Travel Technology - ObiWan Kenobe -- You're my last hope: Vista sound problem

I have a Sony Vaio SZ440n laptop with Vista Business installed.

Recently, I had to fix a registry permissions problem (HK_CLASSES_ROOT had no permissions assigned). Everything worked great for a couple of days. This morning, suddenly, the laptop's speakers stopped working, though the headphone jack still works. I'm convinced this is a software issue because I've had it happen before. However, previously, I was able to fix it by using system restore to find a restore point that was before the problem. Now, however, I have no system restore points that are early enough.

I called Sony tech support and we walked through all the obvious solutions, e.g. re-installing the driver, stopping and starting the audio service, etc.

Now, it seems, my only solution is to reinstall Sony Vista OEM from scratch, something I really don't want to do as it will require doing the installation (at least an hour), removing all the crapware, downloading and installing all updates, re-installing all my software and hardware drivers, etc.

Any suggestions to getting audio working again would be most welcome.

Could it possibly be something in the headphone jack that is making the computer think headphones are plugged in, even when they're not?

Could it possibly be something in the headphone jack that is making the computer think headphones are plugged in, even when they're not?It's not. I know it's a software issue because, when this has happened in the past, a system restore fixed it.

I'm sure you've already checked this too... in the Sound control panel, is the appropriate Playback Device selected?

Other things to check...
In "Properties"... I know one of my old sound cards wouldn't function if the "Digital Output Only" was unchecked.

In "Configure", if you play with speaker type settings, does that work?

I'm sure you've already checked this too... in the Sound control panel, is the appropriate Playback Device selected?

Other things to check...
In "Properties"... I know one of my old sound cards wouldn't function if the "Digital Output Only" was unchecked.

In "Configure", if you play with speaker type settings, does that work?I checked all that. As I said, I've run through all the obvious things and can't think of anything else other than a full-system re-install, which will be a nightmare.

Now, it seems, my only solution is to reinstall Sony Vista OEM from scratch, something I really don't want to do as it will require doing the installation (at least an hour), removing all the crapware, downloading and installing all updates, re-installing all my software and hardware drivers, etc.


FWIW, I just wanted to de-crap my machine (Dell desktop), so I downloaded the Vista DVD image off BitTorrent and used my legitimate product key to activate.

I was also able to switch from 32 to 64-bit this way too.

Not the best answer, but you can get to a virgin Vista install this way.

FWIW, I just wanted to de-crap my machine (Dell desktop), so I downloaded the Vista DVD image off BitTorrent and used my legitimate product key to activate.

I was also able to switch from 32 to 64-bit this way too.

Not the best answer, but you can get to a virgin Vista install this way.Hmmmm. Interesting.

I "solved" the problem by digging up a 2-month old backup and installing it. I've spent the rest of the day, cleaning it up, re-installing some backed-up data, downloading the more limited number of updates, etc.

Sound is back.

Hmmmm. Interesting.

I "solved" the problem by digging up a 2-month old backup and installing it. I've spent the rest of the day, cleaning it up, re-installing some backed-up data, downloading the more limited number of updates, etc.

Sound is back.

Glad to here you're back in business. Since you've got the machine in a known good state right now, you might want to consider creating a drive image at this point and stashing it away someplace safe.

Glad to here you're back in business. Since you've got the machine in a known good state right now, you might want to consider creating a drive image at this point and stashing it away someplace safe.
Absolutely. I'm on the road today, but I'll be back tonight and will do it.

I'm going to stick with Vista only until I have a chance to try SP1. I've hit far too many glitches like this one that have no explanation other than, "something must be wrong." If SP1 doesn't increase stability, I'm going back to XP (which will be a HUGE project to install on this laptop).