Volume control and Mixer

[Guest]

Have migrated WinXP Pro from IDE to SATA boot drive... have now lost Windows
Volume Control on notification area by the clock (CAN be re-shown through
Control Panel), have lost my Soundcard Volume Control icon (Creative SB24 -
which I can't get back despite re-installation of soundcard apps), and
Windows Volume Control icon will not stay in notification area with
subsequent reboots. I can't find Mixer in the Sound and Audio Properties
list... shouldn't it be there? How can I get any of this back????

 

[Philip Andrews]

Hello,

Have migrated WinXP Pro from IDE to SATA boot drive... have now lost
Windows
Volume Control on notification area by the clock (CAN be re-shown through
Control Panel), have lost my Soundcard Volume Control icon (Creative
SB24 -
which I can't get back despite re-installation of soundcard apps), and
Windows Volume Control icon will not stay in notification area with
subsequent reboots. I can't find Mixer in the Sound and Audio Properties
list... shouldn't it be there? How can I get any of this back????

If you click 'Start ... Control Panel ... Sounds & Audio Devices', you
may find a checkbox labelled 'Place Volume Icon in the Taskbar' in one of
the resulting 'Sounds' windows. Check it, and that should fix the missing
Windows volume control. (If you have System Restore switched on and another
problem is causing a persistent roll-back, that could be the cause of losing
your mixer icon every time you reboot and get Restored to a previous machine
state. You should check on that possibility first, if this problem has
existed for any length of time.)

The SoundBlaster mixer can be called from the 'Start ... All Programs
.... Creative ... SoundBlaster Live!' menu. If you want a handy copy of the
shortcut for your desktop or Taskbar (without having to zoom up and down the
Start menus every time you need it), right-click the Mixer icon in that
list, select 'copy', paste it onto the desktop and then click-drag it onto
the Taskbar. Alternatively, you could right-click that icon, select 'Pin to
Start Menu'and pick it up from there instead.

Is that OK?

Regards,

Philip

 

[Guest]

Thanks for responding.
I have enabled the "Place Volume Control Icon in the taskbar" but it doesn't
stay loaded with a reboot. Tell me more about something that could cause a
rollback regarding System Restore; should it be enabled or disabled for
application installation? I can't locate the (Surround) Mixer control in the
Creative folder... I'll try updated software from the maker.

 

[Philip Andrews]

Hello,

Thanks for responding.
I have enabled the "Place Volume Control Icon in the taskbar" but it
doesn't
stay loaded with a reboot. Tell me more about something that could cause a
rollback regarding System Restore; should it be enabled or disabled for
application installation?

I can't really advise you on that - I noticed with Windows ME that the
system could be very subversive under repair conditions, because it could
roll itself back to a previous state without producing a warning. The same
comments apply to XP (the 'Pro' version, anyway). I run these days with
System Restore disabled, and simply watch what I'm doing re: loading new
software etc. I also advise the poeple whose PCs I repair to do the same ...
it surprises me that a system feature that SHOULD be quite helpful is in
fact disruptive and quite unhelpful.
You could take a look inside System Restore and see what Restore Points are
listed at the moment - and be aware that switching off System Retore will
clear that list completely.

I can't locate the (Surround) Mixer control in the
Creative folder... I'll try updated software from the maker.

I can't remember exactly what I had to do when I installed my own
Soundblaster card, so I dug out the CD and took a look. The InstallShield
screen gave me a window with 'Modify', 'Repair' and 'Remove' as options - I
noted that selecting 'Modify' showed me a list of what's available, and that
all of the selections are optional. The only item left unticked in my
installation is Creative Remote Centre - so perhaps you might not have
Creative Surround Mixer ticked? Is that possible?

What I can say is that reinstallation of the Creative software will
produce a new copy of the 'Programs' folder - so that, if you renamed the
existing 'Creative' folder in the Programs menu and then reinstalled, you
could view the two folders side by side and see what was missing.

As a matter of interest, what drive letter is the SATA drive?

Regards,

Philip