no active mixer devices; windows audio is started

Discussion in 'Software' started by Maquillage, Jun 9, 2009.

  1. Maquillage

    Maquillage Private E-2

    OK I've had this problem for quite a bit now and have tried literally everything to fix it. I've pretty much always used headphones to listen to anything on the computer and recently I've been listening to things very rarely. I'd been told by another user of this computer that the creative speakers had stopped working but, as I said previously, this didn't really affect me so I felt no great urge to fix it.

    I however was, simultaneously, experiencing a strange audio related problem. Firstly, I would plug my headphones into the computer and hear strange feedback sounds which would be constantly playing. Secondly, I would open Opera and try to play some kind of video with audio and find that no audio played. The second problem was usually fixed by restarting Opera and replaying the video however the first problem would carry on through the duration of listening. I'd originally had neither of this problems.

    Anyway today I came to the computer and tried to listen to a video with audio and found myself unable to, no matter how many times I restarted Opera, used Firefox instead or restarted the computer. After a while I went to the Volume Control in accessories to see if the audio was muted. I then got this error message:


    "There are no active mixer devices available. To install mixer devices, go to Control Panel, click Printers and Other Hardware, and then click Add Hardware.
    This program will now close"

    Now, naturally I went through the "Add Hardware" rigmarole which, at the very end, told me there was a problem with my speakers. It then opened a troubleshooting program for audio problems which I went through 3 times to no avail.

    I've also tried system restoring to 3 different points and each one has failed. I found that another "media" programme had popped up, after the installation of BBC iPlayer. I removed the said media program "Sisoft Sisandra Lite" and rebooted. After having restarted I still had no sound, however the speakers were coming up in "add new hardware" as functioning normally, despite the lack of any sound.

    My soundcard's drivers are up-to-date, I even tried reinstalling them but with no success. I've checked for updates on the DELL website for the model of computer I have. I've also been to services.msc and found that windows audio is set to automatically start and is started (something I found, through google, that is apparently the cause of this problem alot of the time).

    I'm now at a complete loss as for what to do and I would really appreciate some help.

    Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 3 (build 2600)
    Dell Computer Corporation Dimension 4550
    Creative SB Audigy 2 (WDM)
     

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