Windows Vista Vista and sound problems

[Ellie23]

Hi,

A nice new computer with Vista installed, but we can't seem to get any sound out of it which is a pity because we've also installed Skype and were hoping to use the phone to make cheap/free calls. We don't get anything out of the speakers either.

Running AVG, spywareblaster and the windows firewall. Everything else seems to work nicely, but I wonder if one of these is somehow blocking the application. I'm not sure what other information you might need so you can help us.

Thanks.

 

[Belloni]

Have you got the latest drivers? Are all the cables plugged in? Is the motherboard connected properly?

 

[Ian]

Do you get the little speaker icon in the bottom right corner of the screen, or as Belloni says : are the drivers installed?

The reason I ask is that Vista can be funny about sound card drivers so it's important to determine if the problem is software related.

 

[Ellie23]

Thank you so much for your replies.

The little speaker icon is there in the bottom right hand corner and, as far as I know, all the drivers were installed by the boss a week ago (abroad now) and all the bits were wired up correctly. It's something he's done before so I can't see he's made a mistake. How can I check that everything is installed? I know sometimes that it needs a second shot, but I've never had to do it before.

Apparently a headset worked fine, but that was before the phone was added, they don't work now and have disappeared from the list of sound devices. What's left there now is the following:-

Speakers
High definition audio device
which is says are not plugged in, but they are;
(rear panel 3.5mm Jack)

Digital Output Device (SPDIF)
High definition audio device
which is says is working but isn't
(ATAPI internal ATAPI Jack)
and

a second listing for
Speakers
SD200
which is also says are working, but aren't.
(generic USB Audio)

On the volume controls it appears that the volume is going up and down (the little green bar) but nothing is audible.

 

[michael555]

make sure the right drivers are install.

Goto the volume control and check there are no cross in the box(press the start button and goto setting ,then control panel click sound).


Try removing the skype software and phone.

It may be your using the phone on the soundcard.
Make sure sure your soundcard is,nt useing the phone(check back of the pc and the speaker).

 

[Ellie23]

Thanks everybody for all your help. Oh dear, I feel incredibly dim, but after having spent far too many hours on this I've found that the answer was relatively simple.

Apparently the soundcard is on the motherboard, but that wasn't the problem.

Within the "Sound" settings, in the Control Panel, you (I/we) have to select a device to be the 'default' speaker or microphone. As soon as the speakers had been selected they worked fine.

Trouble is that no matter how many times I ask the Skype system to use the phone as a microphone and speaker it won't use them, because the 'default' settings are different.

I haven't found out how to let the system choose its own most appropriate devices, and set a default for each programme ... such as using the phone or listening to the radio.

If anybody has any idea how I can do it I'd be really grateful.

 

[Ellie23]

... and it goes on

And I think I've made matters worse.

I've searched just about the 'net for the answer to this. At the moment if I want to listen to something through the speakers I have to

• open control panel -> sound
• set speakers to default

It sounds really tiddly thing to do, but it's a nuisance and then the phone won't ring. So if I'm expecting a Skype phone call I have to have the phone set to 'default', which in turn means I can't use the speakers. And I can't always predict when I'm going to get a phone call, that's the nature of making calls.

I ended up looking through the Microsoft help pages, on their site, but they were useless, so I phoned them. I thought I'd be speaking to somebody in Reading, not the case. After asking as many questions as they could think of, although they didn't quite want to know what colour my underwear was, they came to the product registration key, which I gave them. Didn't think anything of it until they told me it wasn't a version we should be using and said we weren't entitled to any support from them .. M$ I mean.

We bought the copy from a local shop, they sell computer components and also make up computers to customers specifications, and it seems they shouldn't have sold us the copy we've got because there's an "OEM" in the license number.

So, what are we supposed to do now?

 

[michael555]

And I think I've made matters worse.

I've searched just about the 'net for the answer to this. At the moment if I want to listen to something through the speakers I have to

• open control panel -> sound
• set speakers to default

It sounds really tiddly thing to do, but it's a nuisance and then the phone won't ring. So if I'm expecting a Skype phone call I have to have the phone set to 'default', which in turn means I can't use the speakers. And I can't always predict when I'm going to get a phone call, that's the nature of making calls.

I ended up looking through the Microsoft help pages, on their site, but they were useless, so I phoned them. I thought I'd be speaking to somebody in Reading, not the case. After asking as many questions as they could think of, although they didn't quite want to know what colour my underwear was, they came to the product registration key, which I gave them. Didn't think anything of it until they told me it wasn't a version we should be using and said we weren't entitled to any support from them .. M$ I mean.

