Problems with Audio Device.

[daniel]

First off here's some specs:
Intel Pentium 4, 3GHz
Windows XP Professional, SP2
SoundMAX Integrated Digital Audio, driver version 5.12.1.4060

ask for whatever else you want

I keep having my audio device switch to "No audio device", even though SoundMAX is enabled. I don't have a sound card, so no conflicts there. the sound comes back when I disable SoundMAX, restart, and then re-enable SoundMAX, but that's very annoying. If I try skipping the restart and disable/enable, I get BSOD. I doubt my drivers are the problem, since I've had the same ones since 2004 and this problem just popped up recently, but I tried updating them anyway - Windows says these are the latest anyway.

Any suggestions?

[Machine]

+ Clean the computer out? Dust and skin on the board!

+ It's deffo enabled in the Bios right?

+ Have you tried removing then reinstalling the drivers? perhaps they have become corrupted on disk?

+ Run a chkdsk.

[Chainsaws]

SoundMax is on-board, right? I know it's not the most 'helpful' suggestion but it's probably worth just buying a cheap sound card, you can use it in your next pc if it's worth it and it will probably save you 5% or more processor clock time that you can use on something else.

Even the uber top spec board I bought for my last pc had broken on-board sound so I bought a reasonably priced Sound Blaster X-Fi (was a budget version) which gives me much better sound quality and better system stability. I'll also drag it over to my next pc whenever that happens.

I think Mach has covered everything else you should be starting with.

[Machine]

I agree with Chains, I have an Audigy 4 Pro, 5.1 surround, it was 20 of our English Pounds and it's solid as a rock, even compared to my other sound card the CPU saving was between 2 and 3%, it could be more when put up against the on-board stuff.

[TeeJay]

Is there any recent change to your system, such as new software or hardware, that could be causing this conflict? Check for any new drivers or background processes. As for the SoundMAX drivers, Windows will not always find the most up-to-date drivers, especially if they are not Microsoft-certified. You could try searching the Lenovo support site and your motherboard manufacturer's support site to find newer drivers.