Go to device manager, select the audio device/driver and click scan for hardware changes.
voiala! sounds stupid but works for me.
Windows 8 occasional no sound problem. The device is being used by another application.
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Anonymous
Hi,
I have been having sound problems with the speakers on an HP Ultrabook running Windows 8. Occasionally the laptop speakers stop working. When this occurs, I go to Control Panel>Sound, select the speakers(only one set to select), select Configure and Test. After selecting Test, I receive the message Device In Use. The device is being used by another application. Please close any devices that are playing audio to this device and then try again. I've gone to Properties for the speakers, Advanced tab and unchecked option "Allow applications to take exclusive control of this device". I've also used Run sndvol to try to determine the application, but it only shows Device:Speakers/HP and Applications:System Sounds.
The only way I've been able to get the speakers to work is to reboot or disable and enable the driver for the IDT High Definition Audio CODEC. Does anyone know of a way to determine the application causing the problem? Thanks in advance for your help.
Gary
Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Devices and drivers
Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.
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Anonymous
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Anonymous
On the HP Community forum an HP tech found that uninstalling Microsoft update KB2962407 should fix the problem. This update has a fix that states "Shortened battery life when an idle audio device is not turned off on a computer running Windows". I installed this update on June 19. I don't have any July updates installed, so uninstalling July updates may not fix the problem.
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Anonymous
2014-07-14T17:08:12+00:00 In my original post I had mentioned that I had unchecked "Allow application to take exclusive control of the device" and that I still had the no sound problem. It may have fixed part of the issue because I've only lost sound once or twice since unchecking the option.
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Anonymous
2014-07-14T18:34:33+00:00 The workaround on my laptop behaves in much the same way as you describe. Since I don't use sound on my laptop much, it hasn't bothered me that I have to kill one app and start another to use sound. For me it is easier than fiddling with disabling and re-enabling the IDT codec device because on my box, the fix only lasts for a few minutes before it reverts to not working. I am hoping that there's enough traffic on this thread to get MS's attention and they'll fix the problem that I'm pretty sure they created.
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Anonymous
2014-07-14T19:25:21+00:00 I am hoping that there's enough traffic on this thread to get MS's attention and they'll fix the problem that I'm pretty sure they created.
Here Here Robert