Yesterday, I was listening through Audacity 2.1.1 on Windows 10 to a cassette tape played in a tape deck connected to my computer via USB port, when I accidentally closed Audacity. When I reopened it, I could not get any audio through it at all no matter what I tried, and now, it won’t recognize any audio devices on my computer at all! (I get a message saying “Could not find any audio devices. You will not be able to play or record audio. Error: Internal PortAudio error” and The devices toolbar is totally blank.) it is not a driver problem, as my audio is just fine otherwise - only Audacity is having problems. I have attached a zip file with support files generated today. Any ideas?
Audacity.zip (6.7 KB)
I accidentally closed Audacity.
What does that mean? You closed the laptop with Audacity running?
Koz
Did you restart the machine anywhere in here? When the system gets confused, sometimes that’s the best thing to do.
Koz
Before you force quit Audacity (or whatever you did) you had Audacity’s playback device set to USB Audio CODEC. If that was the USB turntable, then you would not have had playback audio in Audacity. Or are those USB speakers?
How long have you had Windows 10? Just now? Did you upgrade to Windows 10 over previous Windows on the same machine? Just because you can play a song in Media Player does not necessarily mean that Audacity can use your audio devices, because it runs checks to see that it can record too.
I agree you should reboot (explicitly, hold SHIFT while clicking the Shut Down menu option from the Start Menu, Start Screen or Win + X menu, which will do a proper “cold boot”).
If Audacity still sees no audio devices, make sure you have proper Windows 10 drivers for whatever audio device you are using for playback.
If you were using the built-in speakers or headphones attached to the headphones port, the drivers should be supplied by the computer manufacturer (if it is a branded computer like Dell or Lenovo), or by the motherboard manufacturer (if you built the computer yourself). See http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Windows_10_OS#drivers.
Gale
I accidentally closed the program down. I’ve had Windows 10 since July (upgraded from WIn7). Rebooting the computer had no effect on the problem. I have my USB turntable hooked up directly to my PC. And USB Audio Codec was the setting I had been using (I’m pretty sure) all this time without problem til now; I’ve been digitizing our old LPs. The speakers are working fine and apparently so are my audio drivers; I get perfect audio from streams and my MP3 player.
You cannot play sounds from your computer to the USB turntable. Are you using USB speakers as well as a USB turntable?
Audacity queries if the devices are suitable for recording as well as playback.
You appear to have caused damage to the built-in sound device by not shutting Audacity down properly. If you are using USB speakers and don’t need the built-in computer sound device then you can disable the built-in sound device in Windows Device Manger. When you restart Audacity this may let you use the USB speakers and USB turntable.
Otherwise, is it a branded computer like Dell or Lenovo? If so, go to their site and see if they have Windows 10 drivers for your computer model. The audio drivers may have broken exactly because they are not meant for Windows 10.
If the manufacturer does not have Windows 10 audio drivers for your computer model then you could perhaps try uninstalling the built-in audio device in Device Manager and doing SHIFT + Shut Down again. When you restart, Windows should then try to reinstall the audio drivers you had before.
You could also perhaps reinstall Audacity 2.1.1 from the EXE installer, making sure you enable “Reset Preferences” half way through the installer. Say yes when you launch Audacity and it asks if you want to reset Preferences. This is not very likely to help, but it may be worth trying.
Investigating if you can obtain Windows 10 audio drivers for your computer is something you should do anyway, unless you already know you cannot get Windows 10 drivers.
Gale
I was playing audio from the turntable to the computer, duh! That required the Audacity input be set to USB audio. Output was set to DFX Audio speakers (DFX is an audio enhancer). And if I caused damage to the built-in audio device, how do I still get perfect audio from MP3s and streams?
As I said, in the audacity.cfg you posted, output was set to “Speakers (USB Audio CODEC)”. You can check that for yourself.
As I said, Audacity expects sound devices to be able to record as well as play, or it fails them.
Now you have said you were using DFX, it is possible you damaged DFX. Because Audacity does not fully support Windows 10 yet, it only takes one faulty device then Audacity won’t recognise any devices. So try disabling DFX in Windows Sound (Playback tab) restart Audacity and see it it recognises your other devices. If you get devices recognised again, try reinstalling DFX.
If disabling DFX makes no difference, follow the steps I already gave. So, assuming it is a branded computer like Dell or Lenovo, go to their site and see if they have Windows 10 drivers for your computer model. The audio drivers may have broken exactly because they are not meant for Windows 10.
If the manufacturer does not have Windows 10 audio drivers for your computer model then you could perhaps try uninstalling the built-in audio device in Device Manager and doing SHIFT + Shut Down again. When you restart, Windows should then try to reinstall the audio drivers you had before.
You could also perhaps reinstall Audacity 2.1.1 from the EXE installer, making sure you enable “Reset Preferences” half way through the installer. Say yes when you launch Audacity and it asks if you want to reset Preferences. This is not very likely to help, but it may be worth trying.
Gale