No Sound on Internet, no sound icon, can play CD's

Hello,

I need some help.  I currently have no sound when I am on the internet, but I can hear CD's play.  Also the sound icon that is usually in the bottom right hand of system tray is not there. 

You don't mention what OS you're using, but to get the icon back you need to go into the control panel, then into sounds, you may need to look under various tabs (it may vary depending what your running), and you should find a checkbox that says about placing the icon on the taskbar, check that appropriately and that should be replaced, see if that makes any difference then if needed we can go from there.

Sorry about that.  I am running windows XP.  Yes I had tried what you suggested previously.  I went to Control Panel, Sounds and Audio Devices, then the Volume tab and then I put a check mark in 'Place volume icon in the task bar'.

You don't say if it worked in anyway, even if only to put the icon back, so assuming the sound is still a problem, can you recall roughly when it started ?

In simple terms if it's recent just try a system restore to before then, the other way that may be easier than some of the reg editing options I have seen is to simply uninstall the sound, go into your device manager, expand the sound section, right click on all sound\audio related entries, and select uninstall, not all elements can be done this way, if this happens leave it and move onto the next until completed.

 

When completed reboot, and when it comes up with the wizard after rebooting allow it to auto install them, fingers crossed this will reset whatever has become upset and return your sound, worst case if xp can't find the driver (it should still be in the system for it to find) then go to the makers site, and download the latest driver from them, see if this helps.

Sorry, no it did not put the icon in the task bar when I added the check mark.  Unfortunately this happened quite a while ago so system restore is not an option as this happened too long ago.  I tried deleting Sound related items from Device Manager, but cannot find an uninstall.  I tried right clicking on each.  Attached is what it looked like.   I also tried looking under Action at the top.

That is typical of one where it's not got that option, move onto the next entry and repeat until you have covered ALL sound related entries, I can't see what you have in there, but I suspect the Legacy entries "may" be audio, and the 2nd from bottom marked soun… (from your image) should all be checked for an uninstall option, attached is an image showing what it is when available.

[attachment removed]

 

Now with xp support being ended, things will become increasingly difficult as m$ may start removing files, not to mention the fact that it will become increasingly insecure as time moves forward, so an upgrade would be advisable for security reasons, more so if you do banking etc, but you need to be thinking about the future, and further issues, which means reinstalling (worst case) and getting the updates that have been released will possibly become harder to get, so you need to give some thought about this.

 

Anyway back to this, lets check the service is actually running, go into your control panel, then into Admin Tools, launch Services, then scroll down and see that Windows Audio is started\running, if it isn't double click it, and select Start, also if needed select Automatic in the drop down box, then save and exit, also if this is a soundcard as opposed to onboard, remove the card (taking proper safety precautions eg removing the power lead), fire up the system, shut down (it makes the system aware it's gone), and put it back and start up to see if it's made a difference.

 

The next thing to try is reinstall the audio drivers for this, try and identify the make of your sound, Realtek is a very common one used as an example, if you are unsure, and none of this helps, lets get some details of what you have, get and run Speccy (free), it will tell you everything in your system, this should identify your sound if you're not sure, but if you can reply with the make\model of what you have please, it may help us see if it's a known issue.

OK, I was able to delete one item in the Sound area of Device Manager.  I went down each item and the next to last was able to be uninstalled.  I restarted and I did get a message in bottom right hand corner that new hardware was installed. 

 

I did verify Windows Audio was already started and checked to start automatically

 

I am attaching info on Audio from my computer.  My computer is a Compaq Presario x1030US

I get the feeling this is going to be one of those that defies logic lol, anyway lets see if we can get the latest driver, go Here and run their scanner, you will need to allow activex control to be installed for it to run, it will check for any Intel driver updates, which you seem to have, fingers crossed this will find a driver that will resolve this, it will report some results as unknown, that's normal as it can only update Intel components, just take notice of newer driver notifications, download and install them (all if more than 1).

 

Should that fail, go Here and follow through the list, it's a pretty comprehensive troubleshooting list from the makers that covers everything I can think of to try, Should this not open to where I linked (sometimes it needs cookies to remember the proper link), check it is your system, make sure your OS is selected (if need be), click on the Troubleshooting tab, and select Sound from the list (twice), it separates it from the Mic, and work through that, it also covers what I had you do above, and see if that helps, then we can go from there if needed, hope it helps.

I ran the scanner and all of the items that were found are below.  The Audio related one is bolded and highlighted in gray.

 

Also, I did go through the comprehensive list you gave me the link to.  Did my best to do as much as possible in it.  Unfortunately I am still having the issue.

if i'm understanding this correctly, you do have sound with everything, like playing a music cd but you just don't have sound with your browser and playing anything from the internet. yes?

 

if so i'd say the audio driver is fine and working and the problem is to do with your browser or plugins somewhere.

 

think i'd try installing a different web browser like firefox along with a different media player like vlc and see if the problem goes away.

 

Yes that's right terry, I was hoping reinstalling the driver would reset the sounds defaults etc, quickest way I know to see if it's a quick and easy fix, unfortunately I was having a slow day and my arm\shoulder was hurting more than has become the norm, so I got sidetracked a bit, apologies to all.

 

Let's see if it's even simpler than I first thought, go to YouTube and start anything playing, now right click on your Volume icon in the bottom right of your screen, I can't recall the exact options (it may vary between OS's\systems), but look for Controls, Properties or similar, your looking for settings to do with playback, in my system there is a setting for ie.

 

I'm hoping you will see the same, and if you do check it's not muted, or turned right down or something, if it is, then turning it up should sort the problem, but it may only be present when actually playing media, mine is, hope this helps.

Yes, it is correct I get sound on CDs, but nothing on the internet.  I have tried different browsers and I downloaded VLC, but still no sound.

 

When I play a video on YouTube there is no sound icon in the bottom right hand corner.  That seems to be my problem.  Somewhere along the way I lost that sound icon.

ok to me that would rule out a driver or hardware problem, so think it is probably just a software os/volume setting problem.
 
if nothing 8210GUY has suggested worked so far then see if this video helps you bring back your icon, of course having no sound will make following it harder but think you should be able to follow what he does even tho you can't hear him explain anything.
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbyOyl_J-YY
 
or
 
see if this link helps.
 
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/319095
 
 
maybe even try doing a system restore back to a time when everything was working.
 
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/306084
 

Sorry, followed these and they did not work.