Windows 8 occasional no sound problem. The device is being used by another application.

Its all in here already, just read back through the thread. I'm not going to do it for you ya lazy basterd. Lol.

I see  that update has returned again today !!! Unless anyone can tell me better i'm giving it a miss ! come-on Microsoft - give us some advice here ??? pls pls pls

I have Windows 8.0 on a HP Envy computer.  After security updates from Microsoft the sound would stop working much of the time.   I spent maybe 50 hours trying to fix it with no effect. 

Trying to get support from Microsoft anymore is a worthless endeavor.

I see there are hundreds or thousands of people having the same problems.

My problem is that I would try and play a You Tube video and the video would stop because I surmise the sound is required, other videos would just not have any sound and I was thinking about taking my laptop outside and letting it talk to Mr. Sledge Hammer since it is so aggravating to have to deal with this for a long time but I didn’t! 

I found that when I put the computer in sleep mode it will wake up and the sound will work for a while but then it fails after a time.

So here is what one can do for trouble shooing the problem:

1. Click on the speaker icon on the bottom right of the screen
2. Click on the image of the speaker above the volume control
3. This will bring up the “Speaker Properties” box. Select the Advanced Tab and click on the TEST icon.  This will either allow the speaker to generate a tone or a box will pop up saying “DEVICE IN USE-- This Device is being used by another application….”.
4. So if the sound doesn’t work or works intermittently then there is a conflict with some other programs and from my research it is a flash player security update.
5. Go to the right top of the screen and select the charms SETTING icon.  Then select the “control panel”. Find the “Programs and Features” click that and then on the top LEFT there is “Windows Updates” and click on that.
6. Look for the main heading of MICROSOFT WINDOWS, which on my computer is about half way down.  One will see all the security updates that are listed by the KB numbers.
7. Print this list out on paper so you can refer to it for when you uninstall the updates.  One can always go back (maybe?) and reinstall the update.
8. The security updates are listed by KB# and I had read that KB2962407 was the problem.  One puts the mouse curser on the KB# and selects UNINSTALL, it will uninstall that particular update and then restart the computer.
9. I uninstalled KB 2962407, this had no effect.  The sound test still says that “, This [Sound] Device is Being Used by another Application” and it didn’t help me at all after I tried to use the sound for two days.   I really hate Windows 8 anymore to tell you the truth.
10. So I reinstalled it after I did a COLD RESTART (shut the computer down) and proceeded down the list. [Just put the KB# in Google search and it will show where one can get the Stand-alone version that one needs for their particular computer –have to know if you have the 64 bit Windows 8 or not to select the correct file to reinstall.]
11. I uninstalled KB 2966072.  The sound worked perfectly for 8 days with no problems.
12. I wanted to check to see if I reinstalled KB2966072 would cause the sound to fail again either the -x64 or the –x86m version but it won’t reinstall now that a few more updates have been installed. It says “this update is not applicable to your computer”. So who knows what’s going on.
13. So if that KB# didn’t help your sound, then just go down the list uninstalling the updates until you find the one that is causing the problem.
14. Probably Microsoft is aware if this and has fixed it in Windows 8.1 but I don’t know for sure.  So I am going to update the other 26 items now and then make a backup copy of my operating system with a 32 Gb flash drive and then install Windows 8.1.  The HP technician told me NOT to install 8.1 because it has more problems than 8.0 but I have no alternative since there is no support that I can get from Microsoft for problems with their security updates anymore.
15. Record the problem KB# your printed list and IF the faulty update ever comes up to be installed again, then HIDE it if it causes the same problems.

Good luck,

Steve Hamilton