Error loading cmicnfg.cpl -- SOLUTION HERE! - Page 2

I got this page from Google search and surprised myself by following your directions and curing this most irritating pop-up message. It all started when I installed the latest Microsoft update: Cmedia WDM Audio Driver which gave me no sound at all after I rebooted. I tried to deinstall it and then went back to my origional Avance AC97 Audio Device. After the sound returned, all I had to do was remove the cmaudio string as you instructed. All is well and my wife thanks you as she doesn't have to listen to my ranting!

I got this page from Google search and surprised myself by following your directions and curing this most irritating pop-up message. It all started when I installed the latest Microsoft update: Cmedia WDM Audio Driver which gave me no sound at all after I rebooted. I tried to deinstall it and then went back to my origional Avance AC97 Audio Device. After the sound returned, all I had to do was remove the cmaudio string as you instructed. All is well and my wife thanks you as she doesn't have to listen to my ranting!

Same here(tho i do the search on yahoo) but i still wanna update my exisiting soundcard to a one with a higher version(Avance AC97 Audio).
currently my version:5.10.0.3800 dated 2001 and the most recent version available is 6.14.01.4080 anyone has any idea how to obtain that file i couldnt find it anywhere.

Same here(tho i do the search on yahoo) but i still wanna update my exisiting soundcard to a one with a higher version(Avance AC97 Audio).
currently my version:5.10.0.3800 dated 2001 and the most recent version available is 6.14.01.4080 anyone has any idea how to obtain that file i couldnt find it anywhere.

I typed in 6.14.01.4080 into Google and the second suggestion sent me to a website called www.softwarepatch.com. They have the download you wanted.
I down loaded it but didn't install it yet; it comes zipped and I really don't know what part to install after unzipping it. I have Windows XP.

I typed in 6.14.01.4080 into Google and the second suggestion sent me to a website called www.softwarepatch.com. They have the download you wanted.
I down loaded it but didn't install it yet; it comes zipped and I really don't know what part to install after unzipping it. I have Windows XP. Let me know how you make out and if improves your sound!

I am extremely happy now ^_^.I dl-ed it and unzip and install and poof now my sound card becomes a Vinyl AC'97 Audio [wave]
tats the lastest update version 6.14.1.4090 dated 2005.And yes there is an improvement in the sound im pretty sure of it i heard better quality music as in those beats.

Heres the sceeny:http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y168/darkz3n/help.jpg

the yellow icon below is the one u could config on sounds.

And re test the drivers that needs to be update on my com (http://www.radarsync.com/) and now my sound driver is remove from the list which means im using one that is up to date.

Maybe u shd go to that site and test for ur own sound driver maybe urs is different from mine and doesnt use Vinyl?
You could also buy the product(radarsync) which is kinda expensive but they allow u to download the updates straight from their own database saving u the time to hunt the updates down yourself.But why buy it since u can search on the net like u did for me.

Lastly thank you for the search u help me big time.Continue posting and keep me update ill visit this daily.

;)

I am extremely happy now ^_^.I dl-ed it and unzip and install and poof now my sound card becomes a Vinyl AC'97 Audio [wave]
tats the lastest update version 6.14.1.4090 dated 2005.And yes there is an improvement in the sound im pretty sure of it i heard better quality music as in those beats.

Heres the sceeny:http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y168/darkz3n/help.jpg

the yellow icon below is the one u could config on sounds.

And re test the drivers that needs to be update on my com (http://www.radarsync.com/) and now my sound driver is remove from the list which means im using one that is up to date.

Maybe u shd go to that site and test for ur own sound driver maybe urs is different from mine and doesnt use Vinyl?
You could also buy the product(radarsync) which is kinda expensive but they allow u to download the updates straight from their own database saving u the time to hunt the updates down yourself.But why buy it since u can search on the net like u did for me.

Lastly thank you for the search u help me big time.Continue posting and keep me update ill visit this daily.

Thank you for the help and I'm glad that I could help you and you were successful in improving your sound.
I had to fly out to Wichita this morning, for the next nine days, and won't get home until Wednesday, 02-08-06. That's where my home computer resides. I'll try your suggestions when I get home to Las Cruces, NM.

