S.O.S.: "Audio Services" Stopped After Running a "Shape Up" Program

I'm really in for it, and I hope the kind souls here will help find a way out.


My computer's old and creaking. An unrelated problem surfaced, and looking for a solution led to another computer help site which offered a "PC optimization tool" called Fortect that sounded like something that could help.

After running the program, the computer's audio stopped working..As I'm much into audio/visual, this is a catastrophe.

I tried a system restore, but it failed.


Before bothering you, I took some steps, including consulting support.Microsoft.com''s "Fix sound or audio problems in Windows" page. The usual suggestions ("Check your speaker output," "check cables, plugs, jacks") are not relevant, since everything was working fine.


The audio troubleshooter checked for an internet solution and came up dry.


When the "Audio Services" icon near the taskbar's clock was clicked on, I got the confirmation that audio services are not running.





From Device Manager, I managed to update the audio driver.





Following one of the Microsoft page's suggestions (for "Restart Audio Services"), I got the "services" box as shown below (the advice was to right-click and select Restart) but I received an "Error 1068" failure to restart, as shown below.





Upon right-clicking on the taskbar's sound icon line for "recording devices," I got what promised to lead to the solution, "Would you like to enable the Windows Audio Service"? (Of course I wasted no time in clicking "Yes,")


........................ 

What showed up under both "recording devices," and "playback devices," was "no audio devices are installed."



Of course they are installed and working fine; for some reason, they are not being recognized..!

My system is virus/malware free.

I ran SFC /SCANNOW from the command prompt, and that resulted in everything being okay. I've held off on running CHECKDISK /F because that's going to take a long time, but am planning on doing so.

Reinstalling Windows 7 is not an option. Somehow, the audio services have to be awakened, and I'm hoping you will help me with that.
Perhaps a reliable  Windows repair program you are aware of might help? There's something called "Tweaking.com - Windows Repair" which I dimly recall having used in the past, and actually downloaded it, but then stopped its operation... since I'm now leery of these repair programs. (It's that repair program called Fortect that caused this problem.)

I hope you will be able to help my desperate situation. Thank you.

Edited by buddy215, 04 November 2024 - 03:24 AM.

You do not name the make/model of the Branded System or the make/model if the motherboard, this is standard information in a computer help forum. It should not need to be asked for.

Edited by Upbloat, 03 November 2024 - 09:41 PM.

Sounds like it may have disabled some services, perhaps dependency services for audio, you can use the tweaking tool you mentioned. Run it in safe mode and have it set your services to default. 

 

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/windows-repair-all-in-one/

 

 

Edit: You can also uninstall all audio devices in your device manager and reboot, windows will auto re install upon reboot and hopefully reset all the settings to correct values.

Edited by FiredUpIce, 03 November 2024 - 10:07 PM.

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Thank you so much, FiredUpIce; at least you've provided hope that I may get my computer back.

 

 

 

 

And then what would need to be chosen for this situation targeting the audio problem?

 

 

I also appreciated your second suggestion, which seems a bit scarier. I hope your first suggestion will work. Thank you very much once more.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Windows will auto re install the drivers on a reboot, just make sure that you do not tick the box that reads delete when you right click and uninstall, that would honestly be the first thing that I would try.

 

But you can run the tool with default settings,

Or just try repair #1 #2  #3  #4  # 25  #26 first in safe mode, then reboot.

Edited by FiredUpIce, 03 November 2024 - 11:07 PM.

Hi,

interesting i'm helping a user on sevenforums who has also "lost" his audio output devices

 

from the little info he provided i believe he has a problem with the Hub he is using to connect to the speakers

 

as PKS noted it could be in your case the properties/dependencies options are incorrect

logon  _ Local system account

general  via sys32 svchost localsystemnetwork restricted

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Torchwood, thank you very much for your advice. By PKS, I guess you were referring to my first respondent, "Pkshadow." I just re-read what he wrote, and I don't see where he suggested my "properties/dependencies options" may be incorrect. He just criticized me for being an idiot.

 

Perhaps he had a point, because none of what you wrote made sense to me. I guess I would need to spend time researching what you were referring to (just as I spent an inordinate amount of time trying to find my motherboard information as Pkshadow was unhappy about having been left out. After the information was provided, I see he did not return with any helpful suggestions. I guess the information he asked for was not critical, as I suspected).

 

Dear FiredUpIce, I went with your software recommendation instead of disabling the drivers (that would have been my next step), and after making sure to follow the specifics you were so kind to list for me (repair #1 #2  #3  #4  # 25  #26) my sound is back. How can I thank you? You rescued me from what seemed to be an impossible situation, and I am deeply grateful. Thank you!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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You are making this simple issue too complicated.

Go to Control Panel - Device Manager - Sound, video and game controllers.

Delete everything there and restart

Dont run FIx It all programs for exactly this reason

Edited by Eyesee, 04 November 2024 - 08:56 PM.

With some research, I discovered that the official Fortect website uses an HTTP connection, which is very unusual in 2024 and is suspicious because HTTPS has already become a standard.

However, I will not download, install, and use Fortect or any similar software to test it because running such software usually causes more harm than good. And may require a clean OS install.

And as for the built-in system maintenance tools in Windows 10, I prefer running them manually as I see fit instead of using any automatic all-in-one optimization tools that I do not trust at all.

Of course, I use common sense when choosing what 3rd-party software I use, and there is also a great article on Why you should not use Registry Cleaners and Optimization Tools.

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Dear FiredUpIce, I went with your software recommendation instead of disabling the drivers (that would have been my next step), and after making sure to follow the specifics you were so kind to list for me (repair #1 #2  #3  #4  # 25  #26) my sound is back. How can I thank you? You rescued me from what seemed to be an impossible situation, and I am deeply grateful. Thank you!

 

 

 

Sweet! Yet these people are still going on about not running this or that, but it worked didn't it. Glad to help!! Have a good one.
 

Hi everyone, Jason here from Fortect.

Thank you for bringing up these concerns—I’m here to clarify and offer any support you need.

 

First, we’re genuinely sorry for the audio issues reported, and I understand how disruptive that can be. If any Fortect process unexpectedly impacted your audio, we apologize, and our support team is ready to help resolve it and improve.

 

Fortect is more than just a PC repair tool; we're a full suite of performance and security solutions focused on system stability and protection. To clarify, Fortect operates securely with HTTPS, and we’re independently developed with no affiliations to other brands. We offer a Microsoft-certified antivirus solution and are proud to be AMTSO and VirusBulletin certified. Our suite extends to mobile security and browser protection, with real-time scanning, data leak detection, and more.

 

We know that optimization tools can raise concerns, and we want to reassure you that Fortect prioritizes safe, certified repairs and security. If you have further questions or need help with any issues, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

 

We know that optimization tools can raise concerns, and we want to reassure you that Fortect prioritizes safe, certified repairs and security. If you have further questions or need help with any issues, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

Yeah but it didn't. You need to revise your disabling of certain services.