Apparently, the issue is only present on Toshiba A215 models running 64bit Windows 7 with 4GB of memory. Toshiba is aware of the issue, although it is unknown as to if or when there will be a patch/update released to correct this. As a workaround, they are recommending users either downgrade their memory to 3GB or place their computer in hibernate instead of standby.

While I find this issue incredibly annoying, I’m not sure I want to bumped down my memory. My laptop has two 2 GB DIMMS, so unless I go out and purchase a 1GB stick of memory, I’m actually downgrading to 2GBs.   I’m not sure this is something I could live with given I routinely run virtual machines on my laptop and need as much memory as possible.

The hibernation work around is also out for me since I experience a hard lock a few minutes after coming out of hibernation.  The issue has been reported across other devices and doesn’t seem to be related to the standby issue.  According to Microsoft, it’s a known issue of bad drivers.  I have yet to test this, but plan on loading all the latest Windows 7 drivers for my laptop today to see if it makes a difference.

I guess the good news is the problem has been identified and there are other users experiencing the exact same issue, so hopefully they’ll release an update.

UPDATE 1/12/09: Just a quick follow-up on the Windows 7 hibernation issues I was experiencing.  I was able to correct these by downloading and installing all the latest Windows 7 drivers for my laptop.  Thankfully, I’m now able to use the hibernation work-around to get by the annoying standby audio/video issues.

I looked up the error message and was directed to this Microsoft article which I followed to the letter.  Unfortunately, it did little but blow my existing email profiles out of the water.  After setting up a new profile, I still continue getting the error.

After a bit more searching I came across the fix on a personal blog site (sorry, I no longer have the link).  The fix is to start Outlook from the run box by typing:

outlook.exe /resetnavpane

I have no idea what causes this issue and still experience it from time to time.  Fortunately, this fix seems to repair it every time.

This time around the install went much smoother and everything seemed to be detected and operational. I’m really digging the new interface including the taskbar, which I wasn’t too sure about at first.

All was chugging along well until my laptop went into standby. When it woke up, I discovered there was no sound. The systray speaker icon had a red X and an error message “No Audio Output Device is Installed” appeared when I hovered the cursor over it.

A reboot “fixes” the issue until the laptop goes into standby again. A few Google searches have turned up similar issues on other versions of Windows, but no solid fixes.

I tried a few different things, including updating the bios and installing the latest Realtek Windows 7 drivers. Both upgrades went well, but ultimately did not correct the problem.

At this point I’m at a loss. It’s almost as if the audio is shut down at standby, and Windows “forgets” to turn it back on during the wake up process. Misery loves company, so feel free to post in the comments if you’ve experienced similiar issues, or better yet, if you have a fix.

UPDATE:  Toshiba has released a number of BIOS updates to correct this issue (I’ve confirmed the fix works on my laptop).   Kudos to Toshiba for releasing a fix for this problem!