This was an error I found on my computer that I did a search on the web for a quick and easy fix for. I found this forum that had my error and symptoms, but found no one had a solution. The thread was closed because the original poster had not responded to the posts in over a year, even though it sparked a lively discussion with others saying they had same problem (at which Daniweb admins kept scoffing! I say LET THEM POST! Even if they don't have an answer, knowing that others have the same issue and finding out how it was caused in each case can be very good and help toward a solution!). I thought that was @$$ and was what made me join this forum, to give those having this problem the answer they deserved and not the closed thread they got in return. Whataloadacrap.

Background: This error occurs after trying to uninstall the updated (and overrated) C-Media WDM Audio Driver for onboard sound that appears after upgrading to XP SP2 and/or going to WindowsUpdate. Likely the driver didn't work, so you tried uninstalling the driver and were going to put back the old Realtek AC'97 driver, but couldn't get rid of the updated driver.

To fix: Start, Run, type in "regedit" (no quotes), and delete the cmaudio string from
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run. This makes it so it will not run on startup and try to find the cpl file that was deleted during the uninstall or not installed correctly by the installer in the first place, whichever your case depending on when you started seeing the error. If your sound was working perfectly before this, you are done. To get your sound working again if it isn't, read on -

While still in the registry editor, click on the top computer icon in the Registry Editor to highlight it (so that it will do a complete search of the registry and not just from your present point forward), do a Find (Ctrl+F) and find and delete all KEYS related to cmaudio and C-Media, not just the string entries, but the KEYS, except for that entry in the Run key I mentioned above, just delete the cmaudio string for that one.

Delete the string "CMCPlus" from HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Control Panel\Cpls to get rid of the Control Panel icon, and delete the file it points to that resides in C:\Windows\System32.

Download this remove utility from

http://ekiis.com/Freesoft/binary/remove11.zip

and run the file you find in the zip file - it can be ran without extracting it from the zip. Take out the C-Media Audio Driver line.

-- NOTE: This utility is for taking the name out of the Add/Remove Programs section only, and does not remove it from your computer, but it is very useful for issues like this when we are MANUALLY uninstalling a program to take it out of the Programs list and should work in 98/ME/2000/XP.

Delete these files from the C:\Windows\System32 directory (or "System" directory for Win98)

cmirmdrv.exe
cmirmdrv.dll
cmuda.dll

Delete everything you can readily delete in C:\Temp, C:\WINDOWS\prefetch (XP only), C:\WINDOWS\Temp, and C:\Documents and Settings\%YourName%\Local Settings\Temp (2000 and XP only), so that there will not be any files left for it to try to recover the driver from. You will likely have to leave things that start with hsperfdata_ and Perflib_Perfdata_***.dat files if you find them, but should be able to delete most others without changing attributes.

Now open the Device Manager (Right-click "My Computer", hit "Manage", then find Device Manager in the Computer Management console). Right-click the C-Media WDM driver under Sound, video, and game controllers, hit Uninstall. Then right-click the top computer icon listed there with your hostname beside it, hit "Scan for hardware changes". It should install a generic "Multimedia Audio Controller" instead of the "C-Media WDM Audio Driver", though you might see that C-Media Audio for just an instant before it reverts back to a generic driver (if it stays, you'll have to go back through the registry again, delete the system files again, and do a full search of your hard drive for those files so they don't get re-copied again). From here you can download your specific Realtek AC'97 Audio Driver setup.exe file here or use your motherboard's installation CD to re-install and you should have sound again.

Good luck.

Well once iI finally got the guts to try this Iwas fixed in about 2 minutes.Thanks man.

Man when I finally got the guts to try this it fixed my problem in 2 minutes. Thanks man. I tried searching all over the place to fix it, even tried Microsoft support. NO help. It is obviously not a virus. WHEWWWWW.

