"No Audio Output Device is Installed"?

[Kaleidoscope Eyes]

So, I currently have a laptop running on Windows Vista, and yesterday I became aware that I had some software updates that needed to be installed. I usually let it do that while I'm sleeping, because it has to restart once or twice and I'd just rather let it do that when I'm not busy doing something. So, I muted the volume so any noises (like that lovely Windows chime upon start-up) wouldn't wake me up, and went to bed.

This morning, I didn't notice a lack of sound because I had previously muted the volume. This afternoon however, when I tried to turn it back up, nothing happened. Normally, when I press the volume buttons (any of them), a little bar shows up at the bottom of the screen, showing me where the volume level is. I didn't see that, nor did I hear a different in the volume. That's when I noticed that the little sound icon in the corner didn't look happy. I checked it out, and it told me that "no audio output device is installed". The microphone which came with the computer showed up under "recording", but nothing is under "playback". A look at the Device Manager showed that my speakers are indeed installed, and all drivers needed are installed and up-to-date. Somehow, it just won't show up in the Sound window which lets me pick a playback device (should I have more than one installed).

After re-booting, I'm still stranded with no sound, and totally puzzled. I'd ask my dad, but he's busy and would take a while to get to it (and has a habit of picking the most inconvenient times to sit down and fix it), so I decided to see if anyone here had a clue as to what I could do. Anything?

[ShatteredWings]

is it not plugged in?

plug the speakers into the GREEN jack, that's a pretty obvous one that i missed

[The Batman]

I had this problem as well and I can walk you through what to do. Go down to your bar where it says the time and right click the white speaker thingy with an x in it. Then click playback devices. Next right click where it says "No audio devices installed and click show disabled devices. Right click the speaker thing that just popped up in that screen and click enable. Woolah you have sound.

[Kaleidoscope Eyes]

Haha, Gwyn, it's plugged in. The speakers are built-in to the laptop, so I know they're there.

Thomas, I just tried that, and still nothing. It says nothing is even installed. :( But the Device Manager says its there!

[The Batman]

You might have to reinstall the driver. Go to your computer manufacturer"s website and see if you can find some driver updates.

[Kaleidoscope Eyes]

I let Windows search my computer and the internet for any updates to the driver software, and it determined that the best drivers for the device were already installed. After some searching in the Device Manager, I located the "System Speaker", which may or may not be different from the "Conexant High Definition Audio" that used to be listed under playback devices, and which I have been focusing on. System Speaker also had no new drivers to install.

Funny thing though about both of those is that, under general properties where it says "Device status:" they both say "no drivers are installed for this device." I wondered if that meant it didn't need any, because Windows thinks they're fine, but that seemed weird. Indeed, other random devices say things like "Device is working properly." So, if these didn't need drivers, it wouldn't alert me that they were missing. But then, why can't Windows find any that need to be installed? System Speaker, when I looked up details on the drivers for it, said that none were required, but Conexant High Definition Audio lists several, which I am unable to do anything with, just look at apparently. I am so confused as to what the problem is, and why Windows cant seem to identify one (it's usually so good about that).

[Falk 'Ace' Flyer]

It may be different on a laptop, but I think System Speaker is the one that makes the beep noise whenever you do something computer doesn't like, such as pressing all four arrow keys.

If I were you, I'd look for the drivers by hand, as Windows may have had an error in communication with the speakers during the update. If that's the case, it probably won't detect any problems, as the update broke the speakers, not the speakers themselves.

I did some research, and it appears as though there are only drivers for XP for that particular device, unless my information is outdated - which it very well may be. I looked a bit further, and found this: http://forums.microsoft.com/TechNet/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=778190&SiteID=17

Maybe you wanna try that, though I'm not sure if it'd work. A better alternative, in my opinion, would be to head over to http://cybertechhelp.com , register on the forums, and post the question there.

[Jesse]

It may be different on a laptop, but I think System Speaker is the one that makes the beep noise whenever you do something computer doesn't like, such as pressing all four arrow keys.
It is! The system speaker usually makes the beep noises. And on very rare occasions, you can get it to play actual audio.



First thing I would have tried is going to Device Manager, Right click on your sound card, click on properties, then on the driver tab. Click on "Roll Back Driver". If there is no driver to Roll Back to, then go to System Restore (It's in System Tools under Accessories in the start menu) and doing a restore to before you installed those updates last night.

Then go back to Windows Update, and select ONLY the ones you want to install. Windows Update might have found an update to your sound card that obviously didn't work.

[Kaleidoscope Eyes]

Well, I tried System Restore back to before the first update (there were two or three that went that night), but when Windows started back up it said there was "an unspecified error" and thus didn't actually restore anything. :huh:

So, thanks everyone, but unless anyone has more advice, I'll probably stop bugging ya'll and go ask my dad later today (once I'm done with the computer for the day). Thanks for trying! :)

[Blahages]

Possibly try a restore point other than the one that failed.

If that doesn't work, try this:


Right click on Computer (My Computer), and hit "Properties."
Click "Device Manager" which is listed on the Left side of the Window that pops up.
Hit the "+" sign next to "Sound, video and game controllers"
Right-click on "Conexant High Definition Audio" and click on
"Uninstall."and tell it "OK." If it gives you an option to "Delete the Driver Software for this device" check it, and yell it you want to.
When it finishes restart your computer.

When it restarts, it should redetect and reinstall the Sound card. Hopefully that'll take care of the problem.

I found another person on another forum that had their sound (Same sound card) also suddenly quit working in the past few days after an update, but nobody had replied with an answer.