When I call up the ASIO4all offline settings from my Start pane on my Windows 8, it say that the "Realtek HD Audio output" from the sound card on my Gateway desktop is available. When I start up Music Creator 6, go to Preferences > Devices and push the ASIO Panel button, now it says it's unavailable. I get no sound out when I try to play.
 
This is immediately after a restart, and Task Manager says that no other audio programs are running. All the drivers are allegedly up to date, according to the search for updates button in Properties of the sound device.
 
Anybody got any idea of what's going on? It suddenly started not working after it had been.

It is not unusual for the "ASIO Panel" button to malfunction and is not necessary for MC operationally. The button is a convenience feature that tries to launch whatever ASIO driver client software MC sees. As long as you configure the Audio Devices, Driver Settings and "Playback and Recording" Recording Mode appropriately, MC should work with ASIO4ALL. If you need to launch the ASIO4ALL client, just do it outside of MC, that is all the "ASIO Panel" button is trying to do anyway.