realtek stops working

[VJ]

Hello,

I noticed a strange problem last Thursday. I booted my computer, and there was no sound. Yet there was no error message either, according to the device manager my RealTek ac97 is working properly. Windows media player plays back files without errormessage, but without sound. In the system tray there is no volume control icon.


Any thoughts as to what could have caused this? I don't think I installed software during the previous boot (and the system in not connect to the internet, so no Windows updates either). The harddisk on which my OS resides is a Seagate Cheetah 10K.6, which remaps bad sectors in hardware; the OS never sees bad sectors (so this could not have caused it either).

Reinstalling the driver didn't help. Maybe unrelated, but a I noticed that the system has become much less responsive also. I'll reinstall Windows (maybe give Vista a try), but I'm puzzled regarding the cause of it.


Jörg

[MultimediaMan]

Is the Windows Audio Service running (AudioSrv)?

Start -> Run -> Services.msc -> Windows Audio -> Properties

Start Up Type should be set to Automatic for Windows XP.

[ZokesPro]

My wifi card did the same exact thing and the only solution I could find was formating and re-installing Windows, unfortunetely. Hate to say it but you might have to re-install your OS to fix it if all else fails.

[LvR]

This relevant?

[Gurm]

There was a MS update that turned off your rear output. I bet you dimes to dollars your front speaker/headphone jack works just fine. Downgrade your Realtek drivers (or update to the latest) and see if that helps!

We've seen this on a dozen client machines so far. Most were HP's with Realtek chips.

[VJ]

Is the Windows Audio Service running (AudioSrv)?

Yep, it is running and startup is set to automatic...

This relevant?

I haven't updated this system (is not connected to internet), so updates could not have caused this...

There was a MS update that turned off your rear output. I bet you dimes to dollars your front speaker/headphone jack works just fine. Downgrade your Realtek drivers (or update to the latest) and see if that helps!

Nope, there was no output on the front speaker jack (the system tray volume icon also was gone, and no option to re-enable it). Also, the system hadn't been updated due to the lack of an internet connection.

My wifi card did the same exact thing and the only solution I could find was formating and re-installing Windows, unfortunetely. Hate to say it but you might have to re-install your OS to fix it if all else fails.

Yes, I was afraid of this... Guess it is one of those Windows quirks...

But it is strange: one time it works, the next it doesn't...
I now installed Vista, and it appears to be running quite smoothly (despite my "score" of 1.0, caused by the low video card score it gets for gaming).


Jörg