How to fix "there no active mixer devices available" error message in Windows

Posted on October 11, 2007 at 4:42 pm

Make sure to read other posts from the Fix Windows Errors series!

How to fix Internet Explorer has encountered a problem and needs to close
How to fix runonce.msn.com runonce2.aspx error in IE7
How to fix Microsoft Windows Search Indexer stopped working and was closed
How to fix access is denied, file may be in use, or sharing violation errors in Windows
How to fix "there no active mixer devices available" error message in Windows
How to fix svchost.exe errors and problems with high CPU usage

I recently worked on a client’s computer that was giving them the error “no active mixer devices available” whenever they clicked on the volume icon in their task bar. This problem came up out of nowhere and it was almost of if the computer never had sound before! In the Sound and Audio Devices applet in Control Panel, everything was grayed out and there was a message saying “No audio device” under the Volume tab.

Upon checking under the Hardware section via the System Properties, we found a couple of yellow exclamation points next to Multimedia Audio Controller. Now this issue would have been easy to fix if the computer had a separate sound card installed and would have simply involved downloading and re-installing the latest drive for the card. Sometimes the driver becomes corrupt and the sound disappears. In this case, just go to Dell, HP, or your manufacture’s web site and download the audio drivers.

However, if your sound card is integrated into your motherboard, you’ll have to re-install the motherboard sound drivers. This is a little trickier because you need to first find the make and model of your motherboard. You can figure out the model of your motherboard in three ways:

1. Open the computer and find the sticker or embedded name of the manufacturer. Be sure it’s not the maker of the chipset, as that will not help.

2. Everest software – a free app that will help you identify your motherboard.

3. Belarc Advisor – Another nifty little app that will give you a crap load of information about your computer including the motherboard.

Once you have the model information, you’ll need to perform a search for the number or try to go to the web site of the maker. Find your driver, install it and restart the computer. You should now have your sound back!

Any questions, post a comment!

[tags]no active mixer devices available, sound gone, no sound, no audio device, i have no sound[/tags]

» Filed Under Computer Tips

Comments

50 Responses to “How to fix "there no active mixer devices available" error message in Windows”

khan said on : January 9th, 2008 at 4:21 am

sir there is same problem in my system showing that there is no active mixer device,what should i doo, pls reply me soon.
thank you.

Khalid said on : May 10th, 2008 at 6:09 am

When i start media file. no mixer device is fornd is shown
How do i install active mixer device
Help me

malditha said on : May 14th, 2008 at 10:59 am

i have the same problem like khan..pls…help me my cpu

spec=intel(R) celeron(R) D CPU 3.06GHz

zeny said on : May 18th, 2008 at 9:47 am

i have the same problem like khan.plzzzzz help me im in the tension

karuna said on : May 22nd, 2008 at 9:36 am

i had a problem of active mixer device is not available. please send a correction report

bhushan said on : June 7th, 2008 at 12:56 pm

i have the same problem and i have tried your solution but its not working please help me.
thanks.

yadanar said on : June 21st, 2008 at 7:14 am

pls help me~ i have the same problem…

Veronica said on : July 5th, 2008 at 2:48 am

Bless you, bless you, bless you!!!! This fixed the exact same problem I was having as stated above. Thank you so much!

vakil said on : July 6th, 2008 at 11:59 pm

sir there is same problem in my system showing that there is no active mixer device,what should i doo, pls reply me soon.
thank you.

sas said on : July 25th, 2008 at 4:35 pm

there is same problem in my system showing that there is no active mixer device,what should i do, pls reply soon.
thank you

munesh said on : August 2nd, 2008 at 12:27 am

i am also having the same problem as khans having
could you please help me

jepoy said on : September 1st, 2008 at 6:11 am

how to fix a no playback devices / no audio..pls help me

Priya said on : September 27th, 2008 at 2:15 am

I found another solution that seems to work for my computer. I had this message popup, but then I opened wimamp and my sound worked just fine. weird. so I did what this guy suggested, and it seemed to fix the problem. sweets!

“Hi. I had the same problem and found the answer elsewhere. What you have to do is start the Windows Audio Service. For some reason it gets stopped. Here’s what the post said:

Go to Start –> Run, and type in services.msc.

A window will pop up with a list of services. Scroll down to Windows Audio. Right-click
and click on Properties.

Make sure that “Startup type” is set to automatic. Also, make sure, under “Service
status,” start is selected.

Hope this helps! Good luck.”

