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No sound - "device is being used by another application"
The sound from my Inspiron 5523 often does not work (although occasionally it does). It seems to work after boot-up but after I play a .wav file using Windows Media Player the sound stops working.
Right now, with the sound not working, I right-clicked on the speaker icon in the task tray, clicked Playback devices, right-clicked Speaker/Headphones (which is flagged as Default Device), and clicked Test. I got the following message:
"The device is being used by another application. Please close any application any devices that are playing audio to this device and then try again."
I'm not sure how to resolve this. Can you help?
Many thanks.
Jim Coates
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13.6K Posts
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June 30th, 2014 15:00
I would suggest
> reinstall the IDT audio driver from the 15z 5523 downloads page. Make sure to select your operating system first.
> if that doesn't help install the Windows native audio driver. See this thread for instructions.
> If that doesn't help perform a system recovery.
> If that doesn't help, contact tech support for repair if under warranty.
countiss
1 Message
4
July 17th, 2014 02:00
FIX FIX FIX! I have been having the same problem with a Lenovo IdeaPad. I have found posts with same problem on Dell, HP, Lenovo and ASUS forums. Seems to be the latest W8 update. Solution seems to be upgrade to 8.1 or uninstall that particular update (and go to Manual Updates, and do not reinstall that update, until it is fixed.) I uninstalled the update and I have sound again! Hope it works for you, too:
Update KB2962407, which that states it fixes "Shortened battery life when an idle audio device is not turned off on a computer running Windows".
You do not have to do a System Restore to get rid of the Updates; easier to go to Windows Update, View Update History. On the top of that screen, click on Installed Updates. Then just right-click the update you want to uninstall.
Found this fix on eightforums dot com
bentleyb
1 Message
0
August 6th, 2014 18:00
OMG! This was a lifesaver!! I would have never been able to fix this. It worked! I was about to spend so much money to get this fixed. Thank you!!!!!!
eli318
5 Posts
0
July 2nd, 2014 03:00
Thanks Jimco. The first step, reinstalling the IDT audio driver, seems to have done the trick.
eli318
5 Posts
0
July 4th, 2014 03:00
Just a quick update, in case anyone else eventually reads this thread, as noted in my previous post I re-installed the IDT driver and that seemed to resolve the issue. However, just now the problem recurred so I have implemented step 2 (install the Windows native audio driver). So far so good. Hopefully I won't need to add any updates to this thread because step 2 will have resolved the problem permanently. Here's hoping...
ITSMETINA1978
1 Message
0
July 11th, 2014 06:00
Hi Jimco I'm having the same problem with my sound. My laptop cord got disconnected and shut it down. When it rebooted the sound was gone. I have a 17in so the 15z5523 won't work on mine. Can you tell me which one to download for mine. It will be gratefully appreciated .
Thanks Tina
Jim Coates
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13.6K Posts
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July 11th, 2014 08:00
Hello Tina. Without knowing which model you have and your operating system I cannot provide a direct link, but here is a link to the Inspiron selection page. If you have an Inspiron it will be one of those models.
> or you could enter your service tag number.
> or before doing that you might want to try Windows System Restore. Type system restore into the Start>search box and hit the Enter key. Select a restore point dated earlier than when the issue began and see if that fixes the problem.
dimitris_dem
8 Posts
0
July 14th, 2014 14:00
Installing native windows drivers instead of OEM IDT drivers is not a solution, you should update IDT audio drivers or have a solution condacting MS ASAP.
It is not only Dell that supply laptops with IDT based audio, any laptop with IDT and windows (HP, lenovo etc.) after the last updates have problems with audio.
AdityaGhai1987
1 Message
0
July 20th, 2014 06:00
Thanks ... Was trying to fix this ... thought it was a virus or spyware but tried this out and it worked :)
racecar99
1 Message
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July 23rd, 2014 17:00
Thanks very much for sharing Countiss!
I had the same audio problem (actually was affecting video too - couldn't get more than a few seconds out of a Youtube video, andDVD replay was horrible!) I found that disabling and re-enabling the Realtek speakers on my Inspiron solved the problem, but that was only a very short term solution and problem kept coming back.
I found the Windows update that you identified had been installed on July 12, but I only noticed the problem a few days ago. Just uninstalled it a few minutes ago and re-booted, and now everything is working correctly. Hoping the problem doesn't come back!
joemily
1 Message
0
August 15th, 2014 14:00
Uninstalling the KB2962407 update seems to have fixed the 'no audio' problem. Thanks so much.
(Sometimes I hate microsoft....)