Error loading cmicnfg.cpl -- SOLUTION HERE!

[navyjax2]

This was an error I found on my computer that I did a search on the web for a quick and easy fix for. I found this forum that had my error and symptoms, but found no one had a solution. The thread was closed because the original poster had not responded to the posts in over a year, even though it sparked a lively discussion with others saying they had same problem (at which Daniweb admins kept scoffing! I say LET THEM POST! Even if they don't have an answer, knowing that others have the same issue and finding out how it was caused in each case can be very good and help toward a solution!). I thought that was @$$ and was what made me join this forum, to give those having this problem the answer they deserved and not the closed thread they got in return. Whataloadacrap.

Background: This error occurs after trying to uninstall the updated (and overrated) C-Media WDM Audio Driver for onboard sound that appears after upgrading to XP SP2 and/or going to WindowsUpdate. Likely the driver didn't work, so you tried uninstalling the driver and were going to put back the old Realtek AC'97 driver, but couldn't get rid of the updated driver.

To fix: Start, Run, type in "regedit" (no quotes), and delete the cmaudio string from
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run. This makes it so it will not run on startup and try to find the cpl file that was deleted during the uninstall or not installed correctly by the installer in the first place, whichever your case depending on when you started seeing the error. If your sound was working perfectly before this, you are done. To get your sound working again if it isn't, read on -

While still in the registry editor, click on the top computer icon in the Registry Editor to highlight it (so that it will do a complete search of the registry and not just from your present point forward), do a Find (Ctrl+F) and find and delete all KEYS related to cmaudio and C-Media, not just the string entries, but the KEYS, except for that entry in the Run key I mentioned above, just delete the cmaudio string for that one.

Delete the string "CMCPlus" from HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Control Panel\Cpls to get rid of the Control Panel icon, and delete the file it points to that resides in C:\Windows\System32.

Download this remove utility from

http://ekiis.com/Freesoft/binary/remove11.zip

and run the file you find in the zip file - it can be ran without extracting it from the zip. Take out the C-Media Audio Driver line.

-- NOTE: This utility is for taking the name out of the Add/Remove Programs section only, and does not remove it from your computer, but it is very useful for issues like this when we are MANUALLY uninstalling a program to take it out of the Programs list and should work in 98/ME/2000/XP.

Delete these files from the C:\Windows\System32 directory (or "System" directory for Win98)

cmirmdrv.exe
cmirmdrv.dll
cmuda.dll

Delete everything you can readily delete in C:\Temp, C:\WINDOWS\prefetch (XP only), C:\WINDOWS\Temp, and C:\Documents and Settings\%YourName%\Local Settings\Temp (2000 and XP only), so that there will not be any files left for it to try to recover the driver from. You will likely have to leave things that start with hsperfdata_ and Perflib_Perfdata_***.dat files if you find them, but should be able to delete most others without changing attributes.

Now open the Device Manager (Right-click "My Computer", hit "Manage", then find Device Manager in the Computer Management console). Right-click the C-Media WDM driver under Sound, video, and game controllers, hit Uninstall. Then right-click the top computer icon listed there with your hostname beside it, hit "Scan for hardware changes". It should install a generic "Multimedia Audio Controller" instead of the "C-Media WDM Audio Driver", though you might see that C-Media Audio for just an instant before it reverts back to a generic driver (if it stays, you'll have to go back through the registry again, delete the system files again, and do a full search of your hard drive for those files so they don't get re-copied again). From here you can download your specific Realtek AC'97 Audio Driver setup.exe file here or use your motherboard's installation CD to re-install and you should have sound again.

Good luck.

[navyjax2]

Forgot to mention: Must delete cmuda.dll from C:\Windows\System32\drivers as well. And that was supposed to be Cmcpls in the other post for the "Cpls" section, not CMCPlus - wrote that kinda hurridly, but hopefully you all could figure it out.

