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

Anonymous
2014-07-10T14:01:39+00:00

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

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Anonymous
2014-07-14T10:32:25+00:00

Go to device manager, select the audio device/driver and click scan for hardware changes.

voiala! sounds stupid but works for me.

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Anonymous
2014-07-16T13:48:58+00:00

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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  1. Anonymous
    2014-07-16T14:25:06+00:00

    I looked up the KB2962407 update on my machine and it wasn't offered until July 9, so at least that's the right timing. I did also see that it is an "update rollup" that consists of 9 updates, only one of which relates to the audio device battery life issue. I'm not sure how one would go about unwrapping the rollup so you could uninstall only one component.

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  2. Anonymous
    2014-07-16T10:19:42+00:00

    I'm copying and pasting this for more exposure, because this is the real and permanent solution to the problem. Give your thanks to Tim Bearden,

    "I went in an uninstalled the windows updates and it's good as new again. So far anyways.

    http://windows.mercenie.com/windows-8/how-to-install-and-uninstall-updates-in-windows-8/"

    Just uninstall all the updates from the month of July and restart your PC.

    Dr.P's suggestion of scanning for hardware changes is only temporary.

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  3. Anonymous
    2014-07-16T10:15:00+00:00

    Thank you Tim.

    I followed Dr.P's advice but it was only temporary.

    So I used your link and just un-installed all the updates for the month of July and so far the problem has been permanently fixed.

    Thanks a bunch :)

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