Hey I HAD that problem and I followed your solution and it worked, thank you
best regards John

You aren't having a "boot sector" issue, and I doubt it has to do with having 2 hard drives or anything to do with any hardware configuration other than that relating to sound, as long as no Operating System (OS) is on that backup drive. But this is a sound driver file/issue that comes from the OS's ability to direct sound to your sound card/speakers using those driver files - nothing to do with hard drives, a floppy drive, CD, etc. The only BIOS settings that might ever be involved here are those relating to sound/your sound card.

If you have sound, but are getting the cmicnfg.cpl errors at startup, all you need is my "cosmetic" fix - so called because everything is working, just you're getting the error 'cause the registry can't process cmicnfg.cpl. Just remove the cmicnfg.cpl line from the registry key. "HKLM" refers to "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE". That solves that.

If you are not getting sound, refer back to my post and read all of my entries carefully & thoroughly - there is also an issue where sound won't come back for all users or a new user when they log in before the instructions are followed again under the next/new user's account, as well.

Good luck,
Tom

Having the same problem. Went into REGEDIT but could not find HKLM\.... Was having problems with video locking up. Was directed by Microsoft to go to realtek and download the Win XP update file for Realtek/AC'97 and it helped a little bit but then these cmicnfg.cpl problems started. I think I may be adding to the problem because I use an old hard drive to store my backups and I forget to unplug it sometimes when I reboot. I think my computer is using some of the old files to boot EVEN though I changed the BIOS to NOT BOOT from any other devices but CD, Floppy and of course, HDD. Do you happen to know how I can shut down the boot sector of that drive? Thanks for any help.

s046134, if you unzip your files, if you find a setup.exe, run that. If you just have an .inf file with some .dll files or something with no EXEs, then go to the Control Panel and step through the Add New Hardware wizard. Tell it to not search Windows Update. If it asks you if you want to install the Multimedia Audio Controller or something else, pick the Multimedia Audio Controller, otherwise install under "Sound, video, and game controllers". Tell it that you have the files yourself and wish to direct Windows to the files. Browse to that folder with the unzipped files when prompted and double-click on the .inf file. It should give you a list with your sound device listed (if multiple are present, pick the latest and one that has a "digitally tested" logo by it that looks to be right for your motherboard/sound card - consult your manuals for the right model if many are present or lookup your computer's model online to get its specs, whatever you have to do, but you MUST choose the right one!) and from there you should be able to "Next" your way done. If it says the software is not compatible with your hardware or some such error and doesn't give you a list, hit Cancel and find the right driver online for your sound card/motherboard.

I have a similar problem with the same motherboard:
I cannot see at all the onboard audio, so I cannot install drivers, what can I do?

please help me!

To find out what onboard sound device you have:

If it is a brand-name computer (i.e. Dell, HP, etc.) - I would advise going to the company's website under their support section, looking up your make/model of computer (i.e. Dimension 4500, Pavilion xf335, etc.) for its specs. Dell even has it where you can put in the service tag and download the driver from that (there may be a couple of different ones for each service tag - it doesn't hurt to use trial and error - just use the Add/Remove Programs to find what you installed that doesn't work and remove it from there before trying another (and reboot as prompted), so pay attention to the name it installs as (i.e. SoundMAX Audio, etc.).)

If you have a computer built from parts - consult your motherboard manual for what chip number/chipset your audio device has and use my link from my earlier post to download the driver. If you don't have the manual, but have the box, google the model of the motherboard to find out the sound device. If you have neither box, manual, and the board has no distinguishing marks to say what model it or your sound is, or you just can't see them, then I would recommend to get a PC auditing program that can tell you what your hardware is. AIDA32 is a good one (http://www.sofotex.com/AIDA32-download_L9326.html), Belarc Advisor (belarc.com) is another.

Good luck.

the motherboard is an ECS K7S5A v3.1 but the problem is that I cannot install drivers because winxp cannot see the soundcard at all, even with "?"

help!