Kaiser said on : October 11th, 2008 at 5:07 am

thank u soo much priya this is indeed the easiest and best way to correct “There are no active mixers available” ERROR. I know it say to make sure and install the sound driver, but sometimes the driver has been installed and you still get the “NO ACTIVE MIXERS” ERROR MESSAGE. To save Time and a whole lot of stress just follow PRIYA’S instructions and i swear That u’re Problem will vanish. THANX PRIYA for u’re help Once Again.

phyllis said on : October 18th, 2008 at 12:22 pm

I have the same issue, no mixer available,however everything seem to be set right. except under sound device in-system information i see-status error, can you help?

lykita said on : October 31st, 2008 at 10:18 am

i have the same problem with my computer at work. i found all the information on my computer at the website you suggested. not sure what to do next…….please help …..
thank you

Destiney said on : November 17th, 2008 at 8:42 pm

thank you

minakshi said on : November 20th, 2008 at 6:59 am

hey priya
thank you soo much…
i got the solution from you..

juju said on : November 26th, 2008 at 9:35 pm

i try everything here, but nothing is working so if yall can help me out that will be cool.

Kurush said on : November 29th, 2008 at 1:19 am

Hi. I had the same problem and found the answer elsewhere. What you have to do is start the Windows Audio Service. For some reason it gets stopped. Here’s what the post said:

Go to Start –> Run, and type in services.msc.

A window will pop up with a list of services. Scroll down to Windows Audio. Right-click
and click on Properties.

Make sure that “Startup type” is set to automatic. Also, make sure, under “Service
status,” start is selected.

Hope this helps! Good luck.

Kaiser said on : November 29th, 2008 at 2:32 am

does anyone know why everytime i install nero 8 i cant use the nero vision. Everytime i try to burn my disc it asks me to register with nero.com or buy the full version. I’ve tried several different nero 8 and same thing everytime. Anytime i use nero vision and am getting ready to burn onto dvd a box pops up asking me to download the full version from nero.com
I’ve used it in the passed and had no problems like this. I even installed it on my friends computer and it worked fine. only on my laptop and im using windows xp sp2. any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Kaiser said on : November 29th, 2008 at 2:36 am

for all u guys that are having problems with “No Mixer devices” try following these steps.

How To Fix: “THERE ARE NO ACTIVE MIXERS” Error

Sometimes after installing your sound driver with the updated version (If offered by the manufacturer) you still find that Error “There Are No Active Mixers”. In other words you don’t have sound when u try to play a music cd. or mp3 file or a movie etc. You then proceed by checking the Device manager to see if there are any devices installed under SOUND,VIDEO AND GAME CONTROLLERS Tab or for othes the “Multimedia Audio Controller” Tab and they are! This is where most people get confused, fustrated and just don’t know what to do anymore, in other words you just GIVE-UP. Well I have a quick and easy way to fix the problem instead of gooogling the problem and going through hundred of fake, time wasting, stress creating sites. I promise that if u follow these steps u will be okay. REMEMBER Use These Step Only after u have installed the Proper Sound Driver and your still not getting any sound other than that annoying BEEP when try to listen to something and the ERROR “There Are No Active Mixers” APPEARS.

STEP #1:
Go to Start –> Run, and type in services.msc.
A Window will pop up with a list of services.
STEP #2:

Scroll down to “Windows Audio” Click Once and then Right-Click when the Pull Down Menu appears Click on PROPERTIES (at the bottom)

STEP #3:
Another window will pop up Under The GENERAL TAB Make sure that “Startup Type” (Half Way down the Page) is set to Automatic.(Another Pulldown Menu, you choose Automatic)

Step #4:
Right underneath the “Startup Type” there is “Service Status,”
and it has 4 buttons bellow it. Only 1 should be black and that is the START Button CLick ON IT. Now It Should Read Service Status: Started

Congratulations you know have sound test out a music cd. or music file and you will not be dissapointed I Promise.
Special Thanx to Priya who helped me help all of you fix your Audio Mixer Problem!!!

Moe Sobh
London, ON.

Qsbaby said on : November 29th, 2008 at 10:36 am

I have had that problem 4 long time and i have try everything everyone has sad and I still have the problem “No audio device,No mixer device” i know it has been along time,and yall are not there but can someone help me?

Piggy said on : November 30th, 2008 at 11:32 pm

hey you guys go to start -> run -> type services.msc -> scroll down to see windows audio select start on it by right clicking it

Piggy said on : November 30th, 2008 at 11:33 pm

thx by the way this really worked

Shailendra Kumar said on : February 8th, 2009 at 11:09 am

Hi,

I tried above mentioned priya’s solution but it didnt help me as i selected automatic, but in service status all the four options are in grey status, i am still getting no mixer device availabe pls help me sort this problem out

Patty said on : February 14th, 2009 at 4:18 pm

I know this was posted a while back but it still helped me! Thank you very much.

Devendra said on : February 16th, 2009 at 3:52 am

Hi Priya,,

Thanks a ton .. that solved my problem as well. .!!!
I didnt know that there is a service for controlling audio .. !!!

Thanks
Devendra phadnis

pratap said on : February 22nd, 2009 at 12:43 pm

thanks very much priyaaa

I solved the “no active mixer devices available” issue in no time!

sultan said on : March 30th, 2009 at 4:44 pm

sir there is same problem in my system showing that there is no active mixer device,what should i doo, pls reply me soon.
thank you.

