No sound and other issues after bad Windows Update

Gundog48

Gundog48

Gundog48

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13 Sep 2009
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Maidstone, Kent
I had a bad Windows update a few days ago and have had a ton of problems. One I ran startup repair I managed to get into Windows and do what I normally do with no problems. In the end I had to do a system restore because there was so many things wrong. After the restore, the only issues that remain are:

* Error message in MS Word and a few others (Application failed to start because the side by side configuration is incorrect) errors continue after re-install
* Cant use 'connect to a network' and I am forced to do it manually
* NO DAMNED SOUND!


Help with any of these issues would be appreciated, but the sound issue is the main one. I re-installed all the drivers all to no avail. The sound was working fine right after the restore yesterday and I was enjoying Mafia II, but after restarting today it all went! If I click on the volume slider in Windows the usual green bar that pops up showing the sound level doesn't, and in the Realtek Audio Manager, when I click the play button the speakers on the image don't vibrate like they normally do, as if it doesn't realise the sound it being requested. The other settings are all fine as far as I know.

Some help would be appreciated, I have tried everything that I know of- but I really need a fix for this, or any of the other issues I have.
 
That is what I am thinking. Bit worrying that after re-installing a program I still get the side-by-side error, worried it has damaged the HDD. The no sound thing is annoying after just getting Mafia II! I think I will try to get office 2003, limp it out for a bit (need to write a review of some RAM ASAP) and see if I can get an SSD to review for the OS, then get a nice data drive. This old Hitachi is slowly dying on me...
 
Right, I'm going to try sfc/scannow and chkdisk. If I can't fix it I will get a copy of Office 2003 (which will hopefully work) and a cheap sound card. Then I will wait it out until I get an SSD to re-install windows onto. Don't want to use this drive again.
 
Id be interested to know is Windows still detecting the sound card? Can you see when playing a song whether or not Windows is actually trying to play it in the volume/mixer window? If so might just be worth reinstalling the sound cards drivers ;) Wouldnt suprise me one bit of a repair has fudged that up.
 
I have tried the drivers but no luck :( . When I go into the advanced options under speaker properties and press test it says 'could not play test tone'.

I have a sound card on the way (was using onboard) so that should make a nice fix before re-installing windows later.
 
Usually if you click the sound mixer when you are playing a song or something then you will
see a green bar jumping up and down, if that is the case then it is definately something to
do with your onboard sound. have you checked in the device manager to check there is no
problems with it? make sure it dont have an ! mark next to it.
 
Check your services and make sure that windows audio service has for some reaosn not been disabled by one of the updates.
 
I checked the sound card in the device manager and it is fine, and I think I checked the service was running but I will have another look this afternoon.

No green bar appears when I move the slider like it always has done. Do you think a sound card would fix the issue?
 
Pygmyshrew said:
Probably but its a bit of a drastic fix and will depend how fooked up your Windows is.
Click to expand...

I wanted a sound card anyway to get some good headphone sound. Picked up an X-Fi Xtreme Gamer Fatal1ty Professional Edition for under £30, it will probably arrive Monday. I basically want to hold out a while until I can get an SSD as I am planning on getting one soon so I don't want to have to do 2 re-installs in the space of a month.

Thanks for your help :)
 
Bit of an update: When I shut down I get a fairly loud bust of static through the speakers. And I have noticed that when I select what kind of speakers I have plugged in the Realtek manager I get a tiny pop through the speakers. May be that I have my speakers up louder.
 
The pop/crackling you mention sounds a bit like an issue I and 100s of others had with older Creative cards, we found people running 4GB of memory or more in Windows 7 64 bit would get no sound and just crackling, remove some RAM or set MSCONFIG to use less and it was fine but the second you hit 4GB pow..it wouldn't work.

I dont think this is the problem you're having here but there have been/are issues out there surrounding Windows 7 and sound cards. It could be worth removing a stick of RAM just to see if it makes any difference, I doubt it will mind but its something to try.
 
I'll give it a go now. My sound card still hasn't arrived but judging by Royal Mail at the moment, I may have a fair ol' wait!
 
Sound card arrived today, hooked it up and installed drivers. As it installed the drivers I got a series of pops and the same during the restart. However, when it restarted- nothing. A few pops as it loaded windows, then it did exactly what it did before. No green bar when I use the volume slider, errors playing video or audio files and 'failed to play test tone' when you get it to test different sample rates.

I realise a windows re-install is inevitable but I am doing lot's of work at the moment so it would require lots of backing up and would interrupt my workflow. Just looking for a temporary fix...
 
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