CaveCanem90

I bought a PCChips M811 Motherboard to replace a defective ECS motherboard. I reformatted and reloaded WinXP Home. I downloaded the latest drivers for the audio codec from here and loaded them.

After doing that, the audio worked fine. Then I continued loading old programs onto my hard drive (and updating Windows to SP2 and so forth). At some point, my audio stopped working, and I got the error mentioned above in the Sounds and Audio Devices in the Control Panel. Everything in Sounds and Audio Devices is "grayed out." The volume control icon has disappeared from my system tray, and I get a "no active mixer devices available" error message when I try to activate volume control from the start menu.

Here is what I've tried so far to fix the problem. If you think that I've left anything out, please tell me and I'll give it a try...

1. Made sure that speakers hadn't accidentally become unplugged.
2. Made sure that the audio device was still enabled in the bios.
3. Un-installed and re-installed the aforementioned drivers (no, there are no yellow exclamation marks, and the audio control device status says "working properly")
4. Made sure that the Windows Audio service was set to automatic and was started in Windows Services.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Here are the details of my system:

Computer:
Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
OS Service Pack Service Pack 2
DirectX 4.09.00.0904 (DirectX 9.0c)

Motherboard:
CPU Type AMD Athlon XP, 1800 MHz (13.5 x 133) 2200+
Motherboard Name PCChips M811
Motherboard Chipset VIA VT8366A Apollo KT266A
System Memory 512 MB (PC2100 DDR SDRAM)
BIOS Type Award (09/10/03)
Communication Port Communications Port (COM1)
Communication Port ECP Printer Port (LPT1)

Display:
Video Adapter NVIDIA RIVA TNT2/TNT2 Pro (Microsoft Corporation) (16 MB)
3D Accelerator nVIDIA RIVA TNT2
Monitor Plug and Play Monitor [NoDB] (29852HA001943)

Multimedia:
Audio Adapter VIA AC'97 Enhanced Audio Controller

Storage:
IDE Controller VIA Bus Master IDE Controller
Floppy Drive Floppy disk drive
Disk Drive WDC WD400BB-00DEA0 (37 GB, IDE)
Optical Drive MAD DOG MD-16XDVD9A2
SMART Hard Disks Status OK

Partitions:
C: (NTFS) 38162 MB (23111 MB free)

Input:
Keyboard Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural PS/2 Keyboard
Mouse PS/2 Compatible Mouse

Network:
Network Adapter VIA Rhine II Fast Ethernet Adapter (192.168.1.66)
Modem SupraMAX 56i

Peripherals:
Printer EPSON Stylus CX5400
USB1 Controller VIA VT83C572 PCI-USB Controller
USB1 Controller VIA VT83C572 PCI-USB Controller
USB1 Controller VIA VT83C572 PCI-USB Controller
USB2 Controller VIA USB 2.0 Enhanced Host Controller
USB Device EPSON Stylus CX5400
USB Device Generic USB Hub
USB Device USB Composite Device
USB Device USB Device
USB Device USB Printing Support

Deleted090308

Hi, welcome to TSF.

Try this:
Uninstall "Audio Adapter VIA AC'97 Enhanced Audio Controller" in Device Manager. Do not try to install it again.
Reboot - let Windows detect and install the audio.
Reboot again.

CaveCanem90

Thanks for the suggestion.

I've done it that way too, but it didn't work either. I tried it again anyway, but it still didn't do the trick. I should note (if it matters) that it looks like whether I reinstall it myself or whether I let windows automatically detect my hardware, it installs the same driver. I think that the driver that I downloaded and installed from PCChips (aka ECS) is hidden away on my PC somewhere even when I uninstall it because XP automatically finds it without prompting me to insert a disk or whatever.

Any other thoughts or suggestions would be welcomed. Thanks again.

Deleted090308

According to the manual the onboard sound is "VIA-3Q58 OnChip AC97 Audio".
Is that correct? Please post a screenshot of Device manager with "Sound, video and game controllers" expanded.

CaveCanem90

I believe that to be correct. Here is the screenshot.

Attached Images

screenshot.JPG (45.4 KB, 10 views)

Deleted090308

Uninstall the audio driver again.
Download this driver from VIA.
Reboot into Safe mode and install the downloaded driver.
Reboot into normal mode.

CaveCanem90

Thanks for your continued assistance. Alas, however, it's a no go. The setup program would not launch in safe mode. Something about not being able to load a setup file. So I tried running it in normal mode. It worked, but I still have the same problem. The "Vinyl Deck" program that installed with the download crashes without opening. The windows volume control won't open either. It says that no mixer devices are available (which is the same thing it was doing before). The device manager indicates the sound controller is working properly, but still no sound.

I am not averse to the idea of getting a cheap (but reasonably reliable) PCI sound card, disabling the onboard sound in the bios, and circumventing whatever problem this is. However, I have read elsewhere that that option has also failed for several others who have tried it. Perhaps this is because they put in a sound card that used similar drivers as the onboard sound?

What do you think?

Deleted090308

I don't know of any dedicated sound cards with VIA chips.
The problem, I think, is that the sound was disabled by a Windows update or maybe a program installed. Do you have any DVD player software installed?

Take a look in Services again:
Click Start > Run and type in: services.msc - then click OK.
In the new window - Scroll down to "Windows Audio", right-click on it and select Properties.
Make sure the startup type is set to Automatic, click Apply and
then click Start.

