I lost my systems audio a few days ago, made sure my headphone jack was fully plugged in, as well as my Bose sound system.
I double checked the volume control in my systray, and volume control in media player, and still no clue explained why my PC had suddenly went mute.
It wasn’t until I opened Audacity, before I noticed the “input volumn slider” set all the way down to zero. Playing a file, I turned it up, and the sound was restored.
I closed Audacity, but later on, after rebooting, found the system once again silenced, and the input volume slider in Audacity once again lowered. I’ve had Audacity for years with no problems until now.
Is there a workaround, or patch for this issue?
If you like recording internet audio, you are required to “cross the tracks” so your playback and record sound are routed to each other and running at the same time. Once you stop doing that, you may forget that your system playback is actually the Playthrough of Audacity rather than the “real” computer sound.
Make sure that your devices are straight in Windows, that you’re not using Stereo Mix, WAV-Out or What-U-Hear for any sound services.
Deselect Playthrough in Audacity and the link between Audacity volume controls and Windows volume controls should (may) vanish. Then make sure the Device Dropdowns on the Audacity work window are set to real things – things you can touch like Line-In or Mic-In and not “fake devices” like Stereo Mix.
The slider in Audacity responds to the sound system settings.
I don’t think that Audacity has the ability to “cause” this problem. It certainly can’t change anything when it is not running.
I think what is happening is that something else is changing the sound system settings, and the Audacity slider is simply showing you what those settings are.
Do you use any sound services that like to “take over” the computer like Skype? Skype is not a passive lily sitting demurely on a chair in a corner. It viciously forces sound services to its own liking and sometimes forgets to put them back. Koz
Thanks for the replies!
While it was some time ago I may have “tried” to cross the tracks ( record music through the mic input, that was playing through my PC’s speakers ) I never managed to get it to work, and haven’t adjusted any settings since.
Fortunately this problem hasn’t happened again since I posted this. It was actually the first, among a number of other concurrent issues that ultimately led to a pesky rootkit infection. Although I’ve never known one to “take over” sound before, it certainly has required more time, and patience to exorcise than any variety I recall, a process nearly, but not yet complete.