Volume icon missing in taskbar

The volume icon sometimes does not load when I boot up. When this happens, I go into Control Panel, open Sounds And Audio Devices, uncheck "Show volume icon in taskbar", apply, re-check, apply, and the volume icon comes back.

This doesn't happen all the time, maybe 30% of the time. What could be the reason and what can I do to solve this?

 

Hello Halo (no pun intended )

Yeah I'm using XP and I've got the Volume icon on Always Hide. However, it should still load when I boot up, albeit hidden. The problem I'm having is that it does not load at all, which means I am unable to access the icon from the taskbar at all.

 

Go to control panel, Sounds and Audio Devices. Do you have a check next to "Place volume Icon in the taskbar"?

 

Did you try disabling the unwanted items from System Configuration Utility (MSCONFIG)?

 

theefool: yes

Junior Jeeves: yes, I've got a few items disabled in msconfig > startup, namely:
1) nokia pc suite
2) hp printer
3) soundman
4) acrobat assistnat
5) msn messenger

 

Anyone?

 

start, run, type:

sndvol32

click ok. What happens?

 

Volume Control panel appears...

 

Try a new account.

 

You're a genius. I only have 1 account, so I logged off and logged in again with the same account, all tray icons loaded. Restarted the computer just to be sure, tray icons loaded again successfully.

Earlier tonight I tried enabling every item on the START UP list, and was pretty surprised when Nokia PC Suite and Soundman (for the onboard RealTek AC97 audio) did not load as well.

What was the problem to start with? I've never encountered this problem before.

 

The notification area since release of XP has been buggy at best. I'm not surprised at all you had this problem. As for a cure?

Don't hold your breath

Usually though, the missing volume icon is related to a missing sndvol32 executable.

 

Yeah I did a quick search on the net and found that Volume Icon problems usually was attributed to a missing sndvol32.exe but it turns out mine is still there. Like I said earlier, I didn't realise that it wasn't only a Volume Icon problem, but more so a system tray problem when the PC Suite and Soundman icons wouldn't show up either.

Curious as to why you suggested using another account? To be honest that was completed unexpected (can't say I wasn't pleasantly surprised it work though! ).

I don't remember having so many problems with SP1 though, I only experienced all these little niggly problems here and there when I went for SP2.

 

Little graphical quirks, missing icons, etc are all usually within the user account registry settings and as such, are per user.

Notification settings are per user. So, if you have a problem with said settings, it stands to reason that another user account is not likely going to exhibit the same behavior.

I've seen stranger things too.

Like booting to Safe Mode, then normal mode and the problem disappears without doing anything at all.

 

Just restarted the computer a few times, it's still doing it. I have to log off, log on again before tray icons will appear.

Is there anything I can do other than formatting and reinstalling XP? Cos that's a huge PITA...

 

Bit of a longshot, but:

Disable this service, via services.msc.

SSDP Discovery Service.

Reboot and test.

I have a theory.

 

You can try Restore Volume/Net Icon to Notification Area scroll down to #320 http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

I agree with Adryn. Don't hold your breath.

Steve

 

Sorry Adrynalyne, slow typing.

Steve

 

Adrynalyne: Share your theory please I did as you instructed, and the icons loaded successfully, and more quickly than before. However, prior to reading your post, I also started a new administrator account, logged in using that, logged out and logged back in with my current account before deleting the new account. Thus, I'm not sure which was it that did it. While waiting for your response, I shall restart the computer again with SSDP Discovery Service enabled again, and see how it goes.

Matacumbie: Thanks for the link, but what do I do with that? The link at #320 is a .reg file.

 

Just double-click, or right-click and merge.

 

Ok, just enabled SSDP and restarted the computer, Nokia PC Suite icon in the system tray did not load again.

Please enlighten us with your theory

 

SSDP Discovery Service is another ones of those buggy pieces of crap in XP. It controls discovery of Unviseral Plug and Play devices. It goes haywire now and and again,a nd when it does, it causes problems loading certain aspects of the shell, notification icons, and even the start menu sometimes.

Its not really used for much at this point anyway, unless you use a Windows Media Connect device or a UPnP enabled router. Even if you do use a router with such features (most have it nowadays), it will still work fine, except programs like MSN Messenger will require that ports for file sharing, video and audio conferencing be opened manually on the router. Otherwise, it will function fine for text messaging.

As for a cure? Maybe a repair. It doesn't always work either. In the time I worked under MS for XP support (2001-2005), there was no true cure for SSDP Discovery Service malfunctions.

 

I used the reg values at #320, restarted computer and volume icon was very quick to load, so I guess that's sorted. However, Nokia PC suite icon still refused to load, I'm more concerned about solving the problem at the root...

 

To add to this, when it goes wacky, a lot of times you can check Task Manager and will see an svchost.exe process eating up a huge amount of CPU resources.

 

You're right, I have like 6 svchost.exe processes running at the moment in Task Manager. However, they aren't using up any CPU resources at all, just Mem.

Looks like I should just leave SSDP off.

This issue only turned up recently. I'm just wondering what might have triggered this. Recently I've been installing quite a number of software, these include:

MBM 5
PC Wizard
CPU-Z
Latest driver for my VGA card
Nokia PC Suite

 

Leave it off for a while, and if it loads fine, you are good to go. You likely won't even miss the service.

Sorry I can't be more specific as to what breaks it, though. If you like, I can attach a copy of mine thats working and let you merge it into your registry and see if it fixes it.

 

That'll be tops, much appreciated. Will it affect anything though? I mean, obviously you'd have different programs etc setup on your computer, or would you only be attaching a copy of the related registry entries?

 

The service is pretty standard. There should be no difference between mine and yours.

I'll attach it momentarily.

 

Keep in mind i have Sp2, so you might want to make sure youa re using the same service pack level as me. Unzip it and then right click, merge.

 

Thanks mate. I've SP2 as well, with every update available performed. I'll give your registry a go and report back.

Again, really appreciate the help that has been extended here.

 

Glad to help

 

One very happy camper here. I used your registry, re-enabled SSDP and rebooted. No problems whatsoever, every icon in the system tray loaded successfully. In fact, they have never loaded quicker.

Just to prove it wasn't a fluke, I rebooted again. Everything still loaded quickly and smoothly.

Thanks again, I can't be more grateful.

 

Nice to see it worked out

 

Very nice work Adrynalyne.

Steve