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General discussion

Lost my volume control icon & my sound

by Jaspell Dec 23, 2003 2:51AM PST

I am running Windows 98SE on a Pentium II 300 machine. I have been using the computer to play MP3 files successfully for some time now. All of sudden, one day my volume control Icon disappeared from my task bar and I was no longer able to get ANY sound out of the computer. I brought up the volume controls from control panel but those all appear ok, in other words I haven't inadvertantly muted anything. I have not added or taken out any new hardware and the soundcard is the one that came with the machine. (I also swapped out the speakers but that did nothing) Any ideas?

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3 Posts
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Re:Lost my volume control icon & my sound
by Jerry G. Dec 23, 2003 3:05AM PST

Click on Start, Settings, and Control Panel. In side of the control panel window, click on Sounds And Audio Devices, or the eqivelent. In this utility should be a place to put a check mark that will allow the volume control icon to appear in the lower right tool bar.

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Re:Lost my volume control icon & my sound
by Jaspell Dec 23, 2003 4:01AM PST

the algorythm in W98 doesn't flow like that. Any other ideas?

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Jaspell....
by Grif Thomas Forum moderator Dec 24, 2003 3:36AM PST

Your problem may be more serious than simply placing the icon back on the system tray, but in Windows 98, in the Control Panel, double click the "Multimedia" icon, (I think). Under the "Sounds" tab, there should be a box to CHECK which will place the icon back in the System Tray.

If that doesn't get it done, I would remove the sound card from the Device Manager, restart the computer and have Windows "re-recognize" the card and reinstall the software. (Restart the computer into "Safe Mode", then RIGHT click on "My Computer", choose "Properties", then click on the "Device Manager" tab. When that loads, click on the + sign next to "Sound, Video, and Game Controllers" and you specific sound card should be displayed. Click once on the specific sound card device to highlight it, then click on the "Remove" button. (If there are duplicates of the card listed, remove them all)

Now turn off the computer, but before restarting, take the case cover of the machine and unseat, then reseat the card. This should help if there are any bad connections. After putting the cover back on, restart the machine and Windows should recognize the sound card, reinstall the sound drivers, and hopefully things work correctly now.

It would also help us to know the specific sound card you are using. After doing the reinstall, it would be best to visit the card manufacturer's website and update to the newest drivers.

Hope this helps.

Grif

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