Recently when deleting a few things from the Control Panel to help speed-up the computer, I mistakenly deleted ‘Multimedia Audio Device’. Now I have no sound on the computer. I have tried reinstalling the device but it does not work. The computer is running Windows XP.

You are most likely having difficulty reinstalling the device because it is not being detected by Windows and thus is not giving you an opportunity to reinstall the device drivers. This is generally because Windows has already detected the device, but has not installed the drivers. In this case, Windows puts the device into an ‘unknown device’ or disabled state. The best way around this is to remove the unknown/disabled device, to allow Windows to redetect the device, giving you the opportunity to install the drivers.

Before we go any further make sure you have the audio device drivers handy. If you don’t have the original disk/CD with the drivers, visit the manufacturer’s website to download the latest drivers. Now, go to the ‘Start’ menu > ‘Control Panel’ and open the ‘System’ control panel. In the window that appears, select the ‘Hardware’ tab and click the ‘Device Manager’ button. Look for a device with a yellow exclamation icon. Once found, right-click on the device and select ‘Uninstall’. Once the device has been uninstalled, right-click on your computer name (at the top of the device manager tree) and select ‘Scan for hardware changes’. This should detect the audio device and present the ‘Add New Hardware’ wizard for you to install the device. Follow this wizard to install the drivers for the device.

Should the Add New Hardware wizard not appear, but instead the unknown/disabled device just reappears in the list of devices, right-click on the device and select ‘Update Driver’¦’ and follow the steps to update the driver, or in this case, install a new driver.

In the event the audio device comes with specific instructions for installation, such as to install the drivers before installing the audio card in your computer, remove the unknown/disabled device from the Device Manager then follow any instructions provided for installing the audio device. After you have finished the procedure, restart the computer and the audio device should be detected and installed.