See if changing "Hardware acceleration" in "Advanced audio properties" helps (click the image below).
Audio.jpg

CaveCanem90

Windows audio is set to automatic and it is started. Advanced audio properties is grayed out due to the whole "no audio device" situation, so I cannot adjust anything in that tab. As for DVD player software, I do own Nero 7 Ultra Edition, but I have not yet gotten around to re-installing it on my hard drive. Other than that, I do have Windows Media Player 11 installed, and I think that it plays DVDs with the right codecs installed. I have the basic version of quicktime, so no dvd player there. I have attached a screenshot of everything that is currently in the program files directory. If you see anything that raises a red flag, let me know...

Attached Images

screenshot2.JPG (96.1 KB, 9 views)

CaveCanem90

Well, I tried to work around my problem by purchasing a sound card (Diamond Xtreme Sound 7.1 PCI card) and installing it in my PC. Of course, I disabled the onboard sound in the bios and made sure that all former drivers were uninstalled first. On reboot, my PC recognized the new hardware and installed the new drivers (from the included CD). Nevertheless, I continue to have the same problems as described in previous posts. I rechecked Windows Services and Windows Audio is set to automatic and is started. So I guess that whatever the problem is, it is not a hardware issue, but rather some sort of software conflict? I don't know anymore. I just know that I have run out of ideas. Does anyone have any further suggestions or ideas?

Deleted090308

Try this:
Click Start > Run > type sfc /scannow (notice the space between c and /). Click OK. The system files will be scanned for changes and you will probably be asked to insert the Windows CD.

When that's done - reboot and reinstall the audio drivers.

CaveCanem90

Thanks for that idea. Unfortunately, it didn't work either. So to sum up what I know so far: Window Audio is set to automatic in Services, onboard audio is enabled in the BIOS (now that I've removed the sound card that I bought), the VIA AC'97 device driver in the device manager says that the device is functioning properly, and yet I don't see a speaker icon in the system tray and Sounds and Audio Devices in the Control Panel tells me that I have "No Audio Device." Everything was functioning properly when I first loaded Windows XP Home on my hard drive, but something is now preventing it from working.

At this point, the only thing that I can think to do is to reformat and reload Windows XP and (if I can get the sound to work again) to carefully monitor it's status as I reload other programs, drivers, and Windows updates one at a time. Of course, that takes a chunk of time that I don't have right now, so I may have to put it off for a week or two until I do.

Do you have any other thoughts or suggestions before I try the "nuclear" option? Perhaps some corruption of the registry that I should investigate? What do you think?

Deleted090308

You could try a repair install of XP: http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

CaveCanem90

Well, I just decided to go ahead and do a complete reload of WinXP home. Just like last time, it did not immediately recognize the onboard sound. In the Device Manager, there was a question mark beside "Multimedia Audio Controller" and the VIA sound driver was not loaded. I ran the audio driver installer that I had originally downloaded. The first time it told me that audio was not enabled on the motherboard (and yet it was). So I rebooted and ran it again. The second time, it completed the installation, and I now have sound again! Hopefully it will stick. I'm going to load programs, drivers, etc carefully and see if anything interrupts the sound again. By the way, what is the "Multimedia Sound Controller?" Is that independent from the onboard sound chip? Could it be that that is what failed previously? Any final thoughts/suggestions/warnings would be greatly appreciated.

Deleted090308

I'm glad you have sound again.
Multimedia sound controller? Where is that?

Be observant when you install XP updates from Microsoft. If the sound disappears - see if the update is absolutely necessary or if there's a fix (Google the update name/number).
Create restore points before you install new software.

CaveCanem90

The multimedia sound controller was originally listed under "Other devices." Once I successfully installed the sound drivers and had my sound going again, it disappeared from the list of devices. I selected "Show Hidden Devices", and yet I still don't see it anywhere on the list anymore.

As you suggested, I have been carefully monitoring/creating restore points prior to Microsoft updates. None of them interfered with the sound until I installed SP2. And now "poof" it's gone. So I'm not sure what SP2 is doing to stop the sound, but I did find a MSKB article here that addresses the general problem of programs not working after upgrade to SP2.

Also, since upgrading to SP2, the "Plug and Play Software Device Enumerator" in the Device Manager has an exclamation mark by it (it didn't do that last time as far as I know). Under device status, it says: "This device is not working properly because Windows cannot load the drivers required for this device. (Code 31)." Googling this term got me discussion threads where people had lost audio when this driver became corrupted or went mysteriously missing.

I tried to update the driver, but the Hardware Update Wizard tells me that it cannot find a better driver than that which is currently installed. I tried to roll back the driver, but it said no previous version had been backed up. I'm a bit nervous about uninstalling the driver, as some of the things I've read on other forums suggest that it is difficult to get it back once it is gone.

The specific driver files involved are swenum.sys v5.3.2300.2180 (xpsp_sp2_rtm.o40803-2158) and streamci.dll v5.1.2600.0 (xpclient.010817-1148)

Here is a link to a posting on another forum which may have the answer. I guess I'll give it a try and see what happens (if I can adequately figure it out).

By the way, I do appreciate all the effort you have put into trying to help me fix my problem.

CaveCanem90

WOO-HOO! It worked! I have glorious sound again! And I survived manually editing my registry (a new one for me). Thanks again for all your help!

Deleted090308

Great. I'm glad you fixed it.