Side note --- I have found that on a computer with muliple users with this issue that, when they log in, the C-Media driver kicks in again, and this fix won't work on their side of the fence, though your side that you started all this on and fixed will work fine. You would have to try to find out where the cab file or whatever it downloaded into/as and delete that for this to work, as it's obviously still pulling that C-Media driver from SOMEWHERE - I haven't found it yet, as I thought it would have been in one of those Temp locations - always good to delete those out from time to time, anyway. I don't know if I'll waste my time with it or if I will find it, since it's just me and my wife and it's just her side that's messed up now, and she has her own computer and doesn't log into mine very often :cool: . Have some other things SP2 messed up that I think I'm gonna just fix with a re-install rather than taking the weeks to find one cab file that has what I'm looking for, but thought I'd pass on the warning to not expect a complete recovery for other users on the computer, unless someone else has a better answer... Best of luck.

[navyjax2]

Obviously check to see if cmicnfg.cpl is in C:\Windows\System32 and C:\Windows\LastGood, and delete it if it is. I deleted everything in C:\Windows\System32\ReinstallBackups, but to no avail. Sound is still good on my side, though :-) .

[navyjax2]

FIXED - for both users! But you guys aren't gonna like it 'cause I think I got real lucky.

OK, made sure all files were deleted and registry entries gone, right? Do the Device Manager "Scan for hardware changes", but I had C:\WINDOWS\System32 open at the same time. Saw it putting in those @#$% C-Media files again - cmuda.dll, cmirmdrv.exe, cmirmdrv.dll. Deleted them as soon as they appeared. C-Media could not finish installing. Left me with what I needed, the generic "Multimedia Audio Driver" with an exclamation point that I wanted. Immediately ran setup.exe for Realtek AC'97, rebooted, and works great.

[kenputer]

THANK YOU!

Very thorough answer. I did my usual Patch Tuesday updates and when done, NO SOUND!

AARGH.

got it working again by rolling back driver in device manager but this error lingered on every boot up since then.

[jwshepherd]

I'm sure your vigilance has helpa number of people, Thanks.

[navyjax2]

I'm glad to hear I helped someone out, and for the good comments. I'm just glad, as well, that I was able to get it working again for myself! Of course it's always good to share the wealth. Keep up the good fight. Tom

[yarnos]

I have spent 2 days trying to remove this error from my computer. :mad: I have followed all details as above remove all registry files <cmcpls>,<c-media>,<cmaudio> and all system files cmirmdrv,cmuda. Unistalled all software from the add remove program. I have carried out searches on system for any programs left on the system called Realtek,C-audio,c-media,advace 97 and the search comes back all clear. Cleared all temp folders.I restart computer then the error shows up again.
What is causing this nusiance error to come up? :?: PLS HELP!!!!

[navyjax2]

Quick summary:

- Delete the cmaudio string from
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run. This will get rid of the error on startup, but only because you're taking the command it uses to load this driver at startup out, thus preventing it from loading at startup. This part is a cosmetic fix, essentially.

- Do a Find in the registry (Start, Run, regedit) for all keys related to cmaudio and C-Media and delete them. Delete the string Cmcpls from HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Control Panel\Cpls to get rid of the Control Panel icon.

- Delete the files

C:\WINDOWS\System32\cmirmdrv.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\cmirmdrv.dll
C:\WINDOWS\System32\cmuda.dll
C:\WINDOWS\System32\cmicnfg.cpl
C:\WINDOWS\System32\Drivers\cmuda.dll
C:\WINDOWS\System32\LastGood\cmicnfg.cpl

- Download this remove utility from

http://ekiis.com/Freesoft/binary/remove11.zip

and run the file you find in the zip file - it can be ran without extracting it from the zip. Take out the C-Media Audio Driver line.

Reminder: This utility is for taking the name out of the Add/Remove Programs section only, and while it can be used for other programs in this way, it removes it from the program list ONLY and doesn't actually remove the program. But it is nice for something like this. (98/ME/2000/XP)

- Go to your Device Manager (right-click "My Computer", hit "Manage", then find Device Manager in the Computer Management console). Right-click the C-Media WDM driver under Sound, video, and game controllers, hit Uninstall. At this point, open up the C:\WINDOWS\System32 folder, make sure there are no blank spaces (View -> Arrange Icons By -> Name) so that any driver files that may get copied don't end up anywhere but at the bottom of the folder once you hit refresh during the re-installation.

