There are no active Mixer Devices Available

Hi i'm having this problem after a tv tuners drivers corrupted my sound cards. *//error msg: There are no active mixer devices available. To install mixer devices, go to Control Panel, click Printers and Other Hardware, and then click Add Hardware. This program will now close. //*

I have uninstalled and reinstalled the soundcard (integrated SoundMAX) and everything seems fine. It is also showing up in the Device Manager. Whatwould be easier is if i could get the name of the driver and istall it straight off the Windows XP disc as it is a "Microsoft Driver" not a "SoundMAX driver"

Just check once whether your onboard audio device enabled in the BIOS. You can find that in integrated peripherals. Did you download and install the latest Windows XP audio drivers available from the support web site of the manufacturer of your motherboard or computer. It is recommended that you arrange the original version of driver download. Or else you will keep on facing such kind of issue. First click on Start > Run and in that type services.msc hit enter. Go to Windows Audio and enable it.

Yes, drivers are up to date yes... problem is wif winxp pro and i've looked at it more and the real problem is "Device Status" (after going into Device manager -> Sound Video & Game Controllers -> soundMAX integrated digital audio -> Properties:

• Audio Devices (SoundMAX Integrated Digital Audio) -> Status: Driver is
• enabled but has not been started
• MIDI Devices and Instruments (WDM-based Device) -> as above
• Mixer Devices (SoundMAX Integrated Digital Audio) -> as per audio devices

Thanks for your help so far but this still hasn't resolved my problem as I have tried that and it was already started. I've also restarted to computer (again) afterward and still no luck.

I had also gone through the same issue. I am having a 865GM2 MSI motherboard. I went inside Device manager and found the lists of audio device and drivers. And it look like working properly. There are no conflicts. But when I try to manually increase the audio the Volume control says there is no audio device and settings. Everything here is greyed out. Later on I performed windows update. The sound here started working. The update just added the latest hardware driver automatically for AC97 audio controller. And it worked.

i screwed up my windowsXP audio setup while trying to install a bad PCMCIA audio card. PC froze (not BSOD, just froze) a couple of time while hard disk was writing/reading drivers in the system folder. i had to turn off the pc each time and boot again. The second time i reboot i discovered i had no audio. Audio peripherals in Hardware were all yellow marked, even EIDE DVDreader was yellow marked , and "plug n play software enumerator" too. You can easily imagine what happened... 3 or 4 fundamental drivers had been damaged because hard disk was reading/writing in those sectors when the PC froze. So i gave a look to the system log , found which drivers couldn't be loaded and manually overwrite them with backup files i had. then i removed yellow marked peripherals and reinstalled them. Now everything seemed right, but there was still no audio. I forgot to reinstall "Pnp software enum". And I didn't know how to reinstall it, since it didn't appear in "install new hardware" lists. Until Optrex found the solution.

First of all i would like to tell you Machine.inf

Machine.inf is the INF file used by the Windows operating system during the Windows startup process to map core chipset hardware and BIOS-enumerated or firmware-enumerated device identifiers (IDs). Windows uses this information for tasks such as:

• Creating services and visual display strings.
• Copying drivers in conjunction with Layout.inf.
• Creating and deleting registry entries.
• Applying filter drivers.

As new chipsets evolve or when system manufacturers change device description strings for their current chipsets, Machine.inf is the file they must modify.

• Go to run > type services.msc
• Go to windown audio
• Ddouble click on it and under service status there are start click it and your problem will be solve

The fix from Optrex worked. Before the reinstall of the sound driver did not. Now I have a question: Do I move the modified <machine.inf> file from the temporary location to the \windows\system32\ directory for future updates? Or do I leave it alone in the \temp directory? Thanks again for a solution to a difficult problem (for me at least). Hello, i need help, i have just read your message, followed all steps through correctly (i hope) up untill "Have disk" where i Browse to my temporary file "C:\Documents and Settings\Bec\My Documents\machine.inf" click ok and then nothing occurs and i am left with the manufacturer and model panes blank. Is it that i have set up a wrong temporary directory? Or that i need to insert my manufacturer's installation disk?

I probably have done something obviously wrong, heck i didn't know what a temporary directory was untill last week, i just want to be able to listen to music, and i really appreciate that people are out there that are willing to help someone who may not be all there with computers :) Although the sound card and its drivers are installed correctly. I receive this error message about no active mixer devices when I try to double-click on the Volume icon in the system tray of Windows XP.

