Computer Sound problems.

If anyone has had this problem or could point me in the right direction it would be appreciated.
I have an Audigy 4 sound card running on an ASUS motherboard. My OS is XP.
The system has worked well for over a year but I have not used it much until recently.
I have lost sound through the soundcard though periodically it returns for short periods of time (minutes or usually seconds). At the same time I also lose sound through the computer meaning I get no sound from Windows Media Player.
My attempts at solving this have included

  1. A thorough maintenance including defrag, virus checks and adaware
  2. reinstalling the drivers for the sound card (several times)
  3. using system restore to roll back my setting to before I was using it so often
  4. All sound troubleshooting guides available

It appears to play system sounds through the computers internals speakers but not always.
It is not a mute button problem.

My next step it to reseat the sound card in a different slot on the motherboard.

Any other suggestions?

It sounds more like a wiring problem somewhere between the card and the speakers to me, but it could also be a failing component in the amplifier circuit or something like that. If the card needed reseating, then when it isn’t working, you shouldn’t be able to see it in Device Manager, or I wouldn’t have thought so.

The device manager reads the card and reports that the device is working properly. Media Player reports that it cannot find a sound device for playback. It’s a mystery.

Have you updated the sound drivers? Routinely the ones you get with a system are 2 to 5 years old. I don’t have huge confidence it will help but it’s worth a shot.

Are you saying this problem only came on recently, ie it used to work OK? If so either something has been changed in the system or it’s a hardware fault, as M says.

Ah, if media player can’t see the device, we can discount the possibility that it’s between the output and the speakers.

In that case, reseating the card or reinstalling in another socket sounds like it’s worth trying, but it could be that a driver update has gone wrong somewhere along the line, so actually, I’d try it like this:

-Set a System Restore point (details)
-Physically uninstall the card from the machine
-Click Start>Run and type CMD<enter>
-In the command window, type set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1<enter> (NB, there must be no spaces either side of the = sign, or it just won’t work)
-Type start devmgmt.msc<enter>
-The Device Manager window will appear. Click View>Show Hidden Devices
-Find the entry for your sound card - it should be ‘greyed out’ - indicating its absence
-Right-click the entry and select ‘Uninstall’
-Close the Device Manager
-Shut down the machine
-Physically reinstall the sound card
-Start the machine -it should detect the sound card as a brand new bit of hardware - give it the driver that came with the card (if it asks)

-If that works, head off to Windows Update and look if it’s now offering you an update for a soundcard - if it is, select ‘don’t show me this update again’ - I’ve seen Windows Update render several different machines mute by imposing an incorrect soundcard driver. I always update them (if necessary) direct from the manufacturer’s own drivers now.

Have you disabled the on-board sound for the Asus board in BIOS? This can cause conflicts which may result in loss of sound. (Usually terminal until it is disabled, but anything is possible.)

Also, have you installed any other devices capable of sound (bluetooth devices, USB phone handsets, headphones or capture devices)? - if so, the sound mapper might be sending the audio to the wrong device.

Everything work exactly as you said and I reseated the card in slot three instead of slot 4.
I even had hope for a second when Media Player played songs.
I immediately did a diagnostic on the sound card and found the same old errors.
When I went back to Media Player the songs would not play.
Thanks so much for taking the trouble to help me. It appears my sound card is pooched which really pisses me off as it was supposedly a good one and cost be a few hundred bucks. I will see about a warranty.
Is there any test that will confirm that it is indeed a sound card problem?

Putting another one in.

If possible, install it in a different machine and see if it manifests the same problems.