- Tricky fail-safe re-installation: Right-click the top computer icon in the Device Manager, hit "Scan for hardware changes". You will need to hit refresh in the C:\WINDOWS\System32 folder window (right-click in the window, hit Refresh) CONSTANTLY during this installation. The files cmuda.dll, cmirmdrv.exe, cmirmdrv.dll may start appearing in C:\WINDOWS\System32 at the bottom of the folder, but MAY show up alphabetically. Delete them as soon as they appear - VERY IMPORTANT! You'll need to delete these immediately in order to head off the installation BEFORE it completes.

- C-Media should not be able to finish installing. It should leave you with the generic "Multimedia Audio Driver" with an exclamation point.

- New Note: Go back through the registry to verify the C-Media, cmaudio, and cmcpls entries have not returned, and delete any if they have.

- As long as you have the generic "Multimedia Audio Driver", run the setup.exe for Realtek AC'97 and it should install correctly.

- You'll need to do these steps for each user on the computer. Sorry, best I can do right now on that one....

[navyjax2]

You may ask, if the entries are mostly back but you have the "Multimedia Audio Driver" now, what the point was of removing the registry entries in the first place if you were just going to have to delete the entries again when all you had to do was to delete 3 files to prevent the installation from completing. The reason was to buy you time to delete those 3 files before the installation completes, because it takes no time at all for those files to copy.

- As long as you have the generic "Multimedia Audio Driver", run the setup.exe for Realtek AC'97 and it should install correctly.

- You'll need to do these steps for each user on the computer.

Deleting the temp files I mentioned didn't seem to have much effect on this issue, but I put it in just in case before. It can be done or skipped, and can try it with or without.

Sorry, I haven't been able to figure out how to get a driver Windows has in its driver list OUT of that driver list once it has been added. As with any manufacturer, if you install their drivers, Windows remembers them and keeps them in its list from then on and will access that list when trying to install/re-install devices. I don't know how to remove them from it, so this is the best I can do. Maybe someone else knows where that driver record is kept, but it's not in the registry from what I can tell.

It maybe that it simply reads the driver .ini files in the C:\WINDOWS\Inf folder or somewhere to create the list, and just a matter of finding the one and deleting it and its associated PNF file, but it's not among the obvious WDM .ini files, nor does it start with "cm" if it is in the Inf folder, and I don't really have the time right now to look at each .ini to find out where it's pulling its data. Maybe do an "all-files" search of your hard drive for "*.ini" (no quotes) and open them to see what device they're for. That's as much as I can say on that, so that's the reason for my procedure of trying to head of the installation before it completes. When I have more time I may do this myself and post up my findings again. But hopefully it should work if you do everything in order and your timing is right.

[Jemton]

HI there,

I thought you guys would be interested in the quick fix I found on the net RE: loss of sound (due to the upgrade to c-media audio driver via windows update) and the recovery of your old RealTek AC 97 driver.

http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=248586#comments

I was up and running in two minutes. Hope it helps,

Jemton. :cheesy:

[Jerry Ochs]

Thanks a million. This problem drove me close to the brink of madness.
You saved me, the computer, and the window from destruction.
Now I owe the group one, so I hope somebody somewhare has a problem I can help them solve.
If they are running Microsoft, I probably won't have to wait long.

J O

[kaizboutique]

Thank You For Solving This Problem - I Fixed 3 Of My Pc's

Why Doesnt C-media Put This Info Or A Patch On Their Site!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Will This Problem Ever Come Back And What Causes It?

Thanks Again

[Arfermo]

Its all very well resolving the problem when it is in XP but once you have done so why not go and do a Windows XP back-up into a nominated separate partition, preferably on a second HD. Partition Magic 8 is best and easiest for partitioning drives in a sensible fashion and it does much else besides - I'd be lost without it. Once you have the back-up stored away, anything that goes wrong can be easily corrected - back-up your own stuff onto a CD or two or three if you can first so that you can update the XP back-up. When using the back-up facility I would advise electing to choose what to back up rather than letting it rip. It is better than the restore function and overrides it in fact. I offer this advice from personal experience with the specific problem in this thread.

