Solved Flashing Mute symbal

Problem statement: I've been getting a mute symbol over the past couple of days. It shows up on the Desktop and on top of applications. In other words, it shows up on the left side of the screen regardless what apps are running or what is being displayed on the screen.

The symbol appears for about a second, then disappears for about a second, and the on/off pattern repeats.

My system is actually not muted. This Mute symbol appears regardless whether the system is muted or not. The symbol is present even after restarting the system.

I cannot click on the Mute icon. If I try to click on it, the click takes action on whatever is behind the Mute icon.

Can you capture a screenshot of it?
The look of it might give some hints as to it's origin..., device related, Windows related, app related, etc.

This thread is nearly identical to this one…

yep and i copied the message froma earlier thread thaty had the same promlem the poster fininished by saying he figured it out but did not post as to hopw he did it

Does your monitor have the capability for built in speakers? I have a Samsung monitor that can come with speakers or without and even though mine is without, I can still go into the monitor setting via osd and “mute” the nonexistent speakers, which shows an overlay on my monitor display.

hey dacrone as soon as i turned off my pc i realized what the problem was. as you said i have a samsung monitor as well and with the pc off there was the flashing mute on the monitor all i had to do was hit the mute off/on button for the monitor. did not realize i had hit that button. thanks everybody that responded