Missing Realtek Audio Output in Device Manager Aspire 5542

I recently noticed that my laptop no longer plays sound, either through the speakers or through headphones. The icon says that there's "no speakers or headphones plugged in".

I've checked the Sound settings, and the Realtek audio output (I can't remember the exact name of the device) was missing. So I went to the Device Manager and the only thing under Sound is the ATI High Definition Audio Device. I'm not using HDMI so it's not what I'm looking for.

Windows support told me to re-install the Realtek drivers from my computer's manufacturer, but I've recovered the drivers for the Realtek device through Acer's Recovery Manager and re-installed them. My sound still doesn't work. For good measure I uninstalled and re-installed the drivers directly from Realtek's website, but no improvement.

I'm really running out of options here, since Windows basically told me they couldn't do much to help me. I'm hoping someone here could help me figure out what's wrong with my laptop.

My laptop is an Acer Aspire 5542 running Windows 7 Home Premium, 64 bit.

Thank you.

Accepted answers

vivific

Thank you for your quick responses! I was going to follow your instructions when Windows started re-installing something. For some reason it decided just now to re-install the driver, so my audio is fixed and it's showing up in Device Manager again. I have no idea what happened (Windows Update hasn't done anything), but my problem's fixed now Smiley Very Happy I was worried it was a hardware problem, but I guess it wasn't. I'll give kudos to you for your help, still ^^ Thank you!

All comments

IronFly

on device manager, click on View tab and select Show hidden devices

check if any Realtek device is available.

have look also on Playback devices:

right click on the speaker icon (if any) near clock and date

choose playback devices

right click on the new window

choose Show disable devices and Show hidden devices

if the Realtek speakers appears as hidden or disabled, please enable it and set as default sound device.

vivific

Thank you for your reply, but I've checked both and nothing shows up. I've also checked Services and Windows Audio is running. Do you have any other solutions I could try?

IronFly

the quickest probably (without trying a system reset) is to try an Ubuntu live CD and check if audio works.

http://www.ubuntu.com/download

if it doesn't work even under Ubuntu Live CD, i suspect an hardware issue.

vivific

Thank you for your quick responses! I was going to follow your instructions when Windows started re-installing something. For some reason it decided just now to re-install the driver, so my audio is fixed and it's showing up in Device Manager again. I have no idea what happened (Windows Update hasn't done anything), but my problem's fixed now Smiley Very Happy I was worried it was a hardware problem, but I guess it wasn't. I'll give kudos to you for your help, still ^^ Thank you!

IronFly

You welcome. Smiley Happy

Angela39

I wish it was that easy for me. I just got this computer late Monday evening (an Acer Aspire Notebook w/Windows 10) & the sound was working just fine that night & early Tuesday morning, but by Midnight Wednesday, I noticed the sound wasn't working & it's telling me that no audio output device is installed. No idea how it suddenly became uninstalled. I'm the only one who has access to this computer, & there's no reason why I would uninstall the audio on my brand new computer. I've restarted it probably close to a dozen times, & nothing is working. Upon advice from someone online, I uninstalled the sound thing (because I was told that would/should solve the problem,) but the problem still exists. I've tried reinstalling it, but can't seem to do so without paying more money. I paid for three years worth of protection on this computer, so I'm not understanding the problem, but I'm extremely agitated right now.

harriet105

This has happened to me as well Angela39. It won't work no matter what I try and I've literally tried everything. What should I do now, please please help!

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