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Why don't I have an on-screen volume indicator?

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I am running Windows XP home edition on a new Gateway notebook (Model MX7515). My Gateway desktop and older laptop both indicate the volume on the screen by showing green vertical bars (the same as on most TVs). My new notebook changes the volume while pressing the increase and decrease buttons on the keyboard, but there are no green vertical bars on my screen, so I don't know how high or low the volume is.

Those on-screen displays are kinda handy. I have something similar on my desktop, including the volume up/down controls on my keyboard. Quite nice.

But on my laptop? No such luck. I'm in the same boat you are.

The "problem" is that those volume indicators are not part of Windows. They're actually added by some of the additional software installed on your machine. Typically they're installed by the keyboard software for keyboards that include volume controls.

Things get a little more complicated with laptops, because they may have dedicated volume control keys, or they may have key-combinations that perform the same function. The manufacturer of the keyboard software may, or may not, elect to include an on-screen display.

"The 'problem' is that those volume indicators are not part of Windows."

It gets even more confusing, because when you purchase the same type of equipment from the same manufacturer, you might expect it to have the same feature set. Two laptops from Gateway, for example, separated by a couple of years, for example. Unfortunately, that's not always the case. Even within models separated by less time, manufacturers are typically always on the look-out for better or less expensive hardware components, and if it doesn't make a substantial difference in functionality, even the same model of machine might come with different, though similar, components from several manufacturers. And needless to say, the supporting software included with those components might be different.

The only real advice I have is to check the control panel applets for both your keyboard and sound card. Look around for options that might control the on-screen display. There are so many different manufacturers that it's possible that some allow you some control, and perhaps default it off.

Past that, I'd check with the manufacturer's support to find out if your specific model even has this feature.

Related:

Article 9990 | Posted March 6, 2006

Recent Comments

That Dell Quickset tip sorted my OSD problems on my Inspiron 6000. Hadn't worked for ages and Dell Support were totally useless. Cheers guys!

Posted by: Rich at October 28, 2007 06:17 AM

if you have an Acer notebook you need to reinstall the Launch Manager...you do this by going to the Acer program "Empowering Technology"

start this program & click on eRecovery Management...type in the default password which is six zeros...click enter

on the next screen click the button that says "Recovery actions: blah,blah,blah" and click next...

on the next screen click the button for reinstall applications/drivers and click next

a window should pop up that has three things you can click on...contents, install, and guide...click on install

on the next screen you will see Windows XP on the left side of the screen...click that to expand it (works like a folder tree)...next click utility...then click launch manager...then click Install Launch Manager Now

it will ask you to restart...go ahead and restart and it should restore the "on screen volume display."

worked for me, hopefully it will work for you.

Posted by: sg at October 30, 2007 01:21 PM

Here is EXACTLY what everyone is looking for:

http://kamburov.net/index.php?/content/view/19/26/

It is linked as a .GIF but it is really a .ZIP

Right click and 'Save as' to your desktop, and then rename the supposed .GIF to a ZIP file and unzip it. You can install the files anywhere, then just put a shortcut to the .EXE file in your startup folder and you will have an on-screen volume indicator that was originally part of Microsoft's Media Center. The whole thing is less than 75Kb and the ONLY thing it does is display the volume in a green bar-graph at the bottom of the screen and also displays the word MUTE when the sound is muted.

Posted by: kevin foster at December 30, 2007 12:46 PM

I have a similar but diffirent "problem" - I want to get RID of the green indicators (volume and mute...) pleeeeeze...

Posted by: Jonas at January 7, 2008 01:58 AM

Well Jonas, I know how to get RID of it by mistake! I turned off some "services" using services.msc to free up system resources (based on some on-line recommendations) and it's gone. As soon as I figure out which one did it, and get it back, I'll post it. :-) I'm running XP media center 2005.

Posted by: Dennis at February 27, 2008 07:34 AM

I was disabling services and startup programss and accedently disabled ehtray.exe but now I put it back and it works great! Thanks!!

Posted by: a at March 19, 2008 11:55 PM

I used to have on screen volume control on my HD TD,thru Time Warner, then it's freakin gone. Is there some magic way of resetting it? I have tried everything they suggested,from one of those sweat shops in India, they may have told me, but who can understand? I'll buy TWO Lattes. Thanks, Larry

Posted by: Larry Bean at June 8, 2008 11:49 PM

I still have NO answer to my problem! I have an HD tv, thru Time Warner Cable. How do I re-code something, to get the on-screen volume cont. that I used to have? Help me, and the Joe will come.

Posted by: Larry Bean at June 9, 2008 04:44 AM

Thanks, I seem to have one of the only Dells which doesn't have a quickset app for it, but the IntelliType worked like a charm! The version I got was the 6.1 and I selected the Wired Keyboard 500 and it worked! Thanks!

Posted by: Jon Marinaro at June 30, 2008 04:17 PM

This is not big deal, I mean , if you have the controls in windows, why I need do I need a bar to see the volume??????? I don't understand the consumer point of view and I never will.

Posted by: The Tech at September 16, 2008 03:00 PM

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