Windows 8 Sound Issue

[HortonX25]

Posted this onto other sites FYI

I've installed Windows 8 onto a computer, the sound worked nicely for one day, but after a restart it no longer works. Checking shows that the drivers are all installed and it can detect the speakers, but yet no sound comes out of them.

Anybody have this issue? I've looked and I've noticed that the speakers on the same machine work for my Linux dual boot, so the issue is something to do with Windows, the hardware by itself is also working fine and everything is plugged in. There simply is no play back, I've attempted to reinstall the drivers and I still can't get anything. Can anyone help here?

 

[Neemobeer]

Have you verified that sound is pointed at the correct output device?

 

[BIGBEARJEDI]

Win8 has lots of driver issues as well as security issues which let viruses in and can disable any or all of your devices. I recommend you update to Win8.1 *you need to check EXACTLY which version of W8x you have on your computer*, and most likely that problem will disappear, assuming you don't have any nasty viruses lurking in there.

If that doesn't work, you should do a virus cleanup/removal or pay a licensed Computer Tech to do for you, and don't think for a minute that upgrading to W10 will fix this particular problem if it's virus-related!
If this is the case, and neither of the above remedies work for you, take a look at this detailed post on virus cleanup I did today for another forum user here: Windows 10 - Wi-Fi speed is extremely slow since installing Windows 10
This solution set is actually for a User with very slow Wi-Fi Internet on W10; but the troubleshooting and virus removal steps are the same for W8/W8.1

You can save yourself some time by checking the version of W8x you are running *either W8 or W8.1* on your computer. If you have W8.1, you can backup your stuff to external media first, and jump into to virus removal section and try to remove the virus you may have and see if it brings your sound back. If it does, you're all fixed!

If it doesn't read down through the link I gave you and get started with Troubleshooting using my free TROUBLESHOOTING GUIDE; link included above.

This should take care of it in any case.

Let us know how you get on, or if you get stuck and need to ask us some questions. We are here 24x7x365 and do our best to respond to all questions within 24 hrs.

<<<<<BIGBEARJEDI>>>>>

 

[HortonX25]

Win8 has lots of driver issues as well as security issues which let viruses in and can disable any or all of your devices. I recommend you update to Win8.1 *you need to check EXACTLY which version of W8x you have on your computer*, and most likely that problem will disappear, assuming you don't have any nasty viruses lurking in there.

If that doesn't work, you should do a virus cleanup/removal or pay a licensed Computer Tech to do for you, and don't think for a minute that upgrading to W10 will fix this particular problem if it's virus-related!
If this is the case, and neither of the above remedies work for you, take a look at this detailed post on virus cleanup I did today for another forum user here: Windows 10 - Wi-Fi speed is extremely slow since installing Windows 10
This solution set is actually for a User with very slow Wi-Fi Internet on W10; but the troubleshooting and virus removal steps are the same for W8/W8.1

You can save yourself some time by checking the version of W8x you are running *either W8 or W8.1* on your computer. If you have W8.1, you can backup your stuff to external media first, and jump into to virus removal section and try to remove the virus you may have and see if it brings your sound back. If it does, you're all fixed!

If it doesn't read down through the link I gave you and get started with Troubleshooting using my free TROUBLESHOOTING GUIDE; link included above.

This should take care of it in any case.

Let us know how you get on, or if you get stuck and need to ask us some questions. We are here 24x7x365 and do our best to respond to all questions within 24 hrs.

<<<<<BIGBEARJEDI>>>>>

I'm on Windows 8.1 here. I'm unsure if it's Viruses as I've only had the computer for about a week or so.

Have you verified that sound is pointed at the correct output device?

How do you check/do that?

 

[Neemobeer]

Control Panel > Sound > Playback devices. Make sure the correct one has a green check mark

 

[HortonX25]

Control Panel > Sound > Playback devices. Make sure the correct one has a green check mark

No results there, nope.

 

[northangrywolf]

I have the same problem , but still now I don't find the method to solve it.. So I change the system ti Win10..

