Sound quits working after playing certain games

Technology and Gaming Help and Support
#1

I’ve been having this issue for a long time and I don’t have any idea what it is. But certain games (Fallout 3 / NV, Call of Duty WaW (CoD4 is unaffected), and Mirror’s Edge) cause my sound to quit working after I finish playing them. The sound seems to quit sometime after launch, but stays working for the game (youtube for example, won’t play sound if I try to run it in the background) until I close it, at which point it stops working.

Attempting to run FNV gives the error “No sound device detected; Fallout New Vegas cannot run”. Attempting to open a sound file gives the error “Windows Media Player cannot play the file because there is a problem with your sound device. There might not be a sound device installed on your computer, it might be in use by another program, or it might not be functioning properly”. Several other programs also tell me that there is no sound card installed.

So far the only way I know to fix this is to restart the computer, which gets gets old fast. So I figured I’d ask if anyone has or has had a similar problem and/or knows how to fix it. The sound card is a a Realtek AC97 if that matters at all. So does anyone know what’s wrong or how to fix it?

#2

sounds like a driver crash

#3

I’ve tried updating the drivers, but that didn’t fix it.

If it is a driver crash, is there any way to get it working again?

#4

I’ve also had an issue, after 10hours playtime, I just can’t open any saves anymore :frowning: because everytime I open them I get a crash and well starting over won’t work neither reinstallation works… strange thing is I have a good enough computer so it can’t be my specs. Everything can be put on ultra without any lagg

Any suggestions?
thanks!

#5

Not to be rude but, go make your own thread.

This is about my sound issue, not your saves. Completely different problems with completely different solutions.

#6

try disabling and re enabling the device in the device manager. Also check the event viewer and see what it reports (filter by critical and errors).

Both of these are accessible by right clicking on my computer and clicking manage.

#7

I tried this and BSOD’d :fffuuu:

I don’t know where that is.

#8

which error did the BSOD report?

event viewer: https://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/Open-Event-Viewer

#9

Is there any way to check? I didn’t write it down.

Also, the Even Viewer doesn’t say anything about my sound driver or sound card or anything like that, just an error from earlier when steam froze for a minute and another from when TF2 crashed.

#10

your sound card is probably not powerfull enough, and other ppl do have problems too

#11

Soundcards don’t really need to be powerful, however it might not be getting enough power in and of itself, make sure that any power sockets on the card are connected.

If that doesn’t work, try reinstalling an older version of the drivers. Might have been caused by a new driver update.

Also, does you Motherboard have built in sound? It might be conflicting or something. I don’t really know how to turn the MB’s inbuilt off if it is, but someone else here can help you with that if it is what’s causing problems.

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