Error: Internal PortAudio error

[Gale Andrews]

Thanks for the update. I wonder if that arrangement will survive the next reboot?

If you have changed the BIOS, Windows may very likely do a deeper re-initialisation than otherwise. The default "Shut Down" is by default not a "cold boot" - it retains the original kernel session for reuse next session.

You can check Device Manager to see details of the current motherboard audio driver files or Reliability Monitor to see if it has any information on a recent driver update.


Gale

[starapple]

I don't know if the problem has been permanently solved for me but after upgrading from Windows 7 Pro to Windows 10 on a little box with a Realtek card built in the MB and a Behringer U-control external card, Audacity had stopped working with the Internal PortAudio Error. I removed the external card and still no luck. I tried using Audacity in Windows 7 mode, still no luck.

Then this morning I uninstalled the Realtek driver (despite Windows saying it was the latest and didn't need updating) and rebooted.The Realtek driver was reinstalled at boot but the card not set as the default device as it had been before the driver was uninstalled. And voila! I opened Audacity, no more error and it never sounded better booming out the Altec Lansing speakers. I haven't reattached the Behringer USB as yet nor have I rebooted. Happy

[Gale Andrews]

I don't know if the problem has been permanently solved for me but after upgrading from Windows 7 Pro to Windows 10 on a little box with a Realtek card built in the MB and a Behringer U-control external card, Audacity had stopped working with the Internal PortAudio Error. I removed the external card and still no luck. I tried using Audacity in Windows 7 mode, still no luck.

Then this morning I uninstalled the Realtek driver (despite Windows saying it was the latest and didn't need updating) and rebooted.The Realtek driver was reinstalled at boot but the card not set as the default device as it had been before the driver was uninstalled. And voila! I opened Audacity, no more error and it never sounded better booming out the Altec Lansing speakers. I haven't reattached the Behringer USB as yet nor have I rebooted. Happy

What do you have as the default device, the disconnected Behringer?

For most people we've heard from, if only one device is incompatible with Audacity and that device is disabled, it only takes a restart of Audacity for it to recognise the compatible device.

It would be useful diagnosis if the problem was that Audacity needed to see each device separately as default device to recognise all of them, but (at the moment) your experience suggests the opposite. Let us know what happens when you enable Behringer and reboot.

Of course it is always possible that Windows did not install the same "up-to-date" drivers for the motherboard device as before.


Gale

[starapple]

I don't know if the problem has been permanently solved for me but after upgrading from Windows 7 Pro to Windows 10 on a little box with a Realtek card built in the MB and a Behringer U-control external card, Audacity had stopped working with the Internal PortAudio Error. I removed the external card and still no luck. I tried using Audacity in Windows 7 mode, still no luck.

Then this morning I uninstalled the Realtek driver (despite Windows saying it was the latest and didn't need updating) and rebooted.The Realtek driver was reinstalled at boot but the card not set as the default device as it had been before the driver was uninstalled. And voila! I opened Audacity, no more error and it never sounded better booming out the Altec Lansing speakers. I haven't reattached the Behringer USB as yet nor have I rebooted. Happy

What do you have as the default device, the disconnected Behringer?

No. Originally in Windows Sound, Stereo Mix (Realtek High Definition Audio) was the default and that worked under Windows 7, alongside Behringer or vice versa. It was still the default after the upgrade to Win 10. Since deleting the Realtek driver and restarting the machine, no default is set in Windows Sound. It is however recognised by Audacity and accessible as an option (also listed in the Audio Device Info)

For most people we've heard from, if only one device is incompatible with Audacity and that device is disabled, it only takes a restart of Audacity for it to recognise the compatible device.

It would be useful diagnosis if the problem was that Audacity needed to see each device separately as default device to recognise all of them, but (at the moment) your experience suggests the opposite. Let us know what happens when you enable Behringer and reboot.

Of course it is always possible that Windows did not install the same "up-to-date" drivers for the motherboard device as before.

