No Sound Events - HELP!

[Martin]

Still trying to figure out how to solve this problem without a re-install if
possible.

Windows XP Pro, SP2 + all updates

Sound events/system sounds (i.e. startup/shutdown/default/error,etc,etc)
stopped working but all other sounds, music, games, etc work fine so Sound
Card is OK. From within Control Panel -> Sounds you are unable to preview
the sounds as the "Play" button is greyed out even when you select a known
good sound file. Also other programs such as Yahoo Messenger with voice,
the voice part works fine (you can chat both ways) but the sounds like when
someone connects or comes on line or leaves you a voice message have stopped
working, same with other similar programs that use the default windows
device for some sounds. Also seems that some sound files wont play on
Windows Media or RealPlayer (i.e. they play but no sound) yet all other
files, all music files, etc, work fine!

I have already checked that the sound card is selected as the default
windows device, and that the sound card is working fine. Also checked
Windows Audio under "Services" and that is OK. Also have tried the remedies
at Kelly's Korner (Where did my sounds go?
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/top10faqs.htm ) so please don't suggest them
again - still no change. Also tried Google search but can't seem to narrow
it down to something relevant for this problem other than the above, which
didn't help!

Surely there must be a reason for these to suddenly disappear when all other
sounds are working fine!

Last resort I guess is to reinstall Windows or at the least a repair
install, but it was only a few months ago that I did a full fresh install to
remove all the crap on the HDD so I'm not really wanting to do that again
just yet if I can find another way to resolve this issue.

Thanks for any help you can give!

 

[Drew Tognola]

Martin,

Here's my two cents. Have you tried System File Checker? Worth a shot I
guess.

* insert WinXP-SP2 CD
* Start > Run > type sfc /scannow (note space bewteen sfc /), OK
* Scan should begin verifying files are in place & not corrupted

You might have tried this:
* open 'Sounds & Audio Devices' in Control Panel
* click into the 'Volume' tab > under 'Device Volume' heading, click
'Advanced'
* click 'Options' and click 'Advanced Options' (if not already checked),
* click 'Advanced'
* check 'Digital Output Only', click Close
* click 'Options' and click 'Properties',
* in 'playback', check all unchecked boxes, click OK
* make sure nothing is muted

Good Luck,
Drew

 

[Martin]

Martin,

Here's my two cents. Have you tried System File Checker? Worth a shot I
guess.

* insert WinXP-SP2 CD
* Start > Run > type sfc /scannow (note space bewteen sfc /), OK
* Scan should begin verifying files are in place & not corrupted

Hmm.. Keep getting this error:

"Windows File Protection could not initiate a scan of protected system
files" and "The specific error code is 0x000006ba [The RPC server is
unavailable]"

Yes I am the system Administrator...

Tried to reboot, press F8 and select Safe Mode (to log in as Administrator)
but the system gets to loading "Mup.sys" and freezes....

Not sure if any of that is connected to original problem, but.............

You might have tried this:
* open 'Sounds & Audio Devices' in Control Panel
* click into the 'Volume' tab > under 'Device Volume' heading, click
'Advanced'
* click 'Options' and click 'Advanced Options' (if not already checked),
* click 'Advanced'
* check 'Digital Output Only', click Close
* click 'Options' and click 'Properties',
* in 'playback', check all unchecked boxes, click OK
* make sure nothing is muted

Yep tried all that and all checks out OK, nothing muted or turned down. WAV
files play OK when manually selected and played in Media Player so the files
are OK and WAV sounds do play, just not as part of system or default sounds.

Even other programs that use the Windows default device to play system
sounds wont work - i.e. Yahoo Messenger no longer plays the default sounds
when a contact comes on line or an email arrives, and wont play recorded
voice messages, but it does work OK for normal voice contact.. Another
program (a ham radio voice contact program) works fine to chat by voice but
the system sounds when contacts connect and disconnect wont work..

Good Luck,
Drew

Looks more and more like a reinstall is in order, although I'd still like to
find out what caused the problem in case it happens again - not keen on
reinstalling Windows every time it gets a slight glitch! Other than system
sounds all else works fine!

Cheers