I've formatted and the soundcard reappears, winz sucks!

just wanted to say thank u very much. was redoing a comp for my ma and was thinkin i might have to reformat just to get the new install, error free. glad i found this site.

bar

Thanks this worked like a charm :)

A few days ago while trying to get Skype to work properly (was dropping incoming words & sound), I was updating drivers via some driver software. The result was totally lost sound and not even a speaker in the taskbar next to the clock.
I found your site and read your very thorough procedure back on pg 1 of this thread. Thank you for your concern in helping evryone who is getting this cmicnfg.cpl message.
However, after proceeding through your instructions as carefully as I could, downloading the Realtek AC97 Audio file(s) (WDM_A401.exe) and installing it, I still have nothing.
Back in the Control Panel/Sounds and Audio Devices/Properties/Hardware the Realtek AC97 device status says, "This device cannot start (Code 10)".
The closest window is a patio door that I've been leaving open. But, I could miss and hit the frame.
Any other suggestions?
Thanks,
Joe

The "Sounds and Audio Devices" section in the Control Panel isn't where you want to go. You want to look in the Device Manager (right-click "My Computer" and hit Manage, then Device Manager). If you have "Multimedia Audio Controller" under the Sounds, Game and Video Controllers section instead of Realtek x-y-z-whatever, then start your installer for the driver (the WDM_A401.exe file) and reboot. If it doesn't install correctly/craps out either during or after that, then you'll need to find another file. I posted directions on how to find your exact driver earlier in this post - obviously that driver isn't the right one if that is what is happening. Remove it from the Add/Remove Programs section. Using your motherboard's CD is best, if you have that. If you are having issues even after using the motherboard's CD (or manufacturer's driver from their website for your board/computer), then I'd recommend just doing a Repair Install if you have Windows XP SP2, if you have the CD. (It is different than a full install - you choose "Enter", F8 to agree to the EULA, then "R", when you boot from the XP SP2 CD, in that order. You'll have to enter the Product Key and re-activate Windows, so be mindful of that.)

Good luck.... Tom

Well, Tom, I finally got my sound back. I am not sure what actually triggered it back into action but it's working. Yea!
That's the good news.
Now the bad....
I still don't have a speaker in my Task Bar next to the clock.
Any ideas?
Thanks.
Joe

Well, Tom, I finally got my sound back. I am not sure what actually triggered it back into action but it's working. Yea!
That's the good news.
Now the bad....
I still don't have a speaker in my Task Bar next to the clock.
Any ideas?
Thanks.
Joe

try this:
control panel
sound and audio devices
volume tab
click "put volume icon on taskbar"

Thank you!
My appologies for not getting back and posting that I had solved my problem but, YES, this is exactly what needed to be done. Back up and running for some time now.
Good job to all who came up with solutions.
JB

Glad you were able to get it back. I did forget to mention that with some sound drivers, it may require a reboot for it to fully take after you get the "Multimedia Audio Controller" back in the Device Manager and start (and finish) your real sound device's driver's installer. I don't know if that was really your issue or not, though. Sorry for not getting back here til now. Glad the other guy was able to help you with your volume control icon.

-Tom

Here work´s very well!! =D

Well, thankyou very much!
... i was searching on google for the error and this was the 1th site =)

i´m a brasilian guy.
See ya!

This was an error I found on my computer that I did a search on the web for a quick and easy fix for. I found this forum that had my error and symptoms, but found no one had a solution. The thread was closed because the original poster had not responded to the posts in over a year, even though it sparked a lively discussion with others saying they had same problem (at which Daniweb admins kept scoffing! I say LET THEM POST! Even if they don't have an answer, knowing that others have the same issue and finding out how it was caused in each case can be very good and help toward a solution!). I thought that was @$$ and was what made me join this forum, to give those having this problem the answer they deserved and not the closed thread they got in return. Whataloadacrap.

Background: This error occurs after trying to uninstall the updated (and overrated) C-Media WDM Audio Driver for onboard sound that appears after upgrading to XP SP2 and/or going to WindowsUpdate. Likely the driver didn't work, so you tried uninstalling the driver and were going to put back the old Realtek AC'97 driver, but couldn't get rid of the updated driver.

