Sound Blaster Live! Problem.. Says I have 'No Audio Playback Devices'

[short_stop4]

I am having a problem with my computer's sound. When I navigate to the Control Panel and goto 'Sounds and Audio Devices' under the 'Volume' tab it says "No Audio Device" and under the 'Audio' tab there are 3 things listed.

Sound Playback
Default Device: "No Playback Devices"

Sound Recording
Default Device: "SB Live! Wave Device"

MIDI music playback
Default Device: "B: SB Live! MIDI Synth"

I do not understand how my Sound Blaster Live! can be utilized for MIDI playback and Sound Recording but is not functioning as a sound playback device. Some other useful information maybe in the device manager so I will write out what that says as well.

Sound, Video and game controllers:
-Audio Codecs
-Creative SB Live! (WDM)
-Creative SBLive! Gameport
-Legacy Audio Drivers
-Legacy Video Capture Devices
-Media Control Devices
-Video Codecs

There are no exclaimations indicating any malfunction in any of the devices. Far as I can tell from the Device manager, everything is functioning properly. I am running Windows XP Home w/SP2. My sound was working less than 2 weeks ago but it just randomly stopped working specifically as a sound playback device. If you guys have seen something similar to this and know how to fix it let me know. I am pretty good with computers so you can pretty much guarantee that I have run the following:

System Restore
Services.msc
Uninstall an Re-install all audio drivers

 

[raybay]

It is possible the drivers are corrupt, or damaged in some way.
Does audio show up in the BIOS when you first boot up?
What do you see for audio when you go to Control Panel ->System->Hardware->Device Manager?
Does the section for audio drivers show a red or yellow flag?
Regardless, I would remove or disable the audio drivers, then download and install a new driver set.
Then check those obvious things that are such embarrassments... is the speaker device plugged into the correct socket? Are the speakers turned on. Do they work in another computer?

 

[short_stop4]

My original post contains all of that information. I dont see any BIOS updates on my motherboard's website either. I have entered my CMOS, but I dont know what you mean by checking the BIOS to see if Audio shows up there. How do I do that?

 

[Metallix6403]

If you pressed 'del' or one of the 'Fkeys' durring the boot up that means you are in the BIOS.

Someone correct me if Im wrong but you might not see any audio options if you are using a sound card. Only on-board audio shows up in the BIOS and you can only enable or disable it.

Since you have other Soundblaster areas working, I think you could just rollback the driver or just update the driver for the output and things should work.

 

[short_stop4]

If you pressed 'del' or one of the 'Fkeys' durring the boot up that means you are in the BIOS.

Someone correct me if Im wrong but you might not see any audio options if you are using a sound card. Only on-board audio shows up in the BIOS and you can only enable or disable it.

Since you have other Soundblaster areas working, I think you could just rollback the driver or just update the driver for the output and things should work.

Yah I disabled the onboard sound recently but that didnt change anything. I thought maybe it was confusing the computer. Anyway, I tried both an update and rolling back the drivers to the first driver and that did not work either. I know others have had similar problems I just haev not heard how they solved it. Ahh, soo frustrating not having sound.

 

[short_stop4]

anyone? I am still having the same problem..

 

[Ruben]

okay, try this:
1) Create another restore point to have a backup
2) Download driver from Sound Blaster Official Archives, i.e. this file (need to click on some generic agreement first) - save it onto hard drive but DON'T execute it now, just save it.
3) Reboot your PC into safe mode (i.e. turn the computer on, and tap the F8 key several time before you see anything. The Windows Advanced Options Menu should appear. Pick "safe mode"
4) You'll see your desktop with safe mode written in each corner, it might be in low resolution and working slow, don't worry, it's okay
5) Go into Control Panel --> Add/Remove programmes. Remove any Sound Blaster Live components
6) Reboot your PC - normally
7) Once "new hardware found" message pops up and prompts you to install driver or tries to install Windows built-in driver - do not install it.
8) Execute the file that you have downloaded in step 2 --> this eill install the driver
9) Reboot PC
10) Get another beer from the fridge


Hope that helps!

If it does not (this might hurt) consider getting a new sound card.
I have one of these X-Fi cards and it rocks,
(works with Vista as well, your old card won't anyway)