no sound/audio device

So I have a terrible situation where my sound icon is not only missing from taskbar but almost everywhere else where it's supposed to be. I keep having this pop-up saying a new hardware is found and needs to be installed but it says the item is unknown. when I went to check it out in device manager, the details showed this –> SW\{B7EAFDC0-A680-11D0-96D8-00AA0051E51D}\{9B365890-165F-11D0-A195-0020AFD156E4} Then I viewed some hidden details in my services and saw the non-plug and play device has a yellow exclamation flag beside Serial. I kinda browsed around net to see what is wrong and a lot of people either disabled it or uninstalled it so I uninstalled it. Anyways, I still can't hear anything despite the fact that I uninstalled my audio driver the realtek A97 and reinstalled it and it says everything is working fine….all the other codecs are working fine too. here's my belarc log: Operating System Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 2 (build 2600) System Model TOSHIBA Satellite A70 PSA70C-TS100E System Serial Number: 74370693K Enclosure Type: Notebook Processor a 3.07 gigahertz Intel Mobile Pentium 4 8 kilobyte primary memory cache 512 kilobyte secondary memory cache Main Circuit Board b Board: TOSHIBA EDW10 BIOS: TOSHIBA V1.10 05/28/2004 Drives 60.01 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity 41.45 Gigabytes Hard Drive Free Space AXV CD/DVD-ROM SCSI CdRom Device [CD-ROM drive] TOSHIBA DVD-ROM SD-R2512 [CD-ROM drive] TOSHIBA MK6025GAS [Hard drive] (60.01 GB) – drive 0, s/n 64T80227S, rev KA200K, SMART Status: Healthy Memory Modules c,d 448 Megabytes Installed Memory Slot 'JP21' is Empty Slot 'JP21' is Empty Slot 'JP21' has 512 MB Slot 'JP20' is Empty Local Drive Volumes c: (NTFS on drive 0) 60.01 GB 41.45 GB free Network Drives None detected Controllers Primary IDE Channel [Controller] Secondary IDE Channel [Controller] Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller Display ATI MOBILITY RADEON 9000 IGP [Display adapter] ACR AL1716 [Monitor] (17.1"vis, s/n L460C264404A, May 2007) Bus Adapters ENE CB-710/712/714/810 Cardbus Controller A347SCSI SCSI Controller ENE PCI Memory Stick Card Reader Controller ENE PCI Secure Digital Card Reader Controller ENE PCI SmartMedia / xD Card Reader Controller Standard Enhanced PCI to USB Host Controller Standard OpenHCD USB Host Controller (2x) Multimedia None detected Communications TOSHIBA Software Modem 1394 Net Adapter Atheros AR5004G Wireless Network Adapter primary Auto IP Address: 192.168.1.100 / 24 Gateway: 192.168.1.1 Dhcp Server: 192.168.1.1 Physical Address: 00:90:96:CA:16:43 Realtek RTL8139/810x Family Fast Ethernet NIC Physical Address: 00:02:3F:D6:90:64 Networking Dns Servers: [removed] 24.226.1.93 24.226.10.194 Other Devices Texas Instruments OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller Microsoft AC Adapter Microsoft ACPI-Compliant Control Method Battery USB Human Interface Device SMC IrCC - Fast Infrared Port, SP1 Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural PS/2 Keyboard Alps Pointing-device [Mouse] HID-compliant mouse USB Root Hub (3x) [Note: I kinda omitted the printers and User info because I didn't think it mattered] Please help!!!!!

Hello nortina,

I see Ken545 has cleared you of Malware just 10 minutes ago.

I did not see your Windows Updates in Belarc Advisors scan. Are they up to date?

This Belarc Advisor Security Definitions Update installs the latest version of the Belarc Advisor's security definitions which includes all Microsoft security bulletins through Febuary 12, 2008. This update ensures that the System Security Status panel in the computer profile report reflects the true number of missing Microsoft Security Updates.

I suggest you do the following:

Backup/archive/copy

To be on the safe side I strongly recommend that before doing anything at all you check that your back up/archive/copy of all your important data, drivers, files, settings, work, etc is 100% up to date accurate and reproducible, (even if your back up is even only a day or so out of date, it's worth updating it now.)
Also don't forget to check that you have all your application Installation CD's to hand together with the product keys (including those for Windows itself)

Windows Protected System File Checker SFC

Start>Run
type:
sfc /scannow (note the space between c /)
Have your Win XP installation disc handy as if damaged files are found they will need to be copied across from your disc, if SFC can't find correct copies elsewhere.

Windows XP Installation disc not available or wrong Service Pack - SP1 when SP2 is needed

There are work- arounds to this problem but the easiest, by far is to borrow one and use that. It is perfectly OK to do this, for the purposes of running SFC,and if you ask around all your friends, you are likely to find someone who will be able to help you out.

Please post back with your progress. No log will appear on the desktop after the SFC scan, so please reboot and try your sound again.

kind regards,

Looks like your sound drivers arn't installed or not installed properly. it happens reinstall your sound card drivers. if your problem keeps going.. well.. maybe you're looknig at a physical problem. my best guess would be to reinstall your sound device software.

Hi! Well I did all the above but still nothing works. Sound icon still missing and no sound. EXCEPT, there is one peculiar incident where I was sent an ecard and I opened it and the music that came with the ecard could suddenly be heard! All other websites or programs for music still doesn't work though. Weird.

Hello nortina,

That is a shame, thought my suggestions would help. It is a good tip to run sfc periodically to check if all your Windows files are as they should be.

Please go to start >settings >control panel >sounds and audio devices > check through those options following the prompts such as enabling >volume icon in taskbar > device volume slider to high and slowly click each tab enabling your desired selections.

If still no sound, please follow:

start >run > type "dxdiag" without the quotes. In the lower left wait for dxdiag to load then follow through all tabs and report any problems found.

Please post back with your progress.

Your speakers are obviously turned on (often a simple mistake) or you would not be able to hear your ecard. I have no explantation for that being heard when you cannot hear all other sound.

kind regards,

This part cannot be done : Please go to start >settings >control panel >sounds and audio devices > check through those options following the prompts such as enabling >volume icon in taskbar > device volume slider to high and slowly click each tab enabling your desired selections. Simply because it was shaded in gray. I tried the next step though, No problems found anywhere except when I tried to test direct sound in the sound tab, it said " Problem getting extra sound info" and at the bottom in the notes section, it says "DirectSound test results: Failure at step 3 (DirectSoundCreate): HRESULT = 0x80070057 (Invalid argument(s))" Similarly in the Music tab, when I tried to test the direct music, it says "DirectMusic test results: Failure at step 6 (Activating the IDirectMusicPort): HRESULT = 0x80070057 (Invalid argument(s))"

Hi, Yes I go along with Zeak and tallin on this one. Make sure you have your soundcard/chipdrivers on CD (or download fresh copies from Toshiba) Uninstall anything connected with sound audio etc from Device Manager. Reboot your machine and reinstall your drivers Reboot and see how you go Regards paws

This seems to be a long standing issue related to installation on SP2. Please go to this board. It may be the solution you seek. I've been trying to fix this for months.
http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/winxp/t1066427444

UPDATE! Yesterday I found the discussion below. If you have the yellow exclamation point of death in front of the Plug and Play Enumerator in Control Panel>System, this will absolutley reinstall it so you can then reinstall the drivers for your sound card and get sound. Pass it on. It worked forme after 3 months of futility.
http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/winxp/1106055897?s