I will recommend you to update the drivers. That is the only way to fix the problem you are facing and it works really well. You can use a ready to use utility like Drive Detective that works really well in terms of scanning and updating new drivers. When my audio device stopped working I tried ample of different things and nothing worked. The only thing that worked fine was adding a pci audio card. My audio started working back properly.

I had similar problems to everyone listed above, but I found a solution that was much simpler than most of those also listed above. It would be worth a try, that is to go from the simplest solution to the more complex if the simpler one doesn't work. I started with the first step started by others. Here is what worked for me: If the symptom is that: “error message: There are no active mixer devices available. To install mixer devices, go to Control Panel, click Printers and Other Hardware, and then click Add Hardware. This program will now close.”

• Go to Start > Run and type in: services.msc , and hit enter.
• Scroll down to "Windows Audio", right-click on it and select Properties,
• Set the startup type to Automatic, click Apply
• Then click the “Start” menu option from the “Action” menu.

Then, you may have to go to the “Sound” control panel and choose the “Audio” tab. Then ensure that the "Conexant AMC Audio" is hosen from the pull down menus both for “Sound Playback - Default Device” and also for “Sound Recording - Default Device”. The “MIDI music playback - Default Device” should be “Microsoft GS Wavetable SW Synth”.

ok so ive done this once and it didn’t resolve my issue, im going to try again to see if a second attempt will result in better luck....... its not services.inf or whatnot sound card and drivers are current .....all problems started after winwp update not sure which one sp2 or sp3 as I completed all the updates in the same night, roommate never updated and figured i was doing her a favor, ha so much for that!!!! comp runs great but with out sound its just $h!t

will be back with results soon but i would also like to know what to do with the file i create in temp ? why not just edit original file? not going to try but worth a shot?

well thats just great but where is Kelly's site?

Also just want to add that after trying optrex's fix (that didn't work) it now takes my computer half an hour to properly start up. I can move my mouse around the desktop but any programs/folders I try to open freeze and task manager wont work and if I put my mouse over the task bar at the bottom all I get is an hourglass, half an hour later it all just instantly starts working and maybe 1 in every 10 times my sound will work for a short while before completely disappearing. Seriously if any of you want to challenge your computer fixing skills then try and help me out.

I need major help like i was cleaning my computer and i uninstalled my sound thing and now i just dont wanna use it can some1 help me should i sell my laptop because re installing the sound seems like to much trouble

IF YOU ARE USING XP

I got the same problem after I uninstalled some media device. And I think that's why the solutions such as 'restarting the window audio device in device manager' or 'updating the driver' didn't help in my case. What I finally did to solve the problem was as follow,

• Go to control panel
• choose add new hardware,
• then follow all the default choices, which window will automatically find the device that you are lacking for you. You might need to restart your pc.

Go to Start --> Run, and type in services.msc.

A window will pop up with a list of services. Scroll down to Windows Audio. Right-click
and click on Properties.

Make sure that "Startup type" is set to automatic. Also, make sure, under "Service
status," start is selected. (Mine was somehow set on stopped. I clicked start)
100% worked.)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by fayyaz mobile zone

Go to Start --> Run, and type in services.msc.
A window will pop up with a list of services. Scroll down to Windows Audio. Right-click and click on Properties. Make sure that "Startup type" is set to automatic. Also, make sure, under "Service
status," start is selected. (Mine was somehow set on stopped. I clicked start)
100% worked.)

---

Unfortunately, this solution does not work. I installed the correct driver of the on-board sound and this installation was succesful. Also, in BIOS, it is enabled.
Anyone a good suggestion?

I had same problem too... my system (win xp) was installed with realtek audio driver. so i had tried steps in "service.msc", but since even it didnt work (for no reason...!!!). i just deleted the installed realtek s/w. restarted the system, the the windows itself detected new h/w found. it installed and lo... the audio mixer control started appearing!! its working fine now ( u can also try manual install method if windows fail to install the s/w, and i selected the "Realtek Audio Driver ver 4.0.100.1189" s/w)

-- vinny

that post by hank freid is the correct solution to the problem!!! it took like 5 minutes to fix. thank you!!!!!!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Carey Frisch [MVP]

Is your onboard audio device enabled in the BIOS?
Did you download and install the latest Windows XP
audio drivers available from the support web site of
the manufacturer of your motherboard or computer?

Go to Start > Run and type in: services.msc , and hit enter.
Scroll down to "Windows Audio", right-click on it and select
Properties, set the startup type to Automatic, click Apply and
then click the Start button.

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kool !.....Thanks for the information.