No sound when using any voice comms

The__Malteser · 3 Jul 2013 at 21:15

First of all, I want to apologize if the thread is in the wrong section.

My friend has a problem. Any time he uses any voice communication program (we tried Skype and Steam chat) he loses all other sound. He can't play any sound with games, or listen to any youtube videos.

I told him to go to Control Panel > Sound > Communications and press Do Nothing, but that was already selected.

Then we disables 'Allow Applications to Take Exclusive Mode of This Device' and still nothing changed.

I used remote assistance, and checked everything once again, but I couldn't find a solution. I remember having a similar problem, but the 'Do Nothing' worked for me.

He has a laptop, so I doubt he had a dedicated sound card. It probably is integrated.

A good solution will result in 100 man points, and a lot of cookies.

spacedskunk · 3 Jul 2013 at 23:31

Just to confirm then he can hear the sound on the voice comm program, and you can hear him talk?

The__Malteser · 3 Jul 2013 at 23:57

spacedskunk said:
Just to confirm then he can hear the sound on the voice comm program, and you can hear him talk?

He can hear me, and anyone else speaking, but he can't hear anything else (music, videos, games). Its like the PC just lets comms through, and nothing else. We can hear him perfectly.

The__Malteser · 4 Jul 2013 at 14:04

Anyone can offer any help?

Marsman · 4 Jul 2013 at 20:25

Is he using a headset connected to the laptop's onboard sound, or is he using a USB headset?

The__Malteser · 4 Jul 2013 at 21:23

Marsman said:
Is he using a headset connected to the laptop's onboard sound, or is he using a USB headset?

Onboard sound. Laptop microphone/speakers.

Marsman · 5 Jul 2013 at 10:59

In sound properties, under the 'communications' tab, 'mute all other sounds' isn't selected, is it?

The__Malteser · 5 Jul 2013 at 21:23

Marsman said:
In sound properties, under the 'communications' tab, 'mute all other sounds' isn't selected, is it?

Nope, not selected.

We did that already

Marsman · 5 Jul 2013 at 21:43

Has it started doing this recently, or has it done it since he had the laptop?

The__Malteser · 5 Jul 2013 at 22:46

Marsman said:
Has it started doing this recently, or has it done it since he had the laptop?

Recently.

Today it started working again.

Yesterday I messed up some stuff with the sound card's program, and he lost all of his sound (even skype).

Today he put it on, went on skype, and it worked.

I have a huge feeling its a one off thing though lol

Marsman · 5 Jul 2013 at 22:50

Ah! I was going to suggest re-installing the sound drivers and maybe Skype as well. I saw another forum with people have the same issue, this was with Skype only though. Re-installing that fixed it for some. Windows updates has been known to cause some headaches where sound is concerned. Whether that is a possibliity in your friend's case or not, I don't know.