Gale

Without rebooting, I plugged in the Behringer and restarted Audacity and recording was again not available BUT, the Internal PortAudio error message did not pop up as in the past. All devices were recognised by Audacity and accessible as an option (also listed in the Audio Device Info).

I believe the problem is with Windows and not Audacity because there was no playback from a Youtube video while Behringer was plugged it. Once I removed the USB, sound spewed from the speakers. Probably those IRQ problems of the good old days of Windows 3.x - 98 etc?

It'd be good to see which sound cards report the highest number of conflicts.

M.

[Gale Andrews]

I don't know if the problem has been permanently solved for me but after upgrading from Windows 7 Pro to Windows 10 on a little box with a Realtek card built in the MB and a Behringer U-control external card, Audacity had stopped working with the Internal PortAudio Error. I removed the external card and still no luck. I tried using Audacity in Windows 7 mode, still no luck.

Then this morning I uninstalled the Realtek driver (despite Windows saying it was the latest and didn't need updating) and rebooted.The Realtek driver was reinstalled at boot but the card not set as the default device as it had been before the driver was uninstalled. And voila! I opened Audacity, no more error and it never sounded better booming out the Altec Lansing speakers. I haven't reattached the Behringer USB as yet nor have I rebooted. Happy

What do you have as the default device, the disconnected Behringer?

No. Originally in Windows Sound, Stereo Mix (Realtek High Definition Audio) was the default and that worked under Windows 7, alongside Behringer or vice versa. It was still the default after the upgrade to Win 10. Since deleting the Realtek driver and restarting the machine, no default is set in Windows Sound. It is however recognised by Audacity and accessible as an option (also listed in the Audio Device Info).

Hmm. In my experience, if some recording device is enabled, there should be a default recording device. Otherwise, Windows Sound Recorder or any other app that cannot choose its recording device would not be able to record.

Does Windows Sound's "Recording" tab still show no Default Device and no Default Communication Device?

Stereo Mix would almost never be default recording device on a fresh driver installation - often it would be disabled and hidden. I could possibly believe that if someone upgrading over previous Windows had stereo mix as default, where stereo mix was buggy under Windows 10, it could cause issues for Audacity, but that would not have caused Audacity to fail all good devices under previous Windows.

For most people we've heard from, if only one device is incompatible with Audacity and that device is disabled, it only takes a restart of Audacity for it to recognise the compatible device.

It would be useful diagnosis if the problem was that Audacity needed to see each device separately as default device to recognise all of them, but (at the moment) your experience suggests the opposite. Let us know what happens when you enable Behringer and reboot.

Of course it is always possible that Windows did not install the same "up-to-date" drivers for the motherboard device as before.

Without rebooting, I plugged in the Behringer and restarted Audacity and recording was again not available BUT, the Internal PortAudio error message did not pop up as in the past. All devices were recognised by Audacity and accessible as an option (also listed in the Audio Device Info).

I believe the problem is with Windows and not Audacity because there was no playback from a Youtube video while Behringer was plugged it. Once I removed the USB, sound spewed from the speakers. Probably those IRQ problems of the good old days of Windows 3.x - 98 etc?

As above, I do think there is an Audacity problem here which we will have to look into. Audacity should not fail all devices unless all are incompatible, and doesn't do that on earlier Windows.

Losing sound on the computer when a USB device is plugged in is well known on all versions of Windows, but it only happens because the newly plugged in USB device becomes default playback device.

If you make the motherboard audio default playback device, then disconnect the USB device, Windows remembers that and so will not make the USB device default playback device next time you connect it.


Gale

[starapple]

Sorry, the mic was assigned the default recording device by Windows Sound, and Stereo Mix (Realtek) was listed as "Ready", along with a virtual mic. To me it's odd though that the USB board disabled the internal one because I had plugged it in originally (under Win 7) to play around with a DJ console that uses multiple inputs. There wasn't any interruption to either the DJ application, Audacity or any other audio video application back then. When I'm finished with some other things I'll fiddle around with the sound set up to see what's what.