[navyjax2]

Just wanted to comment on that one post a few posts back, referencing a post that referenced an Experts-Exchange solution, for Win98. The solution on that site was to figure out your sound card model and get and install the drivers for it. Well thing is, I would think they wouldn't install after you have the C-Media ones installed - even on Win98 you should have to remove the C-Media ones first. Hopefully those with XP will know that if they did this, it would just find and install the drivers again, so it isn't that simple in XP, so you have to do it in such a way that XP won't put back the C-Media drivers before you get the chance to install your model's previous driver. My way does that, even if a bit tedious - believe me, I tried it their way when I was trying to figure this one out and it didn't work, so hopefully those with XP will know to not follow the Win98 solution, as XP would always put back the C-Media drivers. Win98 doesn't, and so it's a little easier. I didn't go the hard road for no reason.

That said, the idea of having XP installed on a separate partition or hard drive in the same computer is a great idea to take care of issues like this, though you don't necessarily need Partition Magic to do it unless you want a smaller area than the entirety of a second hard drive or smaller than the rest of a single hard drive partitioned - but otherwise, just pop in an XP CD while booted up in XP - it will ask you during the setup where to install it. I have done it on another computer, just not the one with this sound issue. If you can boot from a 3rd medium, like a Bart PE disc (www.nu2.nu), you could copy the system32 directory from the good to the bad with no issues, as long as you had every application that you had installed on the bad one also installed on the good one. Otherwise you'd have some programs that will have files, but no registry entries, and so will no longer work and will need to be re-installed. Without a PE disc you could still do it: copy the files from the good to the bad, but put them in a temp directory. Boot into the good side, then copy the files out of the temp directory into the Windows directory. More cumbersome, but effective nonetheless. Good post.

[mratlfla]

I want to THANK YOU FOR SOLUTION, I was soooo tired of that pop up at startup. It put me back in control without erorr now. all I need to do was go to reg and delete the three files CMaudio, C-media and Cmcplus.

[navyjax2]

Not a problem, thanks for the praise. I just hope you uninstalled the C-Media driver and re-installed your old one and did a reboot to be sure C-Media didn't come back - I thought I had beat this one a couple of times before my final solution, only to find it come back on me after a reboot. If you had sound the entire time, but just had the startup error, all you had to do was delete the cmaudio string in HKLM\Software\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run.

But this is something XP will always do when you log on, for those that may be wondering why it always re-installs at startup, is a hardware detection. If any driver files are missing for devices it detects, if it has the files, it will reload the files (if it doesn't have them, it prompts you to tell it where they are). Usually this is good. In this case, if the C-Media wasn't working, it can be bad, if C-Media is removed without re-installing a good driver, since XP will be auto-reloading bad files. But if C-Media was working, just giving the cmicnfg.cpl error, just get rid of the Run string for cmaudio to keep it from checking for that on startup and giving the error, as the driver itself is good. Anyway, glad I could help.

[Arfermo]

I still think PM8 is worth the money, especially as large/second HDDs are the norm these days. But I am now more interested in AdawareSE set-up. I thought somebody in this thread gave a detailed set-up but I cannot trace it as it was perfect for me and I want to copy it out for posterity. Any feedback out there?

[peterwiggins]

:cheesy: THANK YOU!!! I'm NO expert but followed navyjax2's instructions and all fixed :cool:

[Oranger37]

I followed as many steps as i could to delete everything
I went through regedit and deleted all strings and traces
Now, i dont use my on-board sound, i use my sound card, my sound works fine but the damn error messege on boot is annoying as all hell
I went into BIOS and disabled all on-board properties, and drivers, but still get the error messege
I went into msconfig and unchecked it, but it just comes back up

can anyone help me?

[LoveDoc]

Finally got rid of that annoying error message (thanks) but have encountered a rather strange problem. In my profile only I have "lost" the windows program events in the sounds and audio devices window and therefore have no logon or logoff sounds (although that may be a blessing in disguise), etc. - any ideas?

[Oranger37]

Finally got rid of that annoying error message (thanks) but have encountered a rather strange problem. In my profile only I have "lost" the windows program events in the sounds and audio devices window and therefore have no logon or logoff sounds (although that may be a blessing in disguise), etc. - any ideas?

i wood try re-installing ur service pack, if u run 1 or 2....

