After sitting idle for 2 months I turned my second computer on and had a red-x by the speaker icon in the lower right hand part of the screen.There were no problems when I turned it off. I have Win-8.1 on this computer. When you hover the mouse over the icon it says "audio service not running".I have no sound.Things I have tried:
1)Device manager says 'This device operating properly".
2)Searched for driver updates.no luck.
3)Uninstalled drivers and re-started.No luck.
4)There are no yellow exclamation marks in the device manager.
5)Let it run its troubleshooting procedure. No luck
Any ideas?

See if the suggestion from "SIW2" here helps
https://www.eightforums.com/sound-audio/42831-audio-service-not-running-no-sound-please-help.html

This suggestion sounds very possible because when I turned it on after the long idle period it downloaded a huge windows update. The problem is the eightforums fix doesn't give enough info on how to find the file or how to do what they are saying. I would need more of a step by step and they only show a couple of screens and not how they got there. If part of this solution involves editing the registry I would want,(and need) more of a how to.

Geo, funny how I just had the same thing happen to me today. I'm working on two computers and one of them did the same exact thing - right on down your list - after I installed some new hardware. Nothing worked until I went in to the Device Manager and uninstalled the sound card. I rebooted and when Windows found the card, it reinstalled it and all started working perfectly.

It's worth a try anyway!

I don't have a sound card,at least I don't think so, I just have the Realtek audio system. I tried removing that and letting win-8.1 re-install it with no luck.I should say I removed the drivers and when I checked Reaktek was gone.

You do have a sound card/chip - it's just integrated into your motherboard. What I did was uninstall the card - in this case you would tell Device Manager to uninstall Realtek. I left the drivers intact. That way when it found the card, it also had the drivers there.

So do you have your Realtek listed in Device Manager again?

1).Yes when I restarted it must have re-installed it.Yes I know I have a chip,I thought you were talking about an actual card like a soundblaster.When I said no luck I should have said no change.
2).I found mmcss.dll in system32 as per eightforums suggested but when I go to delete it,it says I must have permission from the trusted installer to alter this file and wont let me delete it. How do I get around that? What the heck is that?

You don't delete the file.
You remove the MMCSS entry from the Multi-String of AudioSrv\DependOnService using regedit.

HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\services\AudioSrv\DependOnService

See his picture of the Edit Multi-String window.
https://www.eightforums.com/attachments/...lp-audiosrv.jpg

I'm guessing you get to the window by right-clicking on the DependOnService key (I think it's a key) under AudioSrv, but you may get to it through the regedit toolbar by highlighting DependOnService under AudioSrv, clicking Edit in the toolbar, and look for something about editing Multi-String. See if you can get the same window he has before you delete anything.

To make changes in regedit you have to run it as an Administrator.
Be sure to back up the registry before making changes.

That didn't work. Now the computer doesn't totally shut down. The screen goes off but the fans are still going after I hit shutdown. If there are no more ideas heres what I am going to do,I will either throw it off the balcony or I will upgrade it to win-10 since I hate this win-8.1 anyway. I will probably go with the upgrade.

Sorry the easy fix for me didn't work for you! You "might" get it to shut off all the way by turning off something called "fast startup." I've had to do it on a couple of computers. However, I would actually recommend that Windows 10 upgrade...

http://www.addictivetips.com/windows-tips/what-is-fast-startup-windows-8-disable-it/

I should have been more clear on the sound card/chip as either one was what I was talking about.

Sorry to hear SIW2's solution didn't help.
If the shutdown problem was caused by the registry edit, you should be able to restore the registry from the backup.

There is another solution described here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8fI6p6PHfc
He's got Windows 7, but it might work for later Windows too.
Also note the comment from "PerfectionHunter" if you get a "This Endpoint is a duplicate" error. Google
"Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 Control Panel Hangs/Freezes (Part 1 of 2)"

I fixed it. I tried a system restore with a very old restore point,the only ones available. That was unsuccessful, however when it was done I was provided with a couple of options. Clean the computer and keep your files or Clean the computer and delete your files. Since I didn't have much on this computer I chose the clean sweep. This involved inserting the installation disk and it went quickly. After it finished the red-x is gone and the computer shuts down properly. One minor inconvenience was that AVG and Malwarebytes were gone also but that is a quick fix.
-----------------------------------------------------------
EDIT- At one point during the system restore point action it said it was cleaning the registry and I don't know if that part stuck or if it was the options after the system restore that fixed it. I don't know if just because the system restore failed some parts were successful and stuck or what.

Well, thank heavens for a fix - however it worked!

If it needed the disc, it sounds like it did a type of re-install or system repair.
Maybe one of these options
https://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/2269-system-recovery-options-boot-windows-8-a.html

Saving personal files probably would not have mattered, since they don't have much to do with the OS itself. Mainly it's system files and registry that need a refresh.


In case you are interested, Avast bought AVG recently
https://www.the-parallax.com/2016/09/30/what-buyout-means-400-million-avast-avg-users-qa/

I am interested in everything you have to say Jenny100,you are my guru.

Me too, Geo!

April 1 ... ;p

Nah!

Hah !! It's April 2nd now so we can say "YES you are our Guru, Jenny100" without fear of not being taken seriously !!

Cheers.

Mad

Jenny100 is pretty darn smart, that is the truth!

I peruse the glitches forum every few weeks just on the off chance I have something to contribute (hah yeah right). But one thing can be said, there are the core glitch crew here at Gameboomers that always take the time to try and resolve any issue. jenny100, Mad, Draclvr, and others ... a big salute to you all.

THank you, lakerz.. we iz happy to help!

lakerz

Are you mistaking my name for MaG's ??

I'm not a techie in any sense of the word

Cheers.

Mad