Audacity Forum

Hi,

I recently had a lot of trouble using Audacity after upgrading from Vista to W7. I found that I could no longer record tracks on existing and new projects and would receive this message "Error while opening sound device. Please check the input device settings and the project sample rate."

After trying all of the solutions and tips I could find here, I simply rolled back the driver on my microphone input and the problem disappeared..

In detail, this is what I did:

I have a Dell Inspiron 1525 loaded with Microsoft Vista
Processor: Pentium Dual Cor T4200 @ 2 GHz 2.00 GB RAM & 32 Bit Operating System

Originally recorded the project in V1.2 when running Windows Vista Home Basic 32-bit
Project is saved @ a project rate of 44100 Hz. Each track in the project is at 44100 Hz.
Upgraded from Vista to Windows 7 Home Edition

When I tried to record another track on these project[s] I would receive the following message "Error while opening sound device. Please check the input device settings and the project sample rate."

Audacity Help > Audio Device Info says
"
==============================
Default capture device number: 1
Default playback device number: 4
==============================
Device ID: 0
Device name: MME: Microsoft Sound Mapper - Input
Input channels: 2
Output channels: 0
Low Input Latency: 0.200000
Low Output Latency: 0.200000
High Input Latency: 0.400000
High Output Latency: 0.400000
Supported Rates:
==============================
Device ID: 1
Device name: MME: Microphone / Line In (SigmaTel
Input channels: 2
Output channels: 0
Low Input Latency: 0.200000
Low Output Latency: 0.200000
High Input Latency: 0.400000
High Output Latency: 0.400000
Supported Rates:
==============================
Device ID: 2
Device name: MME: Microphone Array (SigmaTel High
Input channels: 2
Output channels: 0
Low Input Latency: 0.200000
Low Output Latency: 0.200000
High Input Latency: 0.400000
High Output Latency: 0.400000
Supported Rates:
==============================
Device ID: 3
Device name: MME: Microsoft Sound Mapper - Output
Input channels: 0
Output channels: 2
Low Input Latency: 0.200000
Low Output Latency: 0.200000
High Input Latency: 0.400000
High Output Latency: 0.400000
Supported Rates:
8000
9600
11025
12000
15000
16000
22050
24000
32000
44100
48000
88200
96000
192000
==============================
Device ID: 4
Device name: MME: Speakers / Headphones (SigmaTel
Input channels: 0
Output channels: 2
Low Input Latency: 0.200000
Low Output Latency: 0.200000
High Input Latency: 0.400000
High Output Latency: 0.400000
Supported Rates:
8000
9600
11025
12000
15000
16000
22050
24000
32000
44100
48000
88200
96000
192000
==============================
Device ID: 5
Device name: MME: Digital Output Device (SPDIF Ou
Input channels: 0
Output channels: 2
Low Input Latency: 0.200000
Low Output Latency: 0.200000
High Input Latency: 0.400000
High Output Latency: 0.400000
Supported Rates:
8000
9600
11025
12000
15000
16000
22050
24000
32000
44100
48000
88200
96000
192000
==============================
Device ID: 6
Device name: Windows DirectSound: Primary Sound Capture Driver
Input channels: 2
Output channels: 0
Low Input Latency: 0.000000
Low Output Latency: 0.000000
High Input Latency: 0.000000
High Output Latency: 0.000000
Supported Rates:
==============================
Device ID: 7
Device name: Windows DirectSound: Microphone / Line In (SigmaTel High Definition Audio CODEC)
Input channels: 2
Output channels: 0
Low Input Latency: 0.000000
Low Output Latency: 0.000000
High Input Latency: 0.000000
High Output Latency: 0.000000
Supported Rates:
==============================
Device ID: 8
Device name: Windows DirectSound: Microphone Array (SigmaTel High Definition Audio CODEC)
Input channels: 2
Output channels: 0
Low Input Latency: 0.000000
Low Output Latency: 0.000000
High Input Latency: 0.000000
High Output Latency: 0.000000
Supported Rates:
==============================
Device ID: 9
Device name: Windows DirectSound: Primary Sound Driver
Input channels: 0
Output channels: 2
Low Input Latency: 0.000000
Low Output Latency: 0.000000
High Input Latency: 0.000000
High Output Latency: 0.000000
Supported Rates:
8000
9600
11025
12000
15000
16000
22050
24000
32000
44100
48000
88200
96000
192000
==============================
Device ID: 10
Device name: Windows DirectSound: Speakers / Headphones (SigmaTel High Definition Audio CODEC)
Input channels: 0
Output channels: 2
Low Input Latency: 0.000000
Low Output Latency: 0.000000
High Input Latency: 0.000000
High Output Latency: 0.000000
Supported Rates:
8000
9600
11025
12000
15000
16000
22050
24000
32000
44100
48000
88200
96000
192000
==============================
Device ID: 11
Device name: Windows DirectSound: Digital Output Device (SPDIF Out) (SigmaTel High Definition Audio CODEC)
Input channels: 0
Output channels: 2
Low Input Latency: 0.000000
Low Output Latency: 0.000000
High Input Latency: 0.000000
High Output Latency: 0.000000
Supported Rates:
8000
9600
11025
12000
15000
16000
22050
24000
32000
44100
48000
88200
96000
192000
==============================
Selected capture device: 1 - MME: Microphone / Line In (SigmaTel
Selected playback device: 4 - MME: Speakers / Headphones (SigmaTel
Supported Rates:
8000
9600
11025
12000
15000
16000
22050
24000
32000
44100
48000
88200
96000
192000
Recieved -9999 while opening devices"

I updated the drivers for the Sigmatel via the Dell website. The problem persisted.

Then this from this page: http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Windo ... d_playback :

I made sure an input was connected into the microphone jack.
I went to "Sound" in CtrlPanel, showed disabled and disconnected inputs in both "Playback" & "Recording" tabs.
I made the microphone input the default device. The problem persisted.

I went to this page "http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Mixer ... _Windows_7" and followed the steps 1 to 8 from the section titled "On Windows Vista / Windows 7"

Then when I tried to record another track on these project[s] I received the following message "Error while opening sound device. Please check the input device settings and the project sample rate."

I went to the "http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Mixer ... _Issues#cp" page and followed the steps 1 to 8 from the section "On Windows Vista / Windows 7"

Then when I trid to record another track on these project[s] I received the following message "Error while opening sound device. Please check the input device settings and the project sample rate."

I then rolled back the drivers on the input card and the problem disappeared!!

nausearockpig wrote:I recently had a lot of trouble using Audacity after upgrading from Vista to W7. I found that I could no longer record tracks on existing and new projects and would receive this message "Error while opening sound device. Please check the input device settings and the project sample rate."

After trying all of the solutions and tips I could find here, I simply rolled back the driver on my microphone input and the problem disappeared..

Depends what you were rolling back to. It does say on http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Mixer ... _Issues#cp to look at Updating Sound Device Drivers. If you hadn't installed new drivers for Windows 7, Windows may have tried to do so and they may have been inappropriate. That scenario is covered at the bottom of the "Updating Drivers" page. If your hardware doesn't really support Windows 7, you may be better off with Vista drivers.

I would suggest you get CPU-Z mentioned on that page, get your motherboard details and then go to the motherboard maker's web site and see if they have a Windows 7 audio driver appropriate to that board.

Thanks for posting your experience.




Gale