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need computer help

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need computer help

Postby marissalu415 » Mon Aug 24, 2009 5:37 pm

hey guys, I was wondering if anyone who knew a thing or two about computers wouldn't mind helping me. Basically, the audio on my computer stopped working. Image In order to get online at my school I had to do a Windows update, and one of the things installed was some sort of smart audio thing. It was after this was installed that the sound stop working, so I tried uninstalling it but that didn't help. Image Oh and I don't think it's the speakers or anything, because when i go on itunes and try to play a song, the song won't even play at all, like it just stays at zero seconds. Anybody have any suggestions?
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Postby marissalu415 » Mon Aug 24, 2009 9:51 pm

Sorry this was in the wrong spot, thanks for moving it.

I tried playing something in the windows player and it acted the same way as itunes. Image I opened the sound controls thing, although I don't really know what i'm doing lol. There were a bunch of different speakers listed and they all said they were working. But then if I right clicked on one of them and chose "test" an error message would come up that said, "Failed to play test tone." So obviously something's not working, I just don't know what. But i'm kind of afraid to change anything because i don't know what i'm doing... Thanks for the tips, I appreciate your help.
Last edited by marissalu415 on Mon Aug 24, 2009 9:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Postby Dianna » Tue Aug 25, 2009 1:33 am

If you installed something recently it might have caused a conflict. If this is the case you can do a system restore.
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need computer help

Postby marissalu415 » Tue Aug 25, 2009 4:48 am

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Postby dustpuppy » Wed Aug 26, 2009 1:42 pm

Right click on the "My Computer" icon. It will give you a drop down menu.

Click on "properties" at the bottom of that menu.

You should then get a box with a bunch of tabs. Click on the one that says "Hardware".

In this box should be a button marked "Device Manager". Click on that.

Now you should be getting a list of all the hardware installed on your computer. Look for an entry that says sound or Audio.

You will probably have to click on the Plus Sign next to that entry.

You're looking for your sound card. If you see a yellow triangle with an exclamation point (!) in it, that's probably the one. If there's no triangle, just look for the sound card.

If you can't sort out which of the entries is the sound card, right click on each one under the sound category and click on "properties" from the drop down menu that appears. One of them will be the sound card, sound adapter, or some such. It may take a little deduction to figure it out. Look for something that looks like a brand name. Realtec, Soundblaster...etc. Mine says Realtec AC'97.

Write down the name of your sound card.

Right click on your sound card, then click on "Update Drivers" from the list.

There will be a wizard to walk you through the rest. You'll want to tell it to search the web for new drivers, when it asks where to look.

If that doesn't fix the problem, the google the name of your sound card, followed by the word drivers. Such as Realtec AC'97 drivers. Find the website for the card maker and download the driver. They should have the directions on the website to tell you how to install it.

When/if you do this manual install, Windows may send up a flag telling you that you already have a later driver than the one you're installing. Tell it to proceed, anyway.

If that doesn't work, you will probably need to disable the card, reboot the machine then go to "Control Panel" and use the Add/Remove hardware wizard to re-install it.

If that doesn't work, seek professional help... you'll need it by then. Image
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Postby marissalu415 » Wed Aug 26, 2009 6:55 pm

oh my goodness dustpuppy, thank you so much for going to all this trouble! *hugs* Well, I was following your directions, but I couldn't figure out which one was the sound card. Image Sorry i'm not so good with computers. Here's the list, maybe you can tell?

Image

Thanks again for your help! Image
Last edited by marissalu415 on Wed Aug 26, 2009 7:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Postby dustpuppy » Thu Aug 27, 2009 12:59 pm

OK. Some of this could get ticklish, so we're gonna create a restore point. Click on the "Start" button. Then "All Programs" then "PC Help & Tools"

Click on "System Restore". You should get a box that offers two options. You want the one that says "Create a Restore Point" Select that and hit OK or Next or whatever. It should ask you to name the restore point. I'd type in something like "Sound Card". Doesn't matter, just something that will stick out and you'll remember. Most other entries will just be named for the date they were created, so it doesn't really matter.

Hit "Next" Or "OK" or whatever, then it tells you that the restore point has been created. Click "Finish".

Now you have a restore point. No matter what we do from here, you can reset it all right back to where you are now.


Go back to "Device Manager", where you got that screen shot from.

It will be the Conexant High Definition Smartaudio 221

Right click on that. Hit "Update Driver" Choose to "let Windows search the web for a new driver, this time only", if it gives you an option.

Most likely it will finish up in a few minutes and tell you that it can't continue because you already have the best driver.

However, if it does find and install a new driver, check and see if that fixes the problem. Reboot, then see if you have sound.

If it tells you that you already have the best driver, try to download a driver and install it.

Found one: http://download.cnet.com/Conexant-High-Definition-SmartAudio-221/3000-2110_4-177475.html

It may have an auto install feature where you can click on it and just follow the directions. If not, right click on the card, as before, but this time tell windows to use this driver. You'll want to have it in a folder by it's self, on your desktop, just to keep things simple. You'll tell windows that you have a driver, then browse for that location, when it asks. If windows says you already have a better driver, tell it to use this one anyway.

Download that, install it, reboot, check the sound.

If that doesn't work. Go back to where you got the screen shot and right click on that last entry "MusC Audio". Then remove it. That one's been known to cause problems, on occasion.

Reboot, check sound.

If that didn't work, go back to where you got the screen shot, right click on The conexant entry, hit "Uninstall". Reboot. The hardware detection mat tell you it's found new hardwarer, when windows comes back up, if so just follow the instructions to re-install the sound card. If it doesn't, go to "Control Panel" click on add hardware and follow the directions.

Finish with that and check the sound. If it still doesn't work, reboot and check again.

If none of this works, I'm out of ideas. ou could always use that restore program to roll you machine back to the last date before you did the upgrade that caused all this. But then you wouldn't be able to connect to the Uni system, that was the reason for the update.

At this point, you'll probably have to take it to the shop, unless Chuck or Dianna have further ideas. If this is a desktop machine and you can do it yourself, you might try installing a new (cheap) sound card yourself. Might be cheaper. <Shrug> If it's a laptop, that's not an option and it might not work anyway.
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Postby marissalu415 » Fri Aug 28, 2009 12:36 am

ok so i did the restore point, and then when i went to install the driver it said: "Driver Installation Failed: Could not find the MEDIA device for this driver." What does that mean?

Thanks again for all your help, I apreciate it SO much. *hugs*
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