Fiddlehead50
New Member
I have a new Vista Home Premium Laptop (Acer Aspire 7520), purchased about 6 weeks ago. I've come across two problems, and I believe they are related.
First, whenever I hook up a USB device, such as external speakers or headset, as soon as I unplug them and return to the laptop speakers, the sound is lost altogether, and I need to uninstall the sound driver and reboot - which triggers a fix from Microsoft - to restore sound from my laptop speakers. I originally had RealTek sound drivers, but this process, undertaken a few times now, has resulted in a switch to a generic High Definition Audio Device, auto-installed from Microsoft on reboot.
Second, I downloaded SoundTap Recorder. When I tried to enable it, the silence was deafening. Even when I subsequenty disabled the new app, the laptop speakers were silent, and the little megaphone in the taskbar was showing mute, even though I tried to restore sound. So I had to uninstall Sound Tap, and this restored the laptop sound without a system reboot.
The Acer Helpdesk has recommended restoring the system to earlier settings and/or a full factory restore, but with the time (days!) I have invested in setting up my new laptop with various applications, I don't want to take such a drastic and comprehensive approach to the problem unless I am sure it is going to work.
First, whenever I hook up a USB device, such as external speakers or headset, as soon as I unplug them and return to the laptop speakers, the sound is lost altogether, and I need to uninstall the sound driver and reboot - which triggers a fix from Microsoft - to restore sound from my laptop speakers. I originally had RealTek sound drivers, but this process, undertaken a few times now, has resulted in a switch to a generic High Definition Audio Device, auto-installed from Microsoft on reboot.
Second, I downloaded SoundTap Recorder. When I tried to enable it, the silence was deafening. Even when I subsequenty disabled the new app, the laptop speakers were silent, and the little megaphone in the taskbar was showing mute, even though I tried to restore sound. So I had to uninstall Sound Tap, and this restored the laptop sound without a system reboot.
The Acer Helpdesk has recommended restoring the system to earlier settings and/or a full factory restore, but with the time (days!) I have invested in setting up my new laptop with various applications, I don't want to take such a drastic and comprehensive approach to the problem unless I am sure it is going to work.
