No sound from any device!

[Chris Garcia]

A couple months ago, I evacuated from New Orleans and left my computer
upstairs in a closet...

It stayed in that closet for about 2 months until I was able to come back
down and salvage things from the home..

I brought back with me to where I'm temporarily staying and set it up w/o
a monitor, keyboard, mouse, or speakers ... I was VNC'ing from my
notebook to access it.

I just recently got the items i didn't have ... But the speakers were
putting out nothing but white noise ... So I tried a pair of headphones..
Same white noise (Sound Blaster Live! Value, btw) tried all 3 PCI slots,
and still white noise .. I clicked on EVERYTHING in the mixer (muting
things, changing inputs etc) the only thing that would stop the white
noise was muting the master channel ... But the master volume wouldn't
change the volume of the noise ... Very odd...

So I tried in the on-board (AC97, on an MSI KM4M-L motherboard) audio and
got NOTHING.. Not even white noise .. I upgraded to the latest drivers,
and nothing...

So I bought a Soundblaster Live 24-bit .. Brand new ... Installed it, and
the drivers... No sound.. Tried the latest drivers.. and still nothing

I've tried everything I can think of .. muting things, unmuting things,
playing with settings regarding "preferred devices"..

One interesting thing when I choose the "What-U-Hear" channel on the
mixer, and try to record, it doesn't pick up anything.. I don't have
anything to test the line-in port yet, but it's on my list of things to
do..

Any help would be great! Thanks!

-Chris

 

[dev]

/Chris Garcia/ said:

A couple months ago, I evacuated from New Orleans and left my computer
upstairs in a closet...

It stayed in that closet for about 2 months until I was able to come back
down and salvage things from the home..

I brought back with me to where I'm temporarily staying and set it up w/o
a monitor, keyboard, mouse, or speakers ... I was VNC'ing from my
notebook to access it.

I just recently got the items i didn't have ... But the speakers were
putting out nothing but white noise ... So I tried a pair of headphones..
Same white noise (Sound Blaster Live! Value, btw) tried all 3 PCI slots,
and still white noise .. I clicked on EVERYTHING in the mixer (muting
things, changing inputs etc) the only thing that would stop the white
noise was muting the master channel ... But the master volume wouldn't
change the volume of the noise ... Very odd...

So I tried in the on-board (AC97, on an MSI KM4M-L motherboard) audio and
got NOTHING.. Not even white noise .. I upgraded to the latest drivers,
and nothing...

So I bought a Soundblaster Live 24-bit .. Brand new ... Installed it, and
the drivers... No sound.. Tried the latest drivers.. and still nothing

I've tried everything I can think of .. muting things, unmuting things,
playing with settings regarding "preferred devices"..

One interesting thing when I choose the "What-U-Hear" channel on the
mixer, and try to record, it doesn't pick up anything.. I don't have
anything to test the line-in port yet, but it's on my list of things to
do..

You covered the basics from MicroSoft?
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q307918

....and What does dad Jay say? ^

 

[Chris Garcia]

You covered the basics from MicroSoft?
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q307918

I just did ... and nothing..

The weird thing is.. The sound was working fine before the evac.. Both
SBLive and AC97 ...

Every diagnostic says it's working (both the new sblive i bought, and the
ac97) .. Sound recorder doesn't pick up any sound from line-in (just
tested it)

I just tried another device (the only other one i have.. tv-tuner) in the
same slot and it works fine.. so it's not the slot..

I've done everything I can think of .. It has to be some stupid setting
somewhere hidden well...

... I guarantee this will be something completely stupid that solves it.

...and What does dad Jay say? ^

He's as stumped as I am. Probably not as aggravated though..

-Chris

 

[dev]

/Chris Garcia/ said:

I just did ... and nothing..

The weird thing is.. The sound was working fine before the evac.. Both
SBLive and AC97 ...

