Speaker icon has a Red X on it, "no audio output device is installed".

Anonymous

original title: No audio output device is installed.

I have done nothing different to my computer but noticed yesterday that the speaker icon in the system tray has a red and white "X" over it and says that "no audio output device is installed." I have Windows Vista. When I go to my control panel and click on "Sounds and Hardwar," and again click on "Sound," it tells me that "No audio devices are installed." Yesterday I went to --> All programs --> Accesories --> System Tools --> System Restore and I did a system restore that way. After my computer re-started, the audio problem was solved but somehow my anti-virus protection was no longer installed. I fixed this with the McAfee support online chat and the audio was also working all day yesterday. However, today, it again says that "no audio output device is installed," and I do not want to restore my system again and have to deal with the anti-virus software going haywire again. Is there another way to fix this? Please help me. I have looked this up on other support sites and have found the answers too technical for me to understand. I have a one-year-old Toshiba Satellite M205 with an Intel Centrino processer and Vista with Service Pack 1 installed although I don't know if that is important information or not. My computer has a sticker on it that says "Dolby Sound Room," whatever that means. Thanks in advance!

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Anonymous

Hi m_kelsey,

It sounds like you might have an audio driver that isn’t working properly, please do the following:

1. Click Start

2. In ‘Start Search’ type Device Manager, press Enter (provide administrative credentials if prompted)

3. Click the “+” next to Sound, video and game controllers to drop down the menu

4. Check the status of any device listed in that category by right-clicking that device, clicking Properties, and then under the General tab check what it says under “Device status”. Let us know what the status was.

5. Then check all the devices (especially any that had a problem under “Device status”) listed in this category for updated drivers by right-clicking that device and then clicking Update Driver Software… (this step may take a moment so be patient).

Get back to us with your results so that we can further assist you if need be. We look forward to hearing back from you.

Brian

Microsoft Answers Support Engineer

Visit our Microsoft Answers Feedback Forum and let us know what you think.

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190 additional answers

Anonymous

2013-07-14T04:26:10+00:00

i followed the steps multiple times and i get the same results...it keeps saying that my devices are up to date, here are the device status: Windows cannot load the device driver for this hardware. The driver may be corrupted or missing. (Code 39)

Click 'Check for solutions' to send data about this device to Microsoft and to see if there is a solution available.
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Anonymous

2013-07-09T09:19:51+00:00

i have uninstalled my audio output device, so how to re-install it, further, there is a red cross mark over the sound icon,
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Anonymous

2013-07-04T05:01:23+00:00

hi, i hav this isssue with my sound" this device can not start code 10", tried most of the suggestions nothng worked. so thinking abt buying a sound card or usb sound card.

do u own a usb sound card, how does it perform,how is the sound qaulity?

please let me know

thank you
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Anonymous

2013-06-08T16:14:16+00:00

Seems like so many of us have the same issue. Mine started after a microsoft update. Why isn't there a fix provided for this?
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