I'm DYING!

Ok, I'm not really, but getting closer to it every minute.

I know this problem has been posted before but I searched through all the similar threads and nobody has the exact problem as me. I'm typing this on a very crappy computer because I've had it with my laptop.

The problem with my laptop: NO SOUND!

I know you're probably thinking "I've heard it all before" but seriously.
It's a Windows XP Toshiba laptop and 2 days ago, I woke up and turned it on, like I do every day but there was no sound.

To make long story a little shorter:
-I can't hear system sounds either (instead I hear a very annoying beep, like when it asks me "do you want to save this file")
-Whenever I try to do something that has to do with sound (like play a video, try to adjust volume settings, etc), the laptop freezes or something about having no audio mixer shows up
-On the "Device Manager" under "Sound, video, and game controllers" the following has an exclamation point: Microsoft Kernel Wave Audio Mixer
-No volume icon in taskbar
-I never upgraded my computer or installed anything when this happened, it was a random thing
-I've googled this problem for 2 days in a row, nonstop, having to turn my computer on and off because of the stupid freezing, and have tried countless (trust me when I say countless) of "solutions" but none have worked
-Yesterday though, somehow, in the middle of my quest to find the solution, the sound came back out of nowhere (without me clicking anything that could've brought it back), but when I turned my computer off and on again to see if the sound would stay, it was gone again, and have had no luck since then.

I'm going mad, I swear. I cannot live if the sound is not fixed. I've had that laptop for 2 years and have so many things in it that I need. I don't even know why it keeps freezing. I have never had any sort of problems with it before.

Please.Help.

 

I'm sure you've tried this, but here we go:
Uninstall the sound driver. Go to Add/Remove Programs and remove it from there. Restart the PC and re-install the sound drivers. If that doesn't work, read this forum and pay close attention to the posts by "zirrow" and the link posted by "tinkerz". This is page 3 of a 4 page thread; page 4 has some good info too. Ignore the tip about installing codecs. You don't have a codec problem. If you have your XP install disc, a repair install would probably fix everything, unless you have a hardware problem (which, unfortunately, is possible judging from the descriptions you've posted).

I hope this helps!

(yeah- that thread I linked to is a bit outdated, but it is for XP so it shouldn't matter)


[dlb]

 

Hey, thanks for the reply.

But here's the thing.
I went on Add and Remove programs to see if I could find any audio related things to uninstall and what I found was Realtek High Definition Audio Driver, Realtek AC'97 AUdio, and High Definition Audio Driver Package - KB888111.

I removed all three and my computer stopped freezing every 5 seconds and it now works perfectly fine, everything is quick like it's supposed to be. 'Cept for I have no sound that is. So it's only half fixed and now I know it kept freezing because of the sound problems I was having.

I went to reinstall the Realtek programs that I had just removed but for some reason, after installation, the Realtek program doesn't open. There's no icon of it anywhere (you know that orange speaker icon). It's not even listed under "Sound, video, and game controllers" anymore. I uninstalled and reinstalled it many times from different places, like the Realtek website, other downloading sites, and even the recovery disk that came with my laptop. No luck.

Maybe I need to reinstall that KB888111 package again or something but I don't know where, I googled it and pressed download but it would take me to a different site.

Then I thought I'd do a full system recovery, but not only do I have a lot of things that I need, which could easily be burned to DVDs like I planned, but there's also a chance that the sound still won't come back and I'd also have to install many programs that I need and that were very hard to find which weren't included in my system when I purchased it.

I clicked on that link you provided for me and followed the post made by zirrow, the one where I run command prompt and see if kmixer is stopped or running. It said it was stopped but the service is still set to DEMAND_START so I don't know what I could do about that.

I don't want to give up, I know I can fix this (I sound lame I know). And if it helps, I got the Everest program and here's the report:

Computer:
Computer Type ACPI Multiprocessor PC (Mobile)
Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition
OS Service Pack [ TRIAL VERSION ]
Internet Explorer 7.0.5730.11 (IE 7.0)
DirectX 4.09.00.0904 (DirectX 9.0c)
(I left out the computer name and e-mail address, they're not relevant)

Motherboard:
CPU Type Mobile DualCore Intel Core 2 Duo T5200, 1600 MHz (12 x 133)
Motherboard Name Toshiba Satellite A105
Motherboard Chipset Mobile Intel Calistoga-GM i945GM
System Memory [ TRIAL VERSION ]
BIOS Type Phoenix (08/30/06)

Display:
Video Adapter Mobile Intel(R) 945GM Express Chipset Family (128 MB)
Video Adapter Mobile Intel(R) 945GM Express Chipset Family (128 MB)
3D Accelerator Intel GMA 950
Monitor Generic Television
Monitor Generic Television
Monitor Plug and Play Monitor [NoDB]
Monitor Plug and Play Monitor [NoDB]

Multimedia:
Audio Adapter Realtek ALC861 @ Intel 82801GBM ICH7-M - High Definition Audio Controller [B-0]

Storage:
IDE Controller Intel(R) 82801GBM/GHM (ICH7-M Family) Serial ATA Storage Controller - 27C4
IDE Controller Texas Instruments PCIxx12 Integrated FlashMedia Controller
Disk Drive TOSHIBA MK1637GSX (160 GB, 5400 RPM, SATA-II)
Optical Drive MATSHITA DVD-RAM UJ-841S (DVD+R9:2.4x, DVD-R9:2x, DVD+RW:8x/4x, DVD-RW:8x/4x, DVD-RAM:5x, DVD-ROM:8x, CD:24x/10x/24x DVD+RW/DVD-RW/DVD-RAM)
SMART Hard Disks Status OK


Anything else I could do?

 

Oh wait, I have Windows XP SP3, and I was reading back on some sound problem threads in this forum and someone with the username "musksnipe" said that if you have SP3, HD Audio will not install without a mod.

What does that mean?

 

Toshiba are one of the good guys for support

So what model Toshiba would yours be?

 

I have a Toshiba Satellite A105.

Please help me if you can. I'd be extremely happy if I could fix the sound.

 

Toshiba supply all the official drivers for your laptop here

http://www.csd.toshiba.com/cgi-bin/tais/support/jsp/home.jsp#

Note there are a couple of dozen versions of the A105 so unfortunately you will also need the S-code, which should also be on your label.

The support also has FAQ and a forum for similar problems.

If you can't get help there, post again here with the full model number.

 

THANK YOU! I'll look there and see what could help the situation.

And I know the S-code, it's S4334.

 

Downloaded everything, tried many things, and I finally installed Realtek but my computer goes right back to freezing and no sound like before, so I had to uninstall it again so my computer won't keep freezing. So I'm back to step 1.

I swear, there's no end to this. Maybe I should continue living without sound....but I really can't. I have so much music and shows I download, what's the point of even having a computer without sound? It's like TV without cable.

 

I'm sorry to have to tell you that it is likely that there is a hardware fault with the sound chips.

The reason the pc kept freezing when you tried to play sound would be that Windows is not getting an expected response from the audio system. If you disable or remove (software wise) from the system Windows goes along quite cheeryly, except for no sound.

The only other thing I can think of would be a possible conflict with an internal modem. If you have one, try disabling it in Device Manager.

Does Device Manager report any problem devices?
You will see a yellow triangle or red cross against anything awry.

Hold the windows key down, hit the pause/break key
Choose the hardware tab and click on Device Manager