The Problem
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This appears to be an issue primarily with the College's older desktop computers: Dell 755's, 760's, and 780's.
At some point, a Windows update (not sure which one) will cause the Audio Service to not start. Users typically see the following icon in the taskbar notification area:
Note the red X in the audio notification. This indicates either not speakers are plugged in or the Windows Audio Service has not started. This article discusses the latter.
The Solution
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The Quick, Temporary Fix
- Left click on the Audio icon in the taskbar notification area.
- Allow the troubleshooter to run.
The Long Term Fix
- Type services.msc in the Windows Search bar and hit enter.
- The Registry editor will open.
Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control
Right click on the right hand side and select New > DWORD (32-bit) Value
Name the new service ServicesPipeTimeout
Right click on the new entry
Select Modify
Change the base to Decimal and set the value to 60000
- The final entry will look like this:
Click OK
Reboot the PC.