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Sounds not working in Windows 7.

Discussion in 'Technical Discussion' started by Willie, Jul 14, 2014.

  1. Willie

    Willie

    Each day the world turns Laugh 'til it all burns Member
    For whatever reason, my computer decided to be a total fucking asshole to me this morning. I changed absolutely nothing and for whatever reason, sound isn't working on my computer. It acts like everything is fine with audio (my computer gives indicators that audio is being played), but I'm hearing absolutely nothing with my sound card. I tried unplugging and replugging stuff, trying to use two different pairs of headphones and my speakers, repooting my PC a couple of times, and none of this has helped at all. I'm extremely confused and frustrated that I'm getting no sound. What could possibly be causing the problem?
     
  2. GerbilSoft

    GerbilSoft

    RickRotate'd. Administrator
    2,971
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    rom-properties
    Just for the hell of it: try booting to an Ubuntu 14.04 Live CD, then reboot back to Windows and see if that makes a difference.
     
  3. D.A. Garden

    D.A. Garden

    Sonic CD's Sound Test Member
    Purely ironic that I'm experiencing the same thing, I think.

    Never had a problem with Sound but for the last week (I think), sound starts as usual on start-up but after a while will just stop working altogether.
    Restarting the sound driver will fix the issue, as will closing the lid on the laptop and then reopening it, although this is only a temporary fix until it stops again.
    Another oddity with this issue is that if I try to test the sound device when it's not working, the test doesn't work and I get the following message:

    "Device In Use. The device is being used by another application. Please close any devices that are playing audio to this device and try again."

    I haven't changed anything, updated anything or installed/uninstalled anything. The only change I can think of is a Windows update last week but it was just a normal, weekly security update from Microsoft.
    If anyone has any idea what's going on, I'd appreciate the help.
     
  4. SF94

    SF94

    Tech Member
    Check your default audio device. Sounds to me almost like it's playing on another output or virtual device.
     
  5. Willie

    Willie

    Each day the world turns Laugh 'til it all burns Member
    So I launched into Ubuntu to see if audio worked fine with that to make sure the problem was not my sound card and sure enough, audio worked fine. Then I tried Windows again and audio worked without any problems. o_o I did absolutely nothing different with Windows. I have no idea why it stopped working correctly this morning and why it suddenly works fine again.
     
  6. ICEknight

    ICEknight

    Researcher Researcher
    Did you connect a Cintiq tablet or any other HDMI device that doesn't have sound output capabilities? That would explain it.