No Audio Output Device is installed

mechanic

I have an Acer Aspire 7520 running w7 pro.But as above, i am unable to play /edit my music Library because of the above problem. I have constantly downloaded the drivers and it has no effect.I have checked in device manager and have the yellow mark against the audio but no amount of driver update fixes the problem.Every now and again i boot up the laptop and audio is available.More times than not the speaker symbol on the desktop has the red cross against it.I have reinstalled windows and have two hdds fitted but both show the same problem.Can anyone give me some advice as what the problem may be.Bios maybe?

billsey

Yeah, I think you are leaning in the right direction. You might think a bit and see if you have a family member or friend who could use a laptop that doesn't have sound... You might also do some testing to see if it can connect to a bluetooth or wireless speaker andn let them use it as a desktop with one of those 'connected'. I've recycled several older laptops that way.

 

In general a machine is initially targeted at a specific OS, the one that's current when the machine is released. In most cases it will continue to work just fine on that OS and will be able to upgrade at least once. Once you get past the magic three year old point you start seeing instances where a driver is no longer updated or some software package is no longer supported. Once you hit five or six years you'll find that a lot of things will fall into that hole. So, if you are willing  to stick with your original OS or just one or two upgrades and the software you have works for what you need you can keep a system in use for quite a long time. I've got a customer running Windows 98 on a laptop they use just for printing security badges... The company that makes the special printer only supports newer OSes with their newer printers, and a newer printer is several thousand dollars, so they keep on using the old one. Eventually the W98 machine will die and they'll either have to bite the bullet or find another machine that can still run the old software.

 

I've got my CNC router and my 3D printer running using a couple of Dell laptops from 2006, running Windows 10 (albeit slowly).

billsey

 

 

I wonder if there is a problem with the headphone jack. It might think there is a headset connected that is not really there. The internal speakers are disconnected when a headset is plugged in.

mechanic

Thank you for the reply Billsey. i have tried a bit of servisol spray into the headphone socket and plugged in and out a jack plug a few times to clean the contacts, but no luck.

billsey

Does an actual headset work?

mechanic

No there is no output from a headset or the speakers.Also when trying to play music from the library i get a  message-

Media player cannot play this file  as there is a problem with your audio device.

billsey

It is possible that the driver is corrupt, you might have some success by uninstalling it (checking the remove files option) and then rebooting to see if Windows will put a good one in it's place. You might also have to force an install of an older driver. IIRC your laptop came with Vista originally, but pick drivers for the newest OS you know it worked with. Make sure if you are running 64bit Windows to install a 64bit driver and a 32bit driver if running 32bit Windows.

 

It's also possible that it's a hardware problem and that would be more problematic. The audio jacks are located at bottom of the motherboard, the speaker connections at the top. That means there's not a lot of commonality between them, which would point to a bad motherboard. It is still possible the problem is in the headphone jack, with it simultaneously causing the motherboard to think there's a headphone connected and breaking the actual functionality. That would potentially be repairable...

mechanic

You are correct in saying that the Laptop came with Vista installed.I Don`t know if Laptop/computer motherboards are designed for particular operating systems.That is a bit above my knowledge! The laptop has worked without problem with a clean instal of w7 pro for years .Its only recently this problem has arisen.I have seen on the net several posts about the same problem without seeing a cure.I have again uninstalled the drivers and used a prog called iobit uninstaller which says all traces have been removed.I logged on to the Realtek website and downloaded the driver for my 32bit system in both exe and zip (separately)and installed.No difference. The speaker symbol on the desktop still  shows a red x against it. There is no sign of any audio in Device Manager either.I think a new Laptop is the order of the day .It is that time of year!

billsey

Yeah, I think you are leaning in the right direction. You might think a bit and see if you have a family member or friend who could use a laptop that doesn't have sound... You might also do some testing to see if it can connect to a bluetooth or wireless speaker andn let them use it as a desktop with one of those 'connected'. I've recycled several older laptops that way.

 

In general a machine is initially targeted at a specific OS, the one that's current when the machine is released. In most cases it will continue to work just fine on that OS and will be able to upgrade at least once. Once you get past the magic three year old point you start seeing instances where a driver is no longer updated or some software package is no longer supported. Once you hit five or six years you'll find that a lot of things will fall into that hole. So, if you are willing  to stick with your original OS or just one or two upgrades and the software you have works for what you need you can keep a system in use for quite a long time. I've got a customer running Windows 98 on a laptop they use just for printing security badges... The company that makes the special printer only supports newer OSes with their newer printers, and a newer printer is several thousand dollars, so they keep on using the old one. Eventually the W98 machine will die and they'll either have to bite the bullet or find another machine that can still run the old software.

 

I've got my CNC router and my 3D printer running using a couple of Dell laptops from 2006, running Windows 10 (albeit slowly).

mechanic

Many thanks for continued interest in my problem and for the useful information.Ithink the way forward is a new laptop after reading what you have said.I will probably see if someone can find a use for it.I did try the free upgrade of windows 10, but i found it a bit difficult to navigate as there seemed to be quite a difference from windows 7 which i was used to.So i went back to w7.I think it was a case of not happy with change.Why change your operating system when the one you have is ok.If its not broken don`t fix it! But it looks like any new laptop is going to come with w10 so its try to live with it time i think.The big problem for me will be transferring all my music and photos to the new one.Hopefully help will be on hand come the time.Once again, many thanks for your help and advice.

I

billsey

Music and photos should be easy, depending on how many people use the laptop. Stick a USB flash drive in, copy the contents of Documents, Music, Photos and Videos to the drive, plug the drive into the new computer and copy them again, but backwards. Bob's your uncle.

mechanic

Thanks for the reply and the advice Billsey.I will update you if you don`t mind, about the final outcome.

mechanic

Some time ago i know ! But as i said i would update as to the outcome.I have in fact purchased a new laptop. An Acer F5-771.Up till now it is working fine.I even have Audio!.Many thanks for the help and suggestions.

billsey

Hey, what's a few months between friends!