# Sound Card Problem



## Sherwin (Jun 11, 2006)

I imagine that since this is the sound card forum there are lots of threads like this but i can't seem to find anything relating to my problem. I recently bought a new computer and it uses Windows XP Home. So yesterday I downloaded a free trial of a program called soundtaxi which supposedly converts mp3 and wmas well as it was recommended on another forum. When the installer came up it said something about searching the computer and then it restarted and such. I panicked and thought the program was some kind of virus so i deleted its folder and all of its drivers from the computer. Today when I put the computer on it won't play any sound files. When I click a file in media player it says "Windows Media Player cannot play the file because there might be a problem with your sound or video device. Try Installing an updated device driver." I looked on a number of the help and support pages and nothing is working. 

In Sounds and Audio Devices in control panel is simply says "No Audio Device" and all of the options are shaded. In Hardware it says that "Realtek AC'97 Audio for VIA (R) Audio Controller" and all of the audio codecs and audio drivers are working properly.

Please don't ignore this thread if you know what the problem could be. What could I possibly do to fix this?:sayno:


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## TheMatt (May 9, 2006)

Hi, and welcome to TSF!
Did your computer/motherboard come with a CD? The drivers are uninstalled and can be reinstalled from there. If a program requires that the computer be rebooted, this is normal and just means that the program has made registry changes.


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## Sherwin (Jun 11, 2006)

It did in fact come with CDs. One is "Windows XP Home Edition" and another one is "VIA Chipsets Motherboard Utilities CD". I am not sure of what to do with them as the shop installed the programs for me, but in the hardware on control panel it says realtek and the other audio programs are working properly. I think it might be related to when earlier I was looking at hardware in "Sounds and Audio" from control panel, I saw one of the "sound taxi" drivers and it's title was unknown, so I uninstalled that and for some reason I also decided to uninstall the hardware below it on the list also "unknown" Could this be the problem even though the realtek and such is working. What do you suggest I do?
Thanks


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## Sherwin (Jun 11, 2006)

ok so I used the "GIGABYTE VIA Chipsets Motherboard Utilities CD" and chose to reinstall the RealTek drivers and everything yet on rebooting and still same problems as before. Help?


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## TheMatt (May 9, 2006)

After you did this, does it still say no audio device in the control pannel? What about device manager?

Go to where you saw this:
"Realtek AC'97 Audio for VIA (R) Audio Controller" and all of the audio codecs and audio drivers are working properly.
Uninstall everything about the realtek sound card there.
Then go to the add new hardware wizard. Its in the control pannel.
Have it scan the PC. It should find the realtek sound card.
Then another wizard will pop up. At this time, insert the motherboard CD but don't do anything with it.
Select "I will choose the location of the driver" in the wizard and check the box labeled "Include the CD drive in the search".
Have it scan. It should find and install the drivers. Then reboot if asked.


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## Sherwin (Jun 11, 2006)

I did that with no avail so I think I might as well take it to the store and ask the guy to fix it up for me. Thanks a lot for you help though Matt.


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## TheMatt (May 9, 2006)

Let us know how it turns out.


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## computersSUCK (Jul 4, 2006)

I am having this same problem. I tried to get the free trial for "soundtaxi" and now my computer will not play any sound files. When I try to play music nothing happens. I uninstalled soundtaxi but other than that I have NO IDEA what I'm supposed to do to fix it. I don't want to reformat the computer.


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## Sherwin (Jun 11, 2006)

Well i took it to the shop and the man fixed it up. He said that the drivers were installed, but not started. He said he needed to go online and download the necessary drivers or program to start it. if you can't figure out what you need to download or do maybe try email the people from the soundtaxi website. 
hope i helped


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## computersSUCK (Jul 4, 2006)

I sent an email to them several days ago but I still haven't gotten any responce. Is there any chance you could tell me what the software is if you remember, or if you can ask your computer guy.


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## Guest (Jul 9, 2006)

computersSUCK, I am experience the EXACT SAME PROBLEM you are. In fact, I have even attempted to install new audio hardware with the same result. The device is added in Device Manager, but no Audio Mixer is detected. :/ I have even manually removed the SndTDriverV32.sys file from the registry, but I fear there is another device somewhere that is hooking in and preventing Windows from allowing our sound cards to work. SoundTaxi blows! I hope I don't have to reinstall Windows! Ugg!

If anyone finds a solution, please post it here in this thread. If I find one, I'll be back here to report it. Thank in advance!!


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## Guest (Jul 10, 2006)

Well, I have a solution. I called my brother, who is a systems technician for a Computer Repair company and he told be to do a "Repair" install to fix the SoundTaxi issue. In fact, this is what he had to do to solve this very problem. So I popped in my Windows CD and did a repair install. Because of such, I didn't lose any settings on my computer, only my systems drivers where all rolled back. So, all I have to do now is update all of my system drivers to get the latest (Windows Update) and I'm all set. The good thing though, I have sound again and everything seems to be as it was, except the updating of the system drivers off Windows Update and/or manufacturers website. Whew! Good to have everything restored. 

If you need to do the same, do the following. Reboot system with your OS disk (WinXP) and then boot off the CD. Then skip the Recovery Console and select Install Windows. Next press F8 to agree to the terms. Next, you'll have the option to Install Windows, or do a '(R)epair' install. Press 'R' and do the repair install. After that, simply let the system do the install. You will be asked a couple other options later on, but that should do it. Depending on the speed of your system, install can take approximately 30 minutes.


