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I tried to change my speaker setup and every time I click "test" I get this error message on Windows 7 SP1. I tried running "sndvol" to view the applications list but the list is empty.
Since I tried to test the new speaker setup, I'm now left without sound for all applications and can't get sound even if I switch back.
I have not updated my sound drivers so I don't know what could have changed.
What could be causing this?
@anot - Question isn't about Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows 10,0 it is specifically about Windows 7, so #windows is not an appropriate tag. – Ramhound – 2016-01-22T21:10:33.660
This seems to be a common problem for older AMD A-Series processors. The 15.7.1 WHQL driver bundle has well known audio issues which will cause the exact problem described above. The solution is to roll back the audio driver to previous version, or you can install the 16.2.1 beta version which fixed the issue. – pistol-pete – 2019-01-01T21:50:53.190
I may know what could be causing it, but I don't think I know a way of fixing it. There's an audio API called WASAPI from Windows Vista on, and one of the things applications can request when using it is exclusive sound access. If one such application is running you wouldn't hear sound form the others even if they were playing something. – Xandy – 2012-10-30T21:26:03.173