[d-quik]

Forgot to mention: Must delete cmuda.dll from C:\Windows\System32\drivers as well. And that was supposed to be Cmcpls in the other post for the "Cpls" section, not CMCPlus - wrote that kinda hurridly, but hopefully you all could figure it out.

Side note --- I have found that on a computer with muliple users with this issue that, when they log in, the C-Media driver kicks in again, and this fix won't work on their side of the fence, though your side that you started all this on and fixed will work fine. You would have to try to find out where the cab file or whatever it downloaded into/as and delete that for this to work, as it's obviously still pulling that C-Media driver from SOMEWHERE - I haven't found it yet, as I thought it would have been in one of those Temp locations - always good to delete those out from time to time, anyway. I don't know if I'll waste my time with it or if I will find it, since it's just me and my wife and it's just her side that's messed up now, and she has her own computer and doesn't log into mine very often :cool: . Have some other things SP2 messed up that I think I'm gonna just fix with a re-install rather than taking the weeks to find one cab file that has what I'm looking for, but thought I'd pass on the warning to not expect a complete recovery for other users on the computer, unless someone else has a better answer... Best of luck.

oh yeah thanks for wasting my file, me deleting that important file, and also thanks for leaving the multiple users part LAST

asshole

[navyjax2]

Important files? They get re-installed when you run the Realtek AC'97 Audio installer.

If you can't get it working under the logon user that had it mess up as, you probably don't have the right Realtek installer - there are multiple types even for this same driver - Device Manager won't show you the difference - I also found that out the hard way. You basically should go to your computer manufacturers site & download the sound driver for your model there. Takes the guess work out of it.

As for that "asshole" part, if you were so smart, you'd be posting up things to help people as I am trying to do, instead of insulting those that are just trying to help because you didn't read a post thoroughly. Issues like these that are really in-depth and get into the registry and system file structure should never been done whimsically without reading everything in the post first, so your comment that I conveniently left the multiple user part at the end really shows a lack of good common sense, that you're complaining about it. I didn't find out about that part myself until I posted it, where and when I posted it. Be glad I at least thought to add it.

[auggief]

I did all the things in the registry etc to get rid of C-Media. I have an American Megatrends mother board 07.00t 04/02/01 ECS K7S5A 1.0. The sound card is built in and is a SiS 7012 which I install from the motherboard CD under codec 635.
I have sound on my computer except for the .wav files that control Windows Start up, Shutdown etc. I have everything set up in Sounds & Audio in the control panel and when I test them, they play. However when I actually startup or shutdown they don't play. I unstalled the SiS 7012 audio driver and resinstalled it from the Motherboard CD but still no music. I can play midi files in media player. I am comfortable with software but know nothng about hardware and very little about drivers.
Since I have the SiS 7012 audio driver, can I install Realtek AC'97 also and will that get my sounds working?
When store built computer it had 89SE. Later I had him format and put on XP SP2. Sounds worked fine.
I believe I screwed up when I went into device manger and tried to update SiS 7012 sound driver and got C-media on my machine. As mentioned, I did all the thhings you said to do in the registry and reinstalled the SiS 7012 driver. My computer works just fine including sounds from email attachments, microphone etc. The only thing that doesn't work are the .wav files in sound audio when I start up and shutdown. They do work when I test them in audio and sounds in control panel.

[navyjax2]

Maybe you could check your sound scheme to make sure there is a logon and logoff sound selected for your profile. Long shot, but good to check: Control Panel, Sounds and Audio Devices, Sounds tab. Select "Windows Default" in that drop-down box. You can even scroll in that "Program Events" box for a "Start Windows" sound under the "Windows" category, select it and hit the Play button and see if it plays. Even if it doesn't, you could hit Apply and OK, and reboot and see if it works after that. If not, you can go back to that "Start Windows" sound and hit "Browse" and replace it with a sound that does work, perhaps.

