]

have you tried just unplugging the speaker waiting a few and then plugging it back in.
if you get a message saying audio jack removed when you plug it back in you should see another saying audio jack inserted, what output should be designated to it. choose front out.

it may just be sum1 is yankin yer chain with you at the office by changing the outputs...

 

[LePhuronn]

Well HEXiT, if somebody is yanking my chain about the PCI sound card working then I'll kick off because that cost me money because I paid them to do it for me because I didn't have time to do it myself.

 

[HEXiT]

lol m8 i have seen worse practical jokes at the office, and in a way you wanna hope thats all it is...

coz that way you know the door is open for retaliation

 

[LePhuronn]

I doubt anybody has been tinkering intentionally, but we have had students in so they could have messed with it.

Just has me stumped. I've been doing this for years and I've never been stumped like this before lol no jack detection, no activity, nothing.

I'll go try these suggestions again and see if anything comes from it, otherwise I'm gonna full reinstall.

 

[vegettonox]

Did they disable the onboard sound when the put the pci card in this can cause all sorts of problems. I would also recommend and i know this is anal but check your speakers to make sure they are still working.

 

[LePhuronn]

Thanks for the input vegettonox - yes, the onboard was disabled before adding the PCI card. I've also spent a while triple-checking the speakers and all wiring into the amp to make sure it's all OK. It is.


An update:

Having had a quick play again this morning and gone back to the onboard sound for a bit with the PCI card removed and both onboard digital outputs disabled.

I've been able to get activity on the system - i.e. Windows volume meters flicking away when playing sound through different apps (you know how each thing that uses a sound pops up a volume control). The Realtek HD manager also detects jack activity when I plug speakers into the jack, but I don't think I can actually do jack retasking, so desktop stereo speakers are green socket only.

7 different sets of speakers and headphones and nothing comes out.

Could this be a faulty jack?


I'll be moving on to the PCI card shortly.

 

[festerovic]

Check to see if there is an option somewhere, either on the realtek or the sound card, that says something to the effect of : "Output only digital audio" . (thats what it says on mine, but I know my work computer it says something different for the same option)

 

[LePhuronn]

I've disabled all digital options. Nothing.

I might see if can score an optical receiver to see if I can get sound out if the onboard. I'm thinking dodgy jack at this point.

PCI card tomorrow if I can't get an optical receiver.

 

[LePhuronn]

Link please Dadiggle? As far as I know I've used that driver version and still nothing. And the machine was working fine on Windows 7 x64 up until a few weeks back.

It also doesn't explain why the issue persists with a PCI card.

I'll try anything of course and exhaust all options before I reformat and start over.

 

[king smp]

Repost
first do scan file
http://windows.about.com/od/mainta [...] mfiles.htm
then Do a windows repair using install disk just in case
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutoria [...] stall.html

if all fails it cant hurt
might save you from complete reinstall


try this before reformat IMHO