No audio in Windows XP: Error no audio device

[Xentrik]

I have no audio. First Windows media player gave me an error, I don't remember what it was because I rarely use it, I use Winamp as my default and I had sound on Winamp so I didn't really care. Then Winamp lost sound.

The only thing I did between the time I had sound and when it quit was defragment. I received an error saying I had no audio device. I had this problem before and I solved it by reinstalling all the Soundmax IDA drivers off my Dell disc and it fixed everything.

I tried the same thing and got an error installing ikernel.exe:(0x10000), and also an error saying RPC server not available. I found some information on the internet and I ran the system file checker and still had the problem, then I updated the Windows installer and was able to reinstall the Soundmax drivers and in the device manager it shows that Soundmax and the listed codecs and audio drivers were working properly but I still have no sound.

When I check sounds and audio devices in the control panel it still says no audio device. I tried a system restore but it said "no changes were made to your computer". I also ran a virus scan and had no problems.

I have been working on this all night and still can't figure it out. Any ideas?

[Xentrik]

XP audio problem solved. I needed to update my SoundMax drivers. I had run several programs that searched for outdated drivers but none of them indicated the SoundMax driver as being outdated so I updated all the outdated drivers with no luck.

I kept sh....g around with the Dell driver installation disc thinking that I wasn't doing something right; reinstalling what I thought was a corrupted driver. I was surfing the internet for a solution and I found an interesting free tool called the Belarc Adviser which analyzes your computer and gives you detailed information about your system.

I saw SoundMax listed in the multimedia section, went to CNET and upgraded the Sound Max drivers which solved my problem. I'm still kind of a newbie and thats most likely why I didn't think of upgrading the SounMax drivers first, but I learned something.

The bottom line of this rambling is that even though I don't yet understand all the information given to me by the output of the Belarc Adviser I think it might be a very usefull tool.

[Studlyami]

Glad you figured it out. Belarc is an amazing tool which i use all the time when troubleshooting other peoples computer, but it can overload you with a lot of information. I learned a lot more from troubleshooting my own problems like that, than i ever did in school (at least when it comes to PC repair).

[MusoFreak200]

okay it is good that you worked it out...

i was going to suggest registry mechanic to try and fix any problems in your registry...

[Xentrik]

I have tried registry mechanic but I have found that it gave me some "false positives", it didn't mess up my system because I always backup. I have been using Eusing Cleaner and it has never gave me any problems, and its free. I really like jv powertools but unfortunately like a lot of people I really have to watch my finances. I don't know how many sound problems are related to the registry, but from alot of googling it seems that the main problem is the drivers. I don't know why if your driver is slightly outdated your sound stops,but it does so I guess its the first thing to check. Newbie

[Xentrik]

I found something out. It was not the drivers causing my problem. Somehow Windows audio became disabled. This has happened three times, always after the installation of Winamp. It was a simple matter that took me about three minutes to restart Windows audio. I see a lot of posts about lost sound and error messages; 'no audio device found'. This is probably the first place you should look if you lose your sound. I hope this helps someone.

Xentrik