No Sound

[valdez]

This is XP Sp2, C2D 6400, 2 GB RAM, Asus MoBo with RealTek audio device.

 

After installing the software (actually a bunch of it, including Switch, WavePad, ExpressBurn, ExpressRip, but I believe it's SoundTap that causes the trouble), the Realtek sound device is dead. Checking 'Sounds and Audio Devices' in the control panel, I get 'no audio device', all buttons and boxes there are greyed out. DVD-Writer, DVD-ROM and WebCam not recognized anymore.

I uninstalled those in Device Manager, then running the Add Harware wizard brought them back to life but not Realtek. Uninstalled all NCH software and cleaned the registry, to no avail, the sound device is still dead. Device is enabled, driver info says it's working properly, properties are set to 'use audio features ... use mixer features etc on this device'.

 

Any hint much appreciated.

[valdez]

sound device is dead.

DVD-Writer, DVD-ROM and WebCam not recognized anymore.

 

No good that a software installation would wreak havoc on the OS to that extent, and that not even one of the NCH people seems to have a comment. As this cost me two days of headache, I will at least give an update of the issue.

 

After the fifth unsuccessful reinstallation of the audio drivers, I finally noticed in the driver properties "driver is enabled but has not been started". Googling this phrase returns lots of discussions, some with solutions, most of which did not work for me though.

The working solution for me was a little hack that installed the 'Plug and Play Software Enumerator', which apparently is not present in every XP installation.

 

Thank you for your attention.