Where has my sound gone?

[martin s]

I just tried to watch something on the iplayer and discovered that I have no volume at all on my laptop. The little speaker icon that's normally in the bottom right hand corner has vanished. I've looked on the control panel but haven't been able to find a way to restore it. Can anyone help please?

[Grendel]

right click the task bar at the bottom, click properties, then the notification area, there should be some check boxes, volume control is one - if this is greyed out and not selectable it can be got back but its a bit of a problem.
Grendel

[Grendel]

also check the f5 and f6 keys, these can sometimes be used with the fn button to control volume.

[martin s]

Thanks Grendel, I don't seem to have a volume control check box though. The only two in the notifications area are show the clock and hide inactive icons. When I checked hide inactive icon and then customise it brought up a list of current and past items. Volume was in the past items.

[Elfie]

What version of Windows are you using?

[KLD_Sound]

Could be something to do with the soundcards drivers. I had this problem when I installed Windows 7.

[Grendel]

Could be something to do with the soundcards drivers. I had this problem when I installed Windows 7.

I run a registry file 'trayicons.reg'
this contains the following text:-

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

;Enable Notification icons in Windows Vista
;Ramesh Srinivasan, Winhelponline.com on Mar 22, 2008

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Win dows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]
"HideSCAVolume"=-
"HideSCANetwork"=-
"HideClock"=-
"HideSCAPower"=-

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Wi ndows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]
"HideSCAVolume"=-
"HideSCANetwork"=-
"HideClock"=-
"HideSCAPower"=-

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Win dows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]
"NoTrayItemsDisplay"=-

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Wi ndows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]
"NoTrayItemsDisplay"=-

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Win dows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]
"NoAutoTrayNotify"=-

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Wi ndows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]
"NoAutoTrayNotify"=-

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\TrayNotify]
"IconStreams"=-

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\TrayNotify]
"PastIconsStream"=-

if you copy and paste into notepad, then save with a filename and .reg as the extension (watch it of notepad will add .txt after it.)
run this file, then reboot and the icons should be available again - as I said its a tricky one, mine manages to dissapear on me 2 or 3 times a year.
Grendel

[Grendel]

Thanks Grendel, I don't seem to have a volume control check box though. The only two in the notifications area are show the clock and hide inactive icons. When I checked hide inactive icon and then customise it brought up a list of current and past items. Volume was in the past items.

if you click the words hide when inactive in that list and change it to show, what happens?
Grendel

[martin s]

What version of Windows are you using?

xp

if you click the words hide when inactive in that list and change it to show, what happens?
Grendel

It gives me a dropdown menu with always show, always hide and hide when inactive.

[martin s]

Just turned my laptop back on and the sound has returned all by its self. No idea what happened there but thanks for the help.