PCTech Forums

I recently did a fresh install of Windows XP on on my laptop and since then I haven't been able to get sound working. Almost all drivers have been installed and Device manager tells me they are working just fine. My audio one is a Sigmatel driver, if that matters much ... but there's 5 others listed under "sound, video, and game controllers."

Almost all drivers, as I said, the ones below I didn't install for various reasons:
* Sony Visual Communication Camera Driver -- It is actually installed, just disabled because it gives shutdown issues.
* SonicStage / SonicStage Add on -- They're not even drivers, right? It is listed on Sony's Support download site under "original drivers" but it looks like it's just the SonicStage program which I don't want.
* OpenMG Setup / OpenMG AAC Add on / OpenMG Update -- Same as what I said about SonicStage.
* PictureGear Studio -- As above, and add to that it's a 102mb file.

Now, when I try and play a sound file in Windows Media Player I get this error:

"Windows Media Player cannot play the file because there is a problem with your sound device. There may not be a sound device installed on your computer, it may be in use by another program, or it may not be functioning properly."

And in Winamp I get this:

"Bad DirectSound driver. Please install proper drivers or select another device in configuration.
Error code: 80004005"

And then, depending on what file I play, it won't stop giving me that error, and I have to end it in Task Manager. After searching around I found that many people fixed it in winamp by going to the output plugin in preferences, and changing the out_ds.dll so it showed their sound device instead of just "Primary Sound Device". No help for me though and I still get the error message.

I don't have any other audio programs installed but it seems like enough proof that something is wrong. Though one last thing, when I run dxdiag.exe and look under the sound option I get this error message:

"Error: Problem getting extra sound info, result code = 0x80004005 (Generic failure)"

I've troubleshooted for awhile - Sounds & Audio Devices in the Control Panel lists the driver device, and the Windows Audio service is started and running fine. I've also installed the DirectX redistribution package and still nothing, and now I'm out of ideas. So, anyone able to help me with this?

I've got a "Sony VAIO VGN-FE35GP" if that helps.

Thank you.

Ok, well I installed those above drivers at least to rule them out - no success. I still have the same error messages, and the same problems. Now, I didn't install "PictureGear Studio" because of it's download size. But really, it's an application, not a driver, and I'm sure it doesn't have any effect on my sound.

I also re-installed Windows with some success - I now get some system sounds. I have the sparkely sound at the VAIO logo that comes up when I first turn on my computer and I also have the Windows logon sound. But that's it and I haven't heard any others.

Better then before, but still far from what I would like. Heh, so anyone know what is wrong?

I get this when I try and test my sound with dxdiag:
* DirectSound test results: Failure at step 3 (DirectSoundCreate): HRESULT = 0x80004005 (Generic failure)

And with the Music tab I get these.
* DirectMusic test results: Failure at step 6 (Activating the IDirectMusicPort): HRESULT = 0x80004005 (Generic failure)
* DirectMusic test results: Failure at step 5 (Creating the IDirectMusicPort): HRESULT = 0x80070057 (Invalid argument(s))

The first is the result for "Microsoft Synthesizer", "Microsoft MIDI Mapper [Emulated]" and "Microsoft GS Wavetable SW Synth [Emulated]". The second 2nd is for "SigmaTel Audio".

Have you been to and downloaded the sound drivers?

Scroll down that page to #20 and make sure thats what you have installed for sound drivers

Yes, I got all the drivers from that Sony website ... the audio was one of them.

It could be that the new install doesn't default check the CD/DVD player to play digital audio.

Go to device manager and select the cdrom or dvd and select properties and make sure the box "enable digital cd.... " is checked. That would only be a fix for playing CD's or DVD's

I checked, but I don't have that option in my CD properties.

Az Flux,

Right click on My Computer select properties > select the hardware tab.
Click the Device manager button, now click on "View" and select "Show Hidden Devices".

Now do you see any yellow icons listed in the Sound, video and game controllers section?

No, no yellow icons ... or red - they're all apparently working just fine. However, five of them have an location of "unknown" in their properties though, if that means anything.

I should also note that the kb888111 update for windows is installed ... my modem and audio driver wouldn't install without it. But someone also recommended that I try kb835221 ... and I did, but with still no change to my sound.

So I uninstalled the latter, because it is an older version and superseded by kb888111 ... after that I reinstalled kb888111 because it looked as though some important files were removed. I now have sound on StickyKeys, which I didn't appear to have before. Still no sound elsewhere though, and still the same messages with WMP or Winamp.

i think you get sticky key sounds from the onboard speaker not your acual sound card i cud be wrong tho....

Yeah, generally those types of sounds come through the system speaker. But this is a laptop and is different; it only has the speakers at the top where all sounds come though.

I know this for a fact because I can mute them, and I no longer hear any system sounds, the StickeyKeys being one of them.

I did before, I installed all the ones I left out, to at least rule them out. But, none of them helped.

I tired it again anyway, incase something had gone wrong with the first install (I got bad error messages after installing some drivers, which is why I re-installed so readily.) But still nothing - it's just an application.

Az Flux,

These "unknown locations" what are the devices list for them?

I suspect that you need a chipset driver, that or something is amiss with windows sound.

You could try downloading
It might help you identify those devices with the "unknown locations".

What do you mean, exactly?

I can give you the names that they appear under in device manager.

- Audio Codecs
- Legacy Audio Drivers
- Media Control Devices
- Legacy Video Capture Devices
- Video Codes


I ran Everest, and go this error message on starting:
"This computer seems to have an Intel i945GM/PM "Calistoga" motherboard chipset.
The current version of EVEREST you are running does not fully support your system."

It started thought, and worked fine, but I don't exactly know what I'm looking for.

EDIT:
Well, I tried installing some Legacy audio drivers on my computer but I keep getting this message:
"The 1-StudioCard returned a PCI Device Id not found error!"

I reinstalled my chipset drivers, but I still get the error.