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An OLD Volume Control Issue
I had this problem on an older PC with a first edition of XP… the volume icon was not showing up in the startup area on the right of the taskbar. I thought this had been resolved years ago, but lo and behold here it is on my newer PC running XP SP-3. Suddenly the Volume Control icon is not showing. It always did before; I think the problem came up after SP-3. The only way I can make it show is by going into Control Panel and Unchecking the "Show Volume Icon…" then hitting Apply, and then checking it and again hitting Apply. Next time I start or reboot it's gone again! I looked up all the old fixes- registry edits- and they're not working! Is there anything that will fix this new/old annoyance?
Alexandra_P
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October 29th, 2008 19:00
Hey, Julzie - is this the workhorse 1500 with Sigmatel?
If it is, is stsystra.exe in your startup list and enabled in msconfig? If it isn't, try uninstalling Sigmatel from device manager, reboot, and let XP reload it. Still no go, completely uninstall Sigmatel from Add/Remove and device manager then reinstall it from scratch from the downloads page.
If that's not it, only other thing I can think of is a slash and burn I tried when I kept getting "no audio device" after rebooting:
Boot into Safe Mode, Device manager, show all hidden devices, under Sound uninstall ALL the listings, then reboot into normal and let XP reload them all. In my case all the original Windows drivers listed were properly rolled into just the Sigmatel driver, but I'm usually hesitant to recommend it on the off chance it doesn't reload everything correctly and sound is permanently hosed.
EDIT: Just in case - when you reinstall the drivers, make sure you don't let MS load any sound drivers from Windows update, only use the Dell supplied Sigmatel. MS loads an IDT driver that's caused all kinds of grief (IDT bought ought Sigmatel).
SP3 has caused various weird audio problems like this (which is one reason I've put it off), but I haven't yet seen a definitive solution for any of them.
Julzie
381 Posts
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October 30th, 2008 01:00
Yup, it's my workhorse pal... the one for which I have yet to come up with a name- we're the kind of family that names everything: cars, copiers, computers....
I tried all those fixes and they didn't work. It's just a little aggravation, but you know how those *little* things can be. :smileymad:
Alexandra_P
2.6K Posts
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October 30th, 2008 18:00
That's a bummer. You could pester MS about it using the free SP3 support:
http://support.microsoft.com/oas/default.aspx?ln=en-us&prid=11273&gprid=522131
In the meantime, a temporary workaround would be to create your own volume shortcut to C:\Windows\System32\sndvol32.exe and put it in your taskbar. It pulls up the whole volume panel, not just the little slider, but it's something, I guess :smileyindifferent:
Julzie
381 Posts
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October 31st, 2008 15:00
Good idea, Alexandra! I'm in the process of pestering them now!
Little do they know what a stubborn old broad I am, heh heh heh....