Mitch said on : April 17th, 2009 at 2:26 am

I have read your instructions, but it still does not fix my problem. When I go to the audio properties and look at the status it says it is ’started’. The 4 buttons below are all grayed out as well. What is the problem?

Einas said on : April 28th, 2009 at 10:58 am

I had the same problem, some applications like messenger for example used to play sounds and alerts normally .. then stopped…and i had the same error msg “no mixer devices available …”

I started the “windows audio”service and Voila ! it’s up and running again

Here’s how to do it :
go to start , run , type : services.msc
check the list for the “windows audio ” service , right click > properties > start type : automatic
and again : right click > start

hope it works for u

Amrish Puri said on : May 4th, 2009 at 10:13 pm

Hey kids here is the solution.

Here’s how to do it :
go to start , run , type : services.msc
check the list for the “windows audio ” service , right click > properties > start type : automatic
and again : right click > start

jewels said on : June 23rd, 2009 at 12:12 am

i tried pressing start and my start button doesnt have the option to click run so i cant get further than the start button! im going crazy please help me!!

NEERAJ said on : June 23rd, 2009 at 2:19 am

whenever I try to start the audio service, a message stating “could not start the window audio service on local computer. error 109: the pipe has been ended” is shown! I m still having the same problem, help me.

Basant said on : June 24th, 2009 at 10:02 pm

In some cases like mine, the Window Audio service is already in automatic start mode, but still it gives the “there no active mixer devices available” error. What I did to sort-out this is from System -> Hardware -> Device Manager, against the audio related devices with yellow “?”, updated the driver from right-click. This installed the driver from microsoft website and fixed the issue. Otherwise, I think you can also try the window driver recovery cd though I have not tried that.

Jay Ponce said on : June 27th, 2009 at 2:36 am

I have the same problem but what I’ve noticed is that when I reboot my computer the sound goes back and my machine plays audio well and after quite sometime it goes back to its problematic state once again. I am currently using DeepFreeze software to set my machine to go back to its original state after i reboot. Is this problem associated with any form of virus like a trojan or a malware?

Roflkid said on : June 28th, 2009 at 3:34 am

Even when i do this, i still got the same “no active mixer devices” problem!

Ashu said on : July 1st, 2009 at 5:04 am

Thank you so much for posting it works for me great

Priya said on : September 27th, 2008 at 2:15 am

I found another solution that seems to work for my computer. I had this message popup, but then I opened wimamp and my sound worked just fine. weird. so I did what this guy suggested, and it seemed to fix the problem. sweets!

“Hi. I had the same problem and found the answer elsewhere. What you have to do is start the Windows Audio Service. For some reason it gets stopped. Here’s what the post said:

Go to Start –> Run, and type in services.msc.

A window will pop up with a list of services…..”

danny said on : September 13th, 2009 at 7:23 am

Hey can anyone help me with “no active mixer devices” please?? I tried 2 go 2 run, then type in services.msc, then scroll down to windows audio, then click right click then propeties, then click on automatic, then start and then clicked ok and now i still got the problem :

im dying here without any sound

plsss get back ASAP, cheers

sydney peter said on : September 25th, 2009 at 3:03 pm

the post from PRIYA worked…no more active mixer problem! thanx

masai said on : October 12th, 2009 at 1:40 pm

guys, is there any website where i can download all hp laptop drivers for free? all drivers?

MARY said on : October 12th, 2009 at 7:49 pm

Dude you making this hard. I have a Dell, and i have this problem from time to time. All that i require to do is turn off the computer and turn it back on. And the audio is back.

MARY said on : October 12th, 2009 at 7:57 pm

This is a fast solution you all should try before intalling or re-inistalling anything.

Instructions to turn on the driver:
pchell.com/support/no_active_mixer_devices_available.shtml

Good luck!

armor said on : October 26th, 2009 at 9:26 pm

I found another solution that seems to work for my computer. I had this message popup, but then I opened wimamp and my sound worked just fine. weird. so I did what this guy suggested, and it seemed to fix the problem. sweets!

“Hi. I had the same problem and found the answer elsewhere. What you have to do is start the Windows Audio Service. For some reason it gets stopped. Here’s what the post said:

Go to Start –> Run, and type in services.msc.

A window will pop up with a list of services. Scroll down to Windows Audio. Right-click
and click on Properties.

Make sure that “Startup type” is set to automatic. Also, make sure, under “Service
status,” start is selected.

Hope this helps! Good luck.”

THANK YOU SO MUCH MAN, I’LL KEEP THIS ALIVE

Kayla said on : October 27th, 2009 at 11:02 pm

I restored my computer and now I have no sound. I click on the sound and it says “no active mixer devices”. I tried going to “run” and trying it the way others were told from the above comments and it didnt work for me. What should I do??? Thank you!