No audio device intalled error

[logankeller707]

Hello, all of a sudden my volume on my laptop stopped working. Even headphones or speakers that are plugged in wont work. I scroll over to the volume control, which now has a red circle with a white cross in the middle, and it says no audio output installed. I have tried many many things, been researching for days. I tried disabling and re-enabling, i've tried uninstalling and going to the main factorys website to manually install the sound drivers(Realtek audio), and still nothing. My computer is a gateway laptop, NV574. I am now running windows 8 instead of windows 7 64-bit. I've had windows 8 for a year, and everything has been working properly until now. So what i did was system restores. But every time my laptop dies, it updates. And when it updates the audio device stops working, and i'm tired of doing system restores. Can someone assist?

 

[carnageX]

So what i did was system restores. But every time my laptop dies, it updates. And when it updates the audio device stops working, and i'm tired of doing system restores. Can someone assist?

So it works after you do a system restore, but then it stops working after Windows Updates apply? Sounds like Windows is automatically installing a driver your system doesn't like.

Firstly, try this:
Open Device Manager -> Find your audio device -> double click it -> Go to the Driver tab -> see if you can Rollback the installed driver

If that doesn't work, then do a system restore again. After it's finished, open up Windows Update and change the update settings to not automatically install updates, but to "notify you and let you choose when to download/install". Then check for updates, and go to the Optional updates tab when it's done. Find anything related to your audio and disable/uncheck it. You can alternatively right click it -> select "Hide Update" and not worry about it applying again

Install updates 1 at a time, making note of which one you're installing, rebooting in between to make sure it wasn't another rogue patch that was causing your issues. If you hit one that breaks your audio, then uninstall that update and select to Hide the update, and then continue with 1 at a time installs.

 

[logankeller707]

So it works after you do a system restore, but then it stops working after Windows Updates apply? Sounds like Windows is automatically installing a driver your system doesn't like.

Firstly, try this:
Open Device Manager -> Find your audio device -> double click it -> Go to the Driver tab -> see if you can Rollback the installed driver

If that doesn't work, then do a system restore again. After it's finished, open up Windows Update and change the update settings to not automatically install updates, but to "notify you and let you choose when to download/install". Then check for updates, and go to the Optional updates tab when it's done. Find anything related to your audio and disable/uncheck it. You can alternatively right click it -> select "Hide Update" and not worry about it applying again

Install updates 1 at a time, making note of which one you're installing, rebooting in between to make sure it wasn't another rogue patch that was causing your issues. If you hit one that breaks your audio, then uninstall that update and select to Hide the update, and then continue with 1 at a time installs.

Thank you carnage for the fast reply, this issue has been bugging me for a month and it really is irritating. So i will do what you said, because i've already researched and tried many solutions, one of being the rollback. The rollback button is gray, so i am unable to do so. I will try your other option! thanks

 

[carnageX]

Good luck, and let us know how it turns out.

 

[logankeller707]

UPDATE* I no longer have any restore points that bring my audio device back into play. Old restore points that i had aren't there anymore, only ones that are recent and don't change the outcome of my audio.

 

[carnageX]

Open Windows Update -> click' View Update History' -> Click the 'Installed Updates' link -> Sort by the "Installed On" date column -> see if you can find anything there related to audio

 

[logankeller707]

Nothing audio related. Just a bunch of highlighted names such as "microsoft windows update" or "Security windows update" and "Micrcosoft visual c** update"

 

[carnageX]

When you uninstall the nonworking audio driver from Device Manager, did you check the box that said "Delete driver" as well? I'd try doing that, reboot, then try to install the Realtek driver and see if it works.

Does Device manager recognize you have an audio device at all? If it recognizes it, doe sit say it's "working properly" or does it have a yellow exclamation mark on it?

 

[logankeller707]

When you uninstall the nonworking audio driver from Device Manager, did you check the box that said "Delete driver" as well? I'd try doing that, reboot, then try to install the Realtek driver and see if it works.

Does Device manager recognize you have an audio device at all? If it recognizes it, doe sit say it's "working properly" or does it have a yellow exclamation mark on it?

I can not uninstall the original driver. Every time I do, i will open up Device manager again and the "High Definition Audio Device" reappears. It has a caution sign next to it. My computer does not register that i have an audio device at all. I open play back devices, and make sure "disabled" and hidden" are checked, so i can see disabled devices as well. And nothing is there, it says that no audio device is installed.

 

[carnageX]

Open up Device Manager
On the "High Definition Audio Device" when it has the yellow exclamation, do the following:
Right click -> Properties -> Details tab
Post the following info for each item that has a yellow exclamation mark:
Under "Hardware Ids" in the dropdown, it should have something like VEN_####&DEV#### ; post that section, where #### = some alphanumeric combination.