To fix: Start, Run, type in "regedit" (no quotes), and delete the cmaudio string from
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run. This makes it so it will not run on startup and try to find the cpl file that was deleted during the uninstall or not installed correctly by the installer in the first place, whichever your case depending on when you started seeing the error. If your sound was working perfectly before this, you are done. To get your sound working again if it isn't, read on -

While still in the registry editor, click on the top computer icon in the Registry Editor to highlight it (so that it will do a complete search of the registry and not just from your present point forward), do a Find (Ctrl+F) and find and delete all KEYS related to cmaudio and C-Media, not just the string entries, but the KEYS, except for that entry in the Run key I mentioned above, just delete the cmaudio string for that one.

Delete the string "CMCPlus" from HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Control Panel\Cpls to get rid of the Control Panel icon, and delete the file it points to that resides in C:\Windows\System32.

Download this remove utility from

http://ekiis.com/Freesoft/binary/remove11.zip

and run the file you find in the zip file - it can be ran without extracting it from the zip. Take out the C-Media Audio Driver line.

-- NOTE: This utility is for taking the name out of the Add/Remove Programs section only, and does not remove it from your computer, but it is very useful for issues like this when we are MANUALLY uninstalling a program to take it out of the Programs list and should work in 98/ME/2000/XP.

Delete these files from the C:\Windows\System32 directory (or "System" directory for Win98)

cmirmdrv.exe
cmirmdrv.dll
cmuda.dll

Delete everything you can readily delete in C:\Temp, C:\WINDOWS\prefetch (XP only), C:\WINDOWS\Temp, and C:\Documents and Settings\%YourName%\Local Settings\Temp (2000 and XP only), so that there will not be any files left for it to try to recover the driver from. You will likely have to leave things that start with hsperfdata_ and Perflib_Perfdata_***.dat files if you find them, but should be able to delete most others without changing attributes.

Now open the Device Manager (Right-click "My Computer", hit "Manage", then find Device Manager in the Computer Management console). Right-click the C-Media WDM driver under Sound, video, and game controllers, hit Uninstall. Then right-click the top computer icon listed there with your hostname beside it, hit "Scan for hardware changes". It should install a generic "Multimedia Audio Controller" instead of the "C-Media WDM Audio Driver", though you might see that C-Media Audio for just an instant before it reverts back to a generic driver (if it stays, you'll have to go back through the registry again, delete the system files again, and do a full search of your hard drive for those files so they don't get re-copied again). From here you can download your specific Realtek AC'97 Audio Driver setup.exe file here or use your motherboard's installation CD to re-install and you should have sound again.

Good luck.

PLEASE HELP! I have previously used this solution to fix on my pc and worked like a charm. I have now sold this pc to someone else and deleted all my files and user account and set them up a new one. Unfortunately, the sound has stopped working again and the link to ekiis http://ekiis.com/Freesoft/binary/remove11.zip no longer works. Does anyone have the utility that they would be able to let me have, or know where I can download it from now?

Apologies if this has already been answered, but I couldn't see when looking through the thread.

Many thanks!

You might want to try http://www.syspro.i12.com/auto/dlremove11.htm

It appears to be the same program. Good luck.

Yes, http://www.syspro.i12.com/auto/dlremove11.htm has the same program as the previous link had before. Thanks for popping in that link :)

That link will let you download the program, but it is missing a vital OCX file (comctl32.ocx), and the program will tell you it needs it in order to run. For those that download the program from that link above, you'll need to get the OCX file from http://www.afreeocx.com/ocx/info/comctl32_ocx.html and click the Download comctl32.ocx link on that page. It will need to be saved into the same folder as the program is, after you extract the Remove program into its own folder from the .zip file it comes in.

One last note, just in case it needs to be said again: The Remove program can be used for any program, but should not be used lightly. It will only take the program out of the Add/Remove Programs list, it does not actually remove any program itself or its files. For that, you have to look at the registry and make sure the entries for whatever program you are taking out are removed, and then delete the program's files manually.

Tom

Another place to find the utility:
http://download.beelink.com.cn/lib/remove11.zip

OMG Thank you!!! After 2 days of trying everything to get that driver installed, I stumbled upon your post and followed your directions to just REMOVE the stupid thing instead of installing it and VOILA! Thank you sooo much! I can hear again!! :)

--FattyBuumBatty

Thank you for the solution. I looked all over the net and thank God for you guys.