Corrupt I/O file (was Sudden Loss of Sound)

[PLecso]

I have been posting on the sudden loss of playback sound in Audacity which seemed to be caused by clicking on the speaker icon in the mixer toolbar while working on removing clicks from a recording of a LP. Repeated attempts to restore sound have failed. The sound on the rest of my computer is working without problems. I have removed the Audacity program twice, once using the uninstall that comes with Audacity (which only partially removed the Audacity program) and once with the installation wizard of Microsoft (which apparently did not completely remove the program as when I first opened it, there was still a list of recent files in the program). Using headphones to bypass the speakers did not work nor switching to Microsoft Sound Mapper in the I/O section of the Preferences file. I then tried plugging a microphone into my computer which was instantly recognized by the computer but it was not listed in the I/O section as a choice for a recording device.
The bottom line is that I think I have a corrupt I/O file under Preferences. As I noted above I have twice tried to completely remove the program but remanats of the program seem to persist. Could still having Audacity data files on the computer be preventing complete removal of Audacity. I could back-up the Audacity data files on a portable hard drive. Any opinions?

[kozikowski]

The reason neither Windows nor Audacity got rid of the _DATA folder and its contents is that it's not part of Audacity. It's part of your show(s). Audacity creates that folder when you Save Project As.... You can't have Windows destroy all your spreadsheets just because you deleted the Excel program. But yes, there is a preferences file that can get left behind and I don't know where it is in Windows. Sorry. There is a fuzzy memory that it's buried in the Dreaded Windows Registry in which case you'll probably never get rid of it.

And yet more bad news. Unless you Exported your valuable capture performances as WAV or MP3 or something like that, you probably have no shows any more. You can't just move Project files around without courting damage. Projects are complicated, multi-file affairs and you always miss something when you move them or something as simple as renaming a folder at the wrong time will kill one.

Koz

[PLecso]

I have removed the old Audacity program using the Microsoft Installation program and have installed the beta-Audacity and the sound has been restored. The beta program found two file corruptions in the old program files which it eliminated.

[kozikowski]

<<<The beta program found two file corruptions in the old program files >>>

That's a little surprising because the Stable and Beta versions of Audacity are supposed to be able to exist on one computer and not bump into each other. Of course, that's given that both of them installed themselves properly and nothing inside the computer caused damage.

When was the last time you ran a comprehensive virus scan?

Koz