 

[BIGBEARJEDI]

Hi Horton,
Did you buy that computer online or from a computer store? Did they claim it was new or refurbished? Did they give you a Warranty? Reason I'm asking that is, if you bought from a reputable company or person, they should offer to fix it for you for free if it had the sound problem from day one when you got it! Now if you bought this computer from a yard sale, a pawn-shop, or a relative, then all bets are off, since they may choose not to help you claiming they sold it to you
AS-IS, with no Warranty and no support after the purchase was made.

Well, it's a lot easier to upgrade from 8.1 to 10, as 8 to 10 directly isn't possible! And with certain makes of computers, especially laptops, 8 to 8.1 isn't possible either as with Samsung, only certain models have driver support for 8.1--they and many other manufacturers opted to NOT write and post drivers for 8.1, but rather decided to wait for 10 to come out and then apply their engineering and programming resources to write drivers for their older computers (2011-2013) to be able to run W10.

The good news for you here is that you can backup all your stuff to external media, test your hardware using my TROUBLESHOOTING GUIDE link as I gave you above: Windows 10 - Unclickable Task Bar to test your hardware out and then do a CLEAN INSTALL of W8.1 or W10. If you have factory RECOVERY MEDIA for your 8.1 or RECOVERY PARTITION there you can do this for the 8.1. And your Sound should then be fixed!

If you wish to move to W10 as northangrywolf did, it may or may still not resolve your sound problem. No guarantees there. Especially if you've inherited a used computer older than 3 years old, it very likely contains a failing hard drive!! Modern computers are designed with Hard Drives that are only meant to last 3 years in Desktop PCs and only 2 years in laptops/tablets! We can tell you that from our experience 8.1 to 10 upgrades almost never solve an existing problem, for many reasons I won't go into here..but the W10 upgrade program is not perfect and doesn't fix many pre-existing problems with your 8.1 setup. Again, that's another reason we recommend CLEAN INSTALLS as that's like a 98% certainty to fix your problem.

Bear in mind, that if you do go to the trouble of Clean Installing either your 8.1 or 10 and the Sound still doesn't work; chances are you have a bad sound card or embedded chip. The latter is a much more expensive proposition, since a bad sound chip requires a whole new Motherboard, and that can run you from $400-$1,500 depending on what country you live in.

Hopefully, you have tried or are planning on trying these things and will get a good outcome.
Let us know if you have more questions.

Best,
<<<BBJ>>>

 

[HortonX25]

Just upgraded to Windows 10, sound worked for a bit, but it seems to have stopped again after reset, with the same kinds of problems. Says the speakers aren't plugged in when they are, when they are when I attempt to troubleshoot.

 

[BIGBEARJEDI]

You didn't answer my question as to where you purchased your Computer. Or even if it's a desktop or a laptop??
Did you test your hard drive & RAM sticks yet? If you haven't tested your hardware, and the same problem continues to happen, it's even more likely then that you have failing hardware!
And you are trying to troubleshoot with a dual-boot OS configuration. That's makes it even more difficult to figure out what's going on. If you are not willing to do this, perhaps you should purchase a new hard drive and do a W10 CLEAN INSTALL on it. If that works; then your previous windows installations, 8.1 & 10; both of them were corrupted. And you solved your problem-it was a software issue!

It could also have something to do with how you installed your Linux as I mentioned. The best way to test that is to take your Linux out of the picture entirely-at least for the period of troubleshooting. If you do the above test with a new hard drive, and the sound DOESN'T work, then there is something wrong with either one or more of your RAM sticks or your computer Motherboard. You cannot determine that until your test your RAM sticks using the procedure in my TROUBLESHOOTING GUIDE above in my Post #8.

It is possible that your sound was working with the Linux in your existing dual-boot config, as Linux is a little more forgiving with hardware failures (especially hard drive ones) than is Windows. Unless you are willing to concede that you do indeed have a hardware failure and test for it, you will just continue reinstalling windows or upgrading it (since you are now on W10 you can't upgrade it further) in a loop, never solving the problem. It's your computer, so do what you want.

'luck,
<<<BBJ>>>