We bought the copy from a local shop, they sell computer components and also make up computers to customers specifications, and it seems they shouldn't have sold us the copy we've got because there's an "OEM" in the license number.

So, what are we supposed to do now? https://www.pcreview.co.uk/forums/images/smilies/wallbash.gif

here what oem is

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Original_equipment_manufacturer

I have a copy of windows xp oem and it read your motherboard and pr-installed it self.

If you try it within a other pc it will ask for the keycode.


But it seems your skype phone is messing around with your soundcard.

here is help link for your phone http://support.skype.com/

 

[Ellie23]

Skype VOIP phone problems

Looks as if the person at M$ was talking nonsense about the OEM software, we checked with the shop and there's nothing wrong with the way it was bought/sold.

But, could somebody please give me a large brick wall so I can bang my head against it.

We didn't need to use Skype over Christmas because everybody we contact was close at hand, now they've spread to the further corners of the planet again we were expecting it to work - with the rigmarole of enabling the phone as speakers within control panel and so on. (there seems no alternative)

Nope, can't do that at all. Some time during Christmas Vista has shoved the phone into the blocked hardware, so won't let it start up automatically. The phone is showing as 'not yet classified'. Once it's enabled it won't connect to Skype.

We uninstalled everything, installed Skype again and downloaded the drivers from the manufacturer's website again. Brilliant, we thought, because it all worked nicely.

Next day, started up the computer and everything is back to the way it was before - phone blocked on startup, working as a landline phone but not recognising Skype.

Between us we've spent hours looking at the Skype help pages and the Skype forum as well as asking for help there. Perhaps it's too unusual a problem, because nobody is suggesting anything we can do. Plenty of people seem to be having problems with Skype and various devices and I've seen it suggested that they should disable Windows Defender, anti-virus and so on, but we're a bit wary about doing that.

Has anybody got any ideas please?

We're happy to uninstall and reinstall everything again, if it will work, but it isn't something we want to have to do every day so we can use Skype.

 

[camo92mtb]

i have my problem too

I have sort of the same issue. We bought our computer as new (i'm lead to beleive, my mum's fiancee bought it) I don't know that much about computers but i'll tell you what i can.

It running vista, and i have no sound.
The speakers i am using work fine, i have tested them on various other devices, other computers and so on, no problems with them.

The realtek digital output is working. It says the speakers are plugged in and says they are working, but they don't make any sound, except when you press the test button in the sound menu for the speakers, they work fine then.
I'm very confused as to why they cannot play any other sounds?
It has been like this for the best part of 2 years, which only happend after the original self powered cheapo speaker system we had self destructed, leaving us with no sound.
i have tried many times with different speakers and have no luck. the only luck i've had is that the computer tells me nothing is wrong, and the speakers work on the test button.
i'd be very appreciative if anyone could help?

 

[floppybootstomp]

Have you tried opening the Realtek software and selecting 'Stereo Speakers' as it's probably set for digital output.

The fact that the speakers work on the test button shows the onboard sound is correctly selected in the Bios.

Oh, and welcome to the forum and you'd probably have got a better response had you started a fresh thread, but no matter

 

[camo92mtb]

reply to suggestion

Thanks for the welcome The reason i had no started my own thread is because i have yet to find out how haha

where abouts in the realtek program is the option to change it to the speakers?
it doesn't give me that option, it just tells me that its working and i have an option between different icons for the speakers that are plugged in, and its listed as speakers in the program, which i have accessed through the sound menu.

i am still not having any luck, it works on the test but nothing else will go through to them. i did see you mentioned about it could possibly be a digital setup, which is why they aren't working. It doesn't give me an option otherwise, both the sound program are high definition digital.
i have there: digital output device (HDMI) which is said to be working, although i've never registerd movement on the scale when sounds are played.
then there is: speakers, realtek high definition audio, working, no movement on scale when sounds playing
and then i have: realtek digital output, realtek high definition audio, working, and the scale is moving when sounds are played

 

[floppybootstomp]

Well that proves the motherboard sound setup is working.

Normally there will be a 'Realtek' listing in your start menu of programs and you can open that and browse around until you come across the option to route the sound to different outputs.

It seems yours is set to digital output,

Sorry I can't be more specific but I use sound cards in my machines so can't look at any Realtek software.

You may have some luck downloading the latest Realtek drivers/software for your computer. You can search for them using your motherboard reference or by going to the computer manufacturer's website where there should be a link to those drivers.

 

[camo92mtb]

problem solved

Thank you for all your help
After a long time changing all the settings and changing them back again, it worked, so now i have no problems

Thanks all, hope you have a good year