http://www.ghacks.net A technology blog covering software, mobile phones, gadgets, security, the Internet and other relevant areas. Tue, 10 Nov 2009 01:33:24 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 en hourly 1 http://www.ghacks.net/2008/11/27/there-are-no-active-mixer-devices-available/ http://www.ghacks.net/2008/11/27/there-are-no-active-mixer-devices-available/#comments Thu, 27 Nov 2008 09:13:13 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/?p=8566 The error message “There Are No Active Mixer Devices Available” appeared after clicking on the Volume icon in the Windows System Tray. Audio worked fine before shutting the computer down yesterday and clicking on the icon was one of the first actions of the new day.

MP3 playback was still working but games would not launch anymore stating that no audio devices could be found. A check of the sound hardware in the Control Panel was positive. The audio hardware was listed and reported as working properly.

Next step was to check whether the Windows Audio service was up and running. This was done by pressing [Windows R], typing [services.msc] and hitting [Enter]. The Windows Audio service was set to automatic but not started. That was strange but was solved easily by right-clicking the entry and selecting the [Start] entry from the context menu.

The Sound properties were showing the screenshot above stating that no audio device was installed on the computer. The message “There Are No Active Mixer Devices Available” disappeared after starting the Windows Audio service.

Tags: Active Mixer Devices, no audio device, sound properties, windows audio, windows errors, windows fixes, windows sound, windows tips

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]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2008/11/27/there-are-no-active-mixer-devices-available/feed/ 28 http://www.ghacks.net/2008/09/02/default-vista-audio-changer/ http://www.ghacks.net/2008/09/02/default-vista-audio-changer/#comments Tue, 02 Sep 2008 14:26:00 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/?p=6717 Windows Vista made things really complicated for users who are using several different audio outputs, for example headphones and speakers. The problem is that Windows Vista can only support one default audio output and that users who want to change the default Vista audio output have to do that in a menu that is far far away from being practical for that purpose.

To change the Vista audio output users have to right-click the speaker icon and choose Playback Devices from the options. There they have to right-click on the playback device that they want to use right now and set it as the default audio device in Windows Vista. They also have to close and reopen any program that was using the old audio output if they want to hear the sound on the new output.

Vista Audio Changer steps in and provides an easier way to change the default Vista audio output in just two clicks. It provides a list of all audio devices which can be easily selected from the program interface.

It still misses a few features that would make it even more handy, like placing shortcuts on the desktop or providing hotkeys to select the default vista audio device faster.

Tags: default audio, vista audio, vista audio changer, vista-tips, windows audio, windows-vista

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