Every diagnostic says it's working (both the new sblive i bought, and the
ac97) .. Sound recorder doesn't pick up any sound from line-in (just
tested it)

I just tried another device (the only other one i have.. tv-tuner) in the
same slot and it works fine.. so it's not the slot..

I've done everything I can think of .. It has to be some stupid setting
somewhere hidden well...

.. I guarantee this will be something completely stupid that solves it.


He's as stumped as I am. Probably not as aggravated though..

Weird. You checked Control Panel|SOUNDS|AUDIO to confirm that the correct
device is being used?
Motherboard problem?
Please share the solution when you find it.

 

[Chris Garcia]

Weird. You checked Control Panel|SOUNDS|AUDIO to confirm that the
correct device is being used?
Motherboard problem?
Please share the solution when you find it.

Yup, switched between "Use preferred only" on and off, too..

The only reason I'm doubting a motheboard problem is that it's doing this
with both on-board and a PCI sound card.

If I had the money, I'd try using that new fangled external soundblaster..

-Chris

 

[Chris Garcia]

So I tried in the on-board (AC97, on an MSI KM4M-L motherboard) audio
and got NOTHING.. Not even white noise .. I upgraded to the latest
drivers, and nothing...

An update: I've tried uninstalling the device AND the codecs... Still
nothing.

Is there a way I can test my sound outside of Windows (short of installing
Linux on a separate partition) ?? If this was pre-Katrina, I'd be able to
test with alternate hardware, but well, all my spare computer junk is in a
landfill now

If the sound works outside of Windows, then I'd be more than willing to
reinstall Windows .. But I don't want to go to all of the trouble of doing
it just to be more aggravated after the whole process..

-Chris

 

[Malke]

An update: I've tried uninstalling the device AND the codecs... Still
nothing.

Is there a way I can test my sound outside of Windows (short of
installing Linux on a separate partition) ?? If this was pre-Katrina,
I'd be able to test with alternate hardware, but well, all my spare
computer junk is in a landfill now

If the sound works outside of Windows, then I'd be more than willing
to reinstall Windows .. But I don't want to go to all of the trouble
of doing it just to be more aggravated after the whole process..

-Chris

You don't need to install Linux; just boot with Knoppix. Knoppix is a
Linux distro that runs from CD. To get Knoppix, you need a computer
with a fast Internet connection and third-party burning software.
Download the Knoppix .iso from www.knoppix.net and create your bootable
cd and boot with it. If you hear sound, you know the problem isn't
hardware. I've been following this thread, but I'm afraid I don't have
an answer for you either.

Malke

 

[Chris Garcia]

but I'm afraid I don't have
an answer for you either.

Well, it's good to know that at least others are stumped (and not just
ignoring the thread) ..

Thanks for the tip, I'll give that a shot.

-Chris

 

[Chris Garcia]

An update: I've tried uninstalling the device AND the codecs... Still
nothing.

Another update: This one's a mindblower..

As advised, I downloaded KNOPPIX and burnt it to a cd ... I attempted to
play an MP3 in KNOPPIX and still no sound!

So now I've ruled out Windows as the problem.. Could the motherboard be
causing such a problem? As stated before, the card is 100% recognized and
shows as working fine... What kinda problem could I be having where the
mobo is causing such a specific problem?

-Chris

 

[Pavel]

I have had similar situation number of times in number of PC's before. At
times a simple clearing of the CMOS memory of the motherboard was enough
(see your motherboard manual for this). Other times, other PCI
cards...usually modems or network cards, in which case, removing the cards
would suddenly allow the sound to work.

Pavel

 

[Chris Garcia]

I have had similar situation number of times in number of PC's before.
At times a simple clearing of the CMOS memory of the motherboard was
enough (see your motherboard manual for this). Other times, other PCI
cards...usually modems or network cards, in which case, removing the
cards would suddenly allow the sound to work.

Pavel

There are no other cards.. Everything is on-board..

I'll try clearing the cmos memory .. I have tried loading "optimized
defaults" in cmos..

-Chris