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...cannot play music files, and when I try to open the Volume Control, it says that "no mixer devices are installed." ...

I'm having the same problem. Nothing is red(X) or yellow(!) in my sound, video and game controllers. Here's a list of everything in Sound, Video, and Game controllers: Audio Codecs, Legacy Auido Drivers, Legacy Video Capture Devices, Media Control Devices, Realtek High Definition Audio, Video Codecs. All of these are enabled and working properly.

If I go to sounds and audio devices from the control panel: The volume tab says there is no audio device and all the settings are pretty much greyed out.

This just started happening today :(

Thanks,
Hurricane

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Dani AI

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A short expert note tied to 's experience.

The combination of "No mixer devices are installed" and svchost memory-read crashes usually indicates a problem at the driver/firmware/service layer rather than bad media or speakers. Vendor utilities sometimes talk directly to the audio hardware and can continue to play while the Windows audio stack (the mixer exposed to Control Panel) fails to initialize. The resolution reported in this thread points to a mismatch between low-level firmware/chipset initialization and the Windows audio drivers.

A compact diagnostic sequence that often isolates the cause quickly:

eventvwr.msc
services.msc
sfc /scannow
dxdiag
msconfig
tasklist /svc
  • Inspect the System and Application logs in Event Viewer for the svchost crash entry to identify which service failed.
  • Confirm Windows audio-related services (RPC/Plug and Play/Windows Audio on XP-era systems) are present and started.
  • Run System File Checker (sfc /scannow) to repair corrupted system files.
  • Use Device Manager (View -> Show hidden devices) to remove stale audio devices/codecs, then install the correct vendor/motherboard drivers.
  • If svchost memory errors appear, include a RAM test (MemTest86+) and a clean boot to rule out startup conflicts.
  • As a hardware vs OS check, booting a live Linux USB will show whether the audio hardware is reachable outside Windows.

Practical cautions and follow-ups: prefer motherboard/vendor driver packages for integrated audio, update chipset drivers as well, and always have a recovery plan before flashing BIOS. If hardware tests pass and services/logs point to Windows corruption, System Restore or a repair install is safer than an immediate full reinstall. The pattern in this thread — fixing firmware/driver mismatches — is a common, reliable fix for this symptom set.

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OK, so today I have more information.

I'm actually getting two error boxes when I start up windows. One says:"Generic Host Process for Win32 Services has encountered a problem and needs to close..."

The other one says: svchost.exe. - Application Error. The instruction at 0xsomething referenced memory at 0x0. The memory could not be read.

I have an Intel D915GAG motherboard running BIOS EV91510A.86A.0478.

I'm using onboard sound: Intel Realtak HD Audio Controller. Audio codec ALC860... not sure how to find more info on this?

I have sndvol32.exe in my system32 folder. If I try to run it I get the same error as when I click on the volume control on the task bar.

One thing I think is weird: I have a Realtek HD Audio Manager installed as well, which has a little 3D audio demo... if I try to play the demo it works fine! nothing else works though. mp3s, system sounds ect.

I'm going to try a bios update as well as an audio driver update.


Thanks for any help :sad:

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So I downloaded the latest BIOS Update and the latest audio drivers from the Intel site.

Problem Solved:
1. Removed old drivers through add remove programs.
2. Ran the BIOS Update.
3. Actually heard the windows startup music on restart, and could open the volume control at this point.
4. Installed the audio drivers.
5. I can hear! I can hear!

Ok, so thanks for any help. :cool:

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