Thinkpad E440 - on screen indicator bars for brightness volume and other functions is missing

[freedda]

About a week ago the indicators which show volume, brightness and other function features disappeared. I can still turn these up and down, but don't have an indicator showing me the levels.

I'd like to know why this happened rather suddenly? And how can I fix it?  

Mod's Edit: System model added to front of Subject line to improve visibility / clarity.

[JakeSully]

mind if you write what laptop this is about? since if yours isnt a x series then you posted in wrong section.

[freedda]

cmy product info says 

20C50052US but I don't know what serices that is

[freedda]

About a week ago the indicator bar which shows what's happening with volume, brightness, and other functions disappeared, but the functions still work and can be changed. 

Besides adding Skpye and a conexant audio device apps, and usual windows updates, I don't think anything has changed? 

Why did the indicator disappear and how do I get it back? 

Mod's Edit: Merged this thread with existing discussion and moved everything to the correct forum.

[freedda]

found out it[s e series and posted there. sorry for mispost

Mod's Edit:  Merged all postings into one thread and moved everything to correct forum.

[freedda]

SEE BELOW - PROBLEM IS NOT SOLVED: Okay, so problem solved, though I'm not sure what I did exactly.

On the off chance that the conexant audio app was the problem, I uninstalled it. When windows rebooted, i got a message that I had no audio device and that windows was trying to fix the problem. To confirm this, I tried to watch somethng on Netflix and sure enough, no sound.

However, a moment later when i went back to Netflix, I had sound AND the indicator bars have returned, AND the audio device is on my laptop, showing that it was installed (could it be reinstalled?) today! 

[freedda]

Okay, so problem is not solved! I went back to the computer just now and without rythme or reason, the indicator bar is now NOT SHOWING UP!!!!! What is happening here? Why can't a seeming essential function of this computer work? 

Regards, David