Hi all,

I'm also posting this to some Microsoft forums, but posting here seems to get faster, more friendly and often more informed responses. So I hope you can forgive me :)

Today I upgraded my PC to run on Win 7 64-bit. All went well with one exception, the sound has decided to no longer work. The speakers had been working just fine 30 minutes previously, in my PC's previous life as an XP machine.

Anyway, once I had upgraded to W7 x64, initially the speaker icon in my traybar had a red cross next to it. The associated tooltip was "No speakers or headphones are plugged in". After having attempted to update the drivers via the normal channels, I did some googling and found an answer pointing to some generic AC97 drivers from Realtek. Further research showed that this was a common "generic" answer, and one that people "swore black and blue" was the solution. So I downloaded and installed this file.

When I did this, and restarted my machine, the red cross had disappeared from the speaker icon in my traybar. Furthermore, there was an additional traybar icon - a red speaker for the Realtek HD Audio Manager control panel. As well as all of this, there was an additional entry in the Device Manager under Sound, Video and Game Controllers called "Realtek High Definition Audio". The properties of this entry showed me that "This device is working properly".

So, I tested this by playing some music in the Windows Media Player. Stone Silence ... but clicking on the speaker icon in the traybar showed me that the volume meter was moving. So, while my PC is making all these claims that all is well with the speakers, and that the volume is just fine - its not, its all BS.

I tried everything I could think of to make this work. I double and triple checked the connections between the speakers and my PC. I also went into the Realtek HD Audio Manager and tested L and R speakers, and different settings and presets. All to no avail.

Any help appreciated .... the stubborn refusal of my PC's audio to play ball is starting to sh*t me to tears !

regards,
Andrew

Forgot to mention that I also performed an AIDA32 diagnostic, and the audio adapter was uselessly described as "High Definition Audio Controller [NoDB]". This made it well nigh impossible to track down a driver from a particular manufacturer.

hi,

just trying. Go Start > Configuration . Sound, this will give you a window with tabs for playing, recording and setting the windows event sound. Go playing, and check your list with sound devices.

In my case, the High Definition Audio either has to do with the SPDIF port, or with using the explicit 3.5mm stereo jacks. I've got both (not used/connected). 

I also have symbols for sound over the headphone jack (use that sometimes, for simple speakers), and over USB speakers (using that for my headphone). I don't have a build in PC speaker, otherwise that one should show as well.

The thing that happens to me every now and then is that while fiddling with the USB and headphone jack speakers, my machine doesn't know which one is active and connected. Ths Sound panel gives the clues, telling you which one can accept sound ("connected"), and which one is really active (green checkmark, you can have one active at the time only, I guess). You can right-click each entry for options, like testing and (de)activating.

It seems to me that your speakers are not activated, as your HD-audio apparently is, I'm not sure whether they are connected. 

Hope this helps

aRtBee (running just Vista 32)

Thanks, aRtBee,

I couldn't find Configuration, Sound from the start menu - although I have probably already experimented with it, as I have tried just about everything under the sun to make this work.

I am certain that my speakers are wired up correctly, firstly because it was working just fine under XP, also the speaker jacks are all color-coded so you can't go wrong.

Actually, I have had similar problems in the past, and it has normally been resolved by downloading the appropriate Windows Update. In this case, there were a large number of mandatory updates, and a handful of optional updates. When I selected them all to be updated, about 18 of them failed .... BUT .... when I go back to Windows Update, it keeps telling me that it is all up-to-date. So, it seems as if there are a number of Windows Updates that are floating in limbo - and maybe the appropriate audio driver update(s) is among them ?

regards,
Andrew

Are you missing the Mixer?  I had to install the Mixer for my internal sound card and put in my origianal sound driver for the same pc that was upgraded, had to uninstall the update that MS sent.  Sharen

Thanks, Sharen, but I don't know of any additional mixer. Keep in mind it was all working while my PC was operating under XP.

Re your first screenshots, yes you are right selecting the option "Show disabled devices" under the Recording tab revealed that my stereo mixer was disabled - but that is for recording, not playback. Also, I am not sure where you are taking me with the next two snapshots as my Control Panel access is very different so I don't know what you are suggesting there ?

regards,
Andrew

Sorry didn't see your last screenshot (to configure the playback device). Anyhow, I did this but it did not make any difference.

Sharen, you are a true gem !! :))

This has "almost" fixed the problem. When I configured the playback device, and re-set to 5:1 Surround (which is what I have), I got all the speakers to make a noise during the configuration test - which proves I have sound.

However .... it is still not playing back sounds from Windows Media Player or from the system sound files, I can't work out why but clearly its something I haven't yet done (?)

regards,
Andrew

Try Microsoft's online Fix-It centre.  It should be found from their main website www.microsoft.com

Basically, it is a browser-based interactive diagnosis and automated tweaking of various features of your hardware and software settings, including the sound system.

I just used it 6 hours earlier today to fix the printer settings on my windows 7 machine.

it might be as SIMPLE that there are NO 64 bit drivers for you audio chip.

And then you wont have sound at all..

Check the site for you sound chip or Motherboard to see if you audio dives is suported by 64Bit ..

Chris

Also, look in your device manager to see if your sound card is working properly. And lastly, make sure it's something as simple as your main speakers aren't muted ;o)

Laurie

I seem to recall having a similar problem when I upgraded my graphics card.  My system was trying to call audio from a non-existant source and I had to go into the bios to enable on-board sound. 

The problem has now been solved.

Thanks all who contributed. SAMS3D in particular, as her response pointed me in the direction of the answer.

I had my speaker system configured incorrectly. I needed to go to the Playback tab of the Sounds applet in Control Panel, and re-configure my speaker setup to reflect 5:1 Surround (which is what I have, but which is not the default in Win 7).

regards,
Andrew

Great work, glad to see it worked.  I have worked with Win 7 at work for about a year, and sound seems to be the most effected in later systems, even systems that are not that old.  Glad to see all is working, it is so great to fix Win 7 for some reason, it feels like such an accoplishment.  LOL.  Sharen

hi Andrew,

glad you fixed it. And that you found Sound in Control Panel, as I tried to point you at in the first place. Sorry for putting you on the wrong foot by translating my Dutch OS verbs incorrectly, it's Control Panel indeed (and not Configuration Screen). Thanks Sams3d for the screenshots and details.

Ronald

Not sure if anyone tried this. I didn't see it as one of the possible fixes when I skimmed over the posts. But Window's 7 has an automatic trouble shooting feature that may be able to correct the problem with the audio.  Wasn't sure if anyone mentioned this or not.