Topic: "No audio output device is installed"

A couple of months ago, I tried to watch a video but noticed there wasn't any sound. There was a red and white X over it. I put my mouse over it and it said "No audio output device is installed" I have a Compaq Presario F700 running Windows Vista Home Basic 32 bit with Service Pack 2 installed.( I received the error before I downloaded Service Pack 2) I have went to countless websites telling me to Open up device manager, look for the Sound, Video, and Game controllers tab and either 1.) Scan for Hardware changes 2.) Uninstall then Reinstall 3.) Check for an update or 4.) Disable then Enable. It sounds like an easy fix but the problem is I don't have the Sound, Video and Game Controllers tab in device manager. Does anyone know how to fix this? I really need this fixed because I have been going months without watching videos and listening to music on my laptop for a while. I also use it for a little bit of gaming but gaming is useless without sound.

Maybe try the Control Panel.

Have you been able to play sound with your computer before you upgraded to SP2?

The error occurred months before I downloaded service pack 2.

have you ever been able to play sounds on your computer?

The device may have malfunctioned. You may need to disable then enable it

I would recommend looking on Compaq's website to see if they have the audio drivers for your computer.
Here is a link to Compaq's software and driver download page:

http://www.compaq.com/country/cpq_support.html

I hope this helps.

It seems that would work but I can't because I can't find my audio driver in device manager. Some sites say it's under the sound, video and game controllers tab but that's not showing up in my device manager for some reason.

since it doesn't exist in Device Manager, try installing it as a brand new device. grab the drivers from Compaq's support website and see what installing them gets you.

I tried that but I get this error: "Driver Installation Failed: Could not find the device for this driver" during the installation.

Does the computer have a headphone jack? If so, can you hear anything if you plug in headphones?

If you can't hear sound though headphones either, then I would think your sound card is bad. Otherwise, you may simply have defective or disconnected speakers.

so i'm not sure exactly how your laptop was built or how modifiable it is (i mean, can you get to your sound card and see if it's loose?), but it sounds like there's something up with your sound card. you probably want to get in touch with Compaq's support hotline and see what they can do for you, maybe they can help you open up your laptop and reseat the card (provided it's not some kind of on-mobo thing).

Then im guessing you don't have an audio device.

I'm wondering if you even have a sound card... After reading your first post I'm led to believe it might not exist in the first place...I can't even recall the last time I saw a PC without some low-budget pre-installed soundcard, but I'm sure it's a possibility.

if it were a desktop PC i'd recommend either reseating or replacing if nothing else has worked (especially the attempt to straight-up install a new audio device with the correct drivers), lol... but he said it's a laptop. unless it's a super-nice one, it's probably just some kind of on-board thing, which would suck. :/

It was able to play sound for the first few months I got it. Then it stopped

I believe that the sound card is integrated into the computer's motherboard, which will make it more difficult to fix.

That doesn't work either. I can't hear anything at all.

It sounds like it is most likely a bad sound card then. Based on the research I've done trying to help find a solution to your problem, it sounds like this may be a common issue with this computer model. You'll probably need to contact Compaq's customer support. Sorry, man.

http://www.compaq.com/country/cpq_support.html

Okay everyone, I managed to find a way to fix the sound. In device manager I choose add legacy hardware, go under the sound, video and game controllers tab (which only appears if I go to the add legacy hardware option) then the computer installs the software then it shut downs. I turn back the computer but it shut downs again. This time I opened in safe mode with networking. I go over into the speaker icon and it tells me to basically start the audio service. So I try to start it but it gives me an error saying exit safe mode, then try again. Well inless I am in safe mode, the computer won't start but it gives me an error message saying "Windows failed to start. A recent hardware or software change might be the cause." I managed to bypass this and enter in safe mode. I read on a forum to fix this issue use system restore which will take me back to where I didn't attempt to install the software for the sound. I used system restore and tried the entire process over again but the same thing happened forcing me to go to system restore again. The startup repair message says to get the installation disc but unfortuantly I don't have this. Is there any other way around this? Help is very appreciated.

contact compaq and see if they can help you with a downloadable version of the install disc. some companies don't even include proper install discs, either (my HP laptop came with a read-only partition including all the installation info; when it asks for an install disc i just point it in that direction), so you might want to double-check and see if you've got any strange partitions lying around your hard drive :3