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## bundybear (Jul 10, 2006)

g'day i have the same problem
has anyone found another way around this as i have miss placed my windows cd at the minture and don't ready want to do a repair right now as last time it messed up and i had to reinstall.
thanks for any help


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## bundybear (Jul 10, 2006)

well i found my XP cd but still don't want to to a repair install as it is only sp1 not sp2 and i have a limited download so don't feel like downloading all the updates again.
is there another way around this?
thanks for any help


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## Terrister (Apr 18, 2005)

Bundybear:try start,run and type sfc /scaannow
It will ask you for your Windows cd. This scans the windows files and replaces missing and damaged files.


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## bundybear (Jul 10, 2006)

thanks i am trying the now, hopefully it works as this is becomeing a real pain.
i was looking around and i have found that in my hardwear properties that none of my multimedia devices have started. it saids that the driver is enabled but has not been started.
well let you know how sfc /scannow works.
thanks


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## bundybear (Jul 10, 2006)

no luck with the scan, still not working.
here is a screen shot of the driver not starting.








don't know if this is the cause of the trouble or there is something else that is stopping it.


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## bundybear (Jul 10, 2006)

DELETED.
looks like i am not welcome to post here so i will delete my fix i found.
sorry but i didn't think i was doing anything wrong

please delete my other postes if there are problem i just tryed but i can't


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## Guest (Jul 11, 2006)

bundybear, I got the same "warning" too. REMOVED BY MODERATORS. REASON: Rude/offensive content. So.. I thank you for your post anyway. I won't be posting here anymore too.


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## computersSUCK (Jul 4, 2006)

I got a message back.

Dear Customer 

I am really sorry for the troubles the installation caused. 

Please reboot you PC, step into the boot manager and select "start last good configuration" 

Kind regards 

Christine


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## bundybear (Jul 10, 2006)

i got the same message word for word.
lot of good it did, that was the first thing i did when it didn't work for me.
i send one back saying it didn't work for me.
read some of the reviews that have been left for it
http://www.topshareware.com/reviews/43301-1/soundtaxi.htm


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## sbonett (Jul 20, 2006)

*Same Problem*

Im having the same problem all you are experiencing, but im worried that i wont be able to reboot and do a "repair" with my XP cd. It's because i dont think my CD drive is working either. I think the Cd driver got messed up with the sound card stuff as well. Any suggestions? Ill still try it once i find my cd, but if it doesnt work i dont know what to do. help!


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## sbonett (Jul 20, 2006)

*Fixed!*

Fixed my problem. All i had to do was uninstall and reinstall the CD and Sound drivers by going into the device manager to uninstall and using Add New Hardware to reinstall.


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## TheMatt (May 9, 2006)

Thanks for posting how you solved it.


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## jsf23 (Oct 12, 2004)

I suppose this is a random-ish type of issue (or at least nobody's yet figured out the common thread that causes it to happen), because I installed Soundtaxi and haven't had any issues playing files in Windows Media Player or Winamp since converting some files... And I saw all of the negative comments posted to TopShareware too, after I bought the full version.

Either way, I wonder if a good old WinXP System Restore to a point before you installed Soundtaxi might not also have solved this? Don't think I saw anyone having said that they tried that.

- Jordan


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## bundybear (Jul 10, 2006)

g'day mate, glad to hear that soundtaxi works for you.
on System Restore i tried that before i posted here.
tried the f8 when booting and used the restore in there as well but it didn't work.
the way i got around it was this

When you install soundtaxi its deletes

```
Plug and Play Software Device Enumerator
```
to get your sound back got you your windows\inf folder and look for machine.inf
copy it to somewhere eg your desktop and open it in a text editor at about line 21 its saids

```
ExcludeFromSelect=*
```
 delete this line and save the file.
then go to add new hardware and select new hardware, and select

```
have disk
```
 browse to where you saved the new

```
machine.inf
```
 and select it.
look for

```
Plug and Play Software Device Enumerator
```
 and install it.
after that my sound come back again.
looks like soundtaxi have a lot of work to do with there software, as it looks like for every 1 person it works for there are 10 that have problems


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## jsf23 (Oct 12, 2004)

Interesting... I've been Googling, just for the hell of it, and have seen people who have noticed that the issues seem to affect those with AMD processors. Of course, I have an AMD, so I wouldn't agree with that.

I've also seen people who say Soundtaxi has hosed their CD/DVD drives. So far I've only tried accessing (and been successful), but not burning anything yet.

I'll say one thing I've noticed, just from the dates of various posts I've seen around and the Soundtaxi versions mentioned in them, that it seems like they realize the app is flawed and they're releasing updates regularly. Looks like they're trying to fix the problems, not that that helps you guys who've been jobbed by this thing so far...


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## Cavalry624 (Feb 12, 2010)

Thanks a ton for this forum and the guys who give ideas and answering in it. 

SoundTaxi completely JACKED my PC sound. Fortunately I found this website and started reading the forums on this issue. 

I first started by trying to reinstall my sound card drivers. Since I didn't know what soundcard I had, I know I'm dumb, and the fact that I have Windows 7 RC and not a full copy I decided to try Windows System Restore. I picked a date and time previous to when I knew I installed that GARBAGE program SoundTaxi. Poof it worked and so far so good *crossing fingers.*

Don't let SoundTaxi fool you, they are a garbage company with no type of customer support. Forget them, don't give them the time of day and if you already use their program and like it, you should stop just because most people can't stand that program.

Thanks again everyone, saved me from nuking my hard drive and hating life when I stayed up till 4 am trying to reinstall everything. Thank you.
ray:ray:

I'll definitely try to post here more.


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