I'm trying to fix a computer with Vista on it.

It has integrated audio, powered by generic Realtek drivers.

I have installed and uninstalled the drivers a couple of times to no avail.

In addition to seeing "No audio output device is installed" there is no audio device or even audio category in the Device Manager.

All of the troubleshooting I've read online says "Go to the audio section in the device manager..." Well, I don't have one!!

Does anyone have any experience/advice with audio problems in vista?

Have you checked to see if the integrated sound is disabled in the BIOS?

How'd you get to this point? Is this a fresh install of Vista or something?

If there's onboard audio, then there's a good chance the motherboard has multiple different drivers it needs for things like he chipset, nic, sound, bus, etc.

If you find out who makes the motherboard, they'd probably either have an all-in-one driver to download or separate drivers for each part of the motherboard.

My best guess for not audio device to be showing up in the device manager is one of the following:

1) Needs more motherboard drivers installed so that it can see there's a sound card. (but that's pretty weak, you'd think it'd auto-detect, I mean were in the year 2010 now)

2.) The audio device is detected, but showing up as an 'unknown device' which needs drivers to be installed on to to magically turn it into a soundcard on the system.


There are a bit of a stretch. Best I can throw out there without seeing it.

Posted by MutantMandias Have you checked to see if the integrated sound is disabled in the BIOS?

Good point.

Posted by MutantMandias Have you checked to see if the integrated sound is disabled in the BIOS?

Yes it is enabled

Posted by trent How'd you get to this point? Is this a fresh install of Vista or something? If there's onboard audio, then there's a good chance the motherboard has multiple different drivers it needs for things like he chipset, nic, sound, bus, etc. If you find out who makes the motherboard, they'd probably either have an all-in-one driver to download or separate drivers for each part of the motherboard. My best guess for not audio device to be showing up in the device manager is one of the following: 1) Needs more motherboard drivers installed so that it can see there's a sound card. (but that's pretty weak, you'd think it'd auto-detect, I mean were in the year 2010 now) 2.) The audio device is detected, but showing up as an 'unknown device' which needs drivers to be installed on to to magically turn it into a soundcard on the system. There are a bit of a stretch. Best I can throw out there without seeing it.

It's a computer used by someone who is pretty computer illiterate, so I don't know how much viruses/bloatware/spyware plays in this problem.

I could download a full motherboard driverset. I have not tried this yet because I don't want to take the time to do it.

Ive tried reinstalling the individual driver...

How new is the computer.

for a couple of computers i needed to check off make 2.0 pci calls in device manager. but with vista im not sure if that can be changed.

Try everything here:
http://en.kioskea....t-device-installed

In addition to seeing "No audio output device is installed" there is no audio device or even audio category in the Device Manager. All of the troubleshooting I've read online says "Go to the audio section in the device manager..." Well, I don't have one!!

...is addressed in the article above "Show disabled devices"

Disable the UAC ... it's the annoying thing that makes vista prompt you to do anything. Warning, it will cause Vista to be about as secure as XP,

I tried everything in this thread and that I could find on google with no luck. Since the computer just got out of warranty, I dropped $15 at MicroCenter on a generic card with optical outputs (upgrayyyyd!)

It works perfectly now. MicroCenter rocks, its like a retail NewEgg

Posted by fatLouie I tried everything in this thread and that I could find on google with no luck. Since the computer just got out of warranty, I dropped $15 at MicroCenter on a generic card with optical outputs (upgrayyyyd!) It works perfectly now. MicroCenter rocks, its like a retail NewEgg

Yeah, that place has lots of different stuff, most of it is pretty well priced.