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XP sound problem

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19 replies

by edvin15

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I have no sound when watching videos online(youtube.com)...or windows
startup, shutdown, or any other windows related sounds. ( error, email,
etc...)

I have sound when watching videos that are saved on my PC, I can play
games with sound, I can listen to streaming mp3's from di.fm using
windows media player. I can play mp3's just fine.

I've tried uninstalling reinstalling SB Live from device mgr...no luck.

I've tried using a different sound card, tried uninstall codecs in safe
mode, then reinstalling..no luck.

I've downloaded couple of reg fixes from
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm - didn't work.

any ideas?

Thanks,
ed

19 replies

by wynand.coetzee

Go to Sounds and Audio Devices under Control Panel
click on the Sounds tab, choose the Windows Default Sound Scheme and restart pc.
while you are there check speaker settings under Volume tab and choose your speaker setup under Advanced

by edvin15

it already says windows default. I tried changing it to something else, and back....didn't work.

problem I have, has something to do with midi playback. If you check the Audio tab, the 3rd device listed (midi) is blank. I try to select one of the listed options...but it doesn't keep the settings. I click apply, ok, close the windows reopen it...its blank again.

same thing goes for Voice playback under voice tab.

by wynand.coetzee

what sound device do you have ( ALC850, SB Live ...)
Did you try downloading and installing the latest drivers.
is it integrated on the motherboard? if so reinstall the mb chpset drivers and then the sound drivers
( uninstall them firts )

Do you use win xp, reinstall SP2 and then directx 9c
it go's like this 1) win xp, 2) sp2, 3) directx 9c, 4) mb chipset drivers, 5) sound drivers
It's just funny that you say the sound works in games and mp3's

by vanilladeath

I have exactly this problem. Windows sounds and any app that uses the Windows sound devices (instead of allowing you to specify any sound device) wont play, the options are stuck in a rather broken manner, no volume icon, uninstalled and reinstalled drivers countless times.

by dave

Go to settings ,control panel,admin tools. component services. Look for Windows Audio and make sure it is running startup should be set to automatic. Hope this helps, my computer was doing the same thing no audio but now works fine.

by rykerabel

Yes, i've tried that fix too, but still doesn't fix the issue i have.

only system sounds such as the "sound recorder" and the "sound and audio devices" in control panel do not play sound files such as *.wav. media player and other audio software work fine.

by edvin15

I have SB live! (WDM).

I tried downloading and installing latest drivers...didn't work. I have onboard sound, but when I try to install the drivers...it says that I do not have the correct chipset, and it stops the install. I've disabled onboard audio in bios.

SB live is a PCI card. Ill try reinstalling the apps you mentioned.

Thanks
Ed

by cindy.bonner

I, too, have this problem. It happened all of a sudden. I've tried uninstalling and re-installing drivers & checked all the settings, which are correct. Corporate IT, an IT friend & Dell are all working on it. Play button on Sound event tab is greyed out and you cannot change the midi from blank - it reverts back everytime. Someone said this could have been caused by a Windows update, but how do you know which one?
If anyone has any new ideas to try, please let me know.

by cindy.bonner

I finally found a solution. Someone mentioned that it happened after a Windows Update. I went back to a restore point and restored my system to a point about 3 weeks ago. IT WORKED! I now have sound and the play button is no longer greyed out in the Sound tab.

by rykerabel

That is not a solution. What hotfix caused the error? Was it a hotfix or was it actually something else done after that system restore backup point? How can this be fixed on systems with no system restore?

by rykerabel

Run Regedit
Go to HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Drivers32
check if the "wavemapper ... REG_SZ ... msacm32.drv" is missing
If it's there, stop because this is not the solution.
Right click and create anew string value
Name it wavemapper
Double click or edit it and give it the value msacm32.drv

by edwin_sanchez1234

I have also experienced the same problem just last night, but I have fix it now. I've tried to look on the control panel and change the settings on my Quicktime player. Please try this, it might work on your pc too. On the control panel, open the preferences of your quicktime, then click the audio tab, click the "select audio playback recording devices" then select the default default device and click ok. then try to play a youtube video. please email me if it works. thanks

by c.whitrow

Thanks, you are a God, or at least very clever :-). I don't know what Quicktime should have had to do with anything, but your solution worked first time (for me).

by alexchiu

As you can hear when download in the PC, there may be problem of the plugins installed in the browser.

You can uninstall the adobe flash player and then install it again from adobe home page to try

by thanhtran

Follow your idea, I went to control pannel and uninstalled the Adobe flash player software. That solved the problem. Firefox can still play youtube videos just fine. IE asks me to install the flash player again. But I'll leave it that way. I'm happy with firefox playing video with no problem. Before I uninstalled it, both IE and Firefox have problem. I'm wondering what truely caused this. I don't remember upgrading firefox to 3.0 first or flash first, but until recenly, my PC has had no problem with youtube.

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