Since you are able to play some sounds, just not the logon or logoff one, it doesn't sound like it's the sound driver to me. If you did want to try it if nothing else works, though, I'd say to uninstall your current sound driver from Add/Remove Programs and the Device Manager, and download the SiS driver from their site and forego the motherboard CD -

You can go to http://www.sis.com/download/, click on Audio Driver, SiS 7012, then your OS, and hit "Go", then click the link for the driver, then hit download.

[auggief]

Scheme is set at default and "all" windows sounds play when tested in audio/sounds in control panel. Just don't play when the event happens. Since things worked using Motherboard CD originally and sounds other than the windows sounds work, you must be right that it is not the sound driver. I guess I will just live without the windows sounds.

[navyjax2]

Take a look at this: http://groups.google.com/group/microsoft.public.win2000.general/browse_thread/thread/b61c922d599cae49/1a598fce8f80f60f?lnk=st&q=Windows+logon+sound+does+not+play&rnum=3&hl=en#1a598fce8f80f60f.

I actually doubt it has to do with TweakUI, for them or for you, as I've ran that great utility from Microsoft just fine, but the people involved were running W2K and not XP, which is what TweakUI was made for (XP). I'm not altogether certain all the different stuff involved, for them or for you, but I do know how to get your logon/logoff sounds working again.

It sounds like the profile, or perhaps more specifically, perhaps just the ntuser.dat file has become corrupted. A new profile and profile migration is in order.

Go to the registry. Your key you will be looking for is HKLM\Software\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList. Find the key in there that corresponds with your present/old username (click on the subkeys there, check the path in the right-hand-side window, look for C:\Documents and Settings\usernamehere). Delete your present username's key, but ONLY that key - and note, you will be unable to log into your computer with that account - if it's the only one on the machine besides the built-in "Administrator", you may want to create another admin account before my next step I'm giving and log into that instead of Safe Mode as I'm describing. Reboot. Start up in Safe Mode by hitting F8 just after your motherboard BIOS finishes, choose Safe Mode from the menu. This way you can be logged in as "Administrator" and out of your old profile, and don't have to create any unnecessary profiles/accounts on the machine. Rename your old profile's folder in C:\Documents and Settings from something like, auggief to auggief.old, for instance, if auggief were your profile folder there. Reboot and log in like you normally do (automatic log in should work the same as it did before now that your old folder is renamed). Turn on hidden folders (Tools, Folder Options, View tab, Show hidden files and folders in a Windows Explorer window). Open up two Explorer windows side-by-side, one to, for example, C:\Documents and Settings\auggief and one to C:\Documents and Settings\auggief.old. You will want to copy the following folders' contents from these old folders into the new folders: Application Data, Cookies (only if you have saved passwords for websites, otherwise I'd forget these), Desktop, (My) Documents, Favorites, (My) Recent(s) (Documents), NetHood, SendTo, Start Menu, Templates. Parenthesis are because sometimes the names are a little different depending on the configuration (Domain vs. Local account, Pro vs. Home Edition or W2K). Then you will want to go into the Local Settings folder and grab just the Application Data and maybe your History folder if you care about links being purple instead of blue that you've been to before, and copy it to the same place in the new profile. Don't copy anything but those folders - you should be leaving behind the UserData, WINDOWS, ntuser.dat, ntuser.dat.LOG, and maybe some miscellaneous other small files there. You can then delete your old "auggief.old" account folder in Documents and Settings. Hopefully that should work/help if you were able to follow.

If this helps you or anyone else, please feel free to donate at http://hometown.aol.com/navyjax2 or http://hometown.aol.com/navyjax2/donate.htm. Thanks.

[auggief]

I created another user and sure enough I got the music sounds. So I guess the Tweak UI might have done it to my XP. I need to study your answer so that I do it right in the registry or I guess I can so the safe mode and stay out of the registry. Many thanks. I have already deleted the new user I created to see if music would play.

[auggief]

I went into safe mode and used Adminstrator to log in. I need to ask if I rename auggief to auggiefold and restart, I will then be in regular mode and assume that everything will be there from auggief. I would rather do without the music then lose my current setup with auggief . Are you saying that when I restart, and go into Doc & Settings I will show two profiles, auggief and auggiefold. It that is correct, then I do the split screen thing and copy and paste the files as you instructed. Sorry, but I am not comfortable with something this technical.