Windows sounds

[Bogey Man]

Operating system Vista Home Premium 64.

Windows sounds suddenly don't play. All I get is a click but no sound.

Any ideas?

No new installations.

 

[Eric]

Operating system Vista Home Premium 64.

Windows sounds suddenly don't play. All I get is a click but no sound.

Any ideas?

No new installations.

I'm assuming sound used to play?
I'm assuming you checked Windows Volume controls and sound level is turned
up and is not muted?
Are you using external speakers? If not, can you try some? If so, I assume
you unplugged and can't get volume from internal speakers either?
Is this a desktop or laptop?
So many potential issues, from the sound setup to the sound drivers to the
sound card to the speakers. Try to eliminate as many as possible.

 

[Jon]

Operating system Vista Home Premium 64.

Windows sounds suddenly don't play. All I get is a click but no sound.

Any ideas?

No new installations.

A 'click' also falls under the category of being a sound.

 

[Eric]

A 'click' also falls under the category of being a sound.

When OP said "get" and "click" I assume they meant from the mouse. If
Windows makes a clicking sound when you click the mouse, it's working
properly, unless you clicked on something which is supposed to produce a
different sound.

 

[Jon]

When OP said "get" and "click" I assume they meant from the mouse. If
Windows makes a clicking sound when you click the mouse, it's working
properly, unless you clicked on something which is supposed to produce a
different sound.

Quite possible / true. Either way, checking the current sound scheme would
probably be worthwhile.

Control Panel > Sound > Sounds (tab)

 

[Bogey Man]

A 'click' also falls under the category of being a sound.

Every sound isn't a "click" and that is what I am getting.

 

[Bogey Man]

Quite possible / true. Either way, checking the current sound scheme would
probably be worthwhile.

Control Panel > Sound > Sounds (tab)

None of the sounds in the Windows Sounds will play. All I get is a click
sound from the speakers when a sound is selected and the Test button is
clicked on with the mouse. All other sounds (wav files) play properly ...
just the Windows sounds for alerts etc don't play.

 

[Eric]

None of the sounds in the Windows Sounds will play. All I get is a click
sound from the speakers when a sound is selected and the Test button is
clicked on with the mouse. All other sounds (wav files) play properly ...
just the Windows sounds for alerts etc don't play.

That sounds like it would be a problem with the speakers. Are these the
internal or external speakers? Have you tested with other speakers
(headphones should work as well)?

 

[Bogey Man]

That sounds like it would be a problem with the speakers. Are these the
internal or external speakers? Have you tested with other speakers
(headphones should work as well)?

I have tested 2 other sets of speakers as well as the head phones and it is
the same result for all of them.

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

That sounds like it would be a problem with the speakers. Are these the
internal or external speakers? Have you tested with other speakers
(headphones should work as well)?

Note that Bogey Man said "All other sounds (wav files) play properly".

I wish I could help. I just played around a bit with my sound settings, but
I couldn't find a way to make the Test button fail while the wav files play
OK otherwise.

Have you tried playing the files in Windows Sounds using Media Player or
your favorite audio player? Maybe those files, and only those files, have
been corrupted. Somehow...

 

[Bogey Man]

I'm assuming sound used to play?
I'm assuming you checked Windows Volume controls and sound level is turned
up and is not muted?
Are you using external speakers? If not, can you try some? If so, I
assume you unplugged and can't get volume from internal speakers either?
Is this a desktop or laptop?
So many potential issues, from the sound setup to the sound drivers to the
sound card to the speakers. Try to eliminate as many as possible.

The Windows Sound Scheme sounds used to play perfectly. I have used 3
different sets of speakers plus headphones without any change. I just get
clicks instead of the selected tone. All other sound files play perfectly
with more than ample volume.

This is a desktop with external speakers. Nothing is muted or set at a low
volume (as I said before, ALL other sounds are normal. It is just the
Windows Sound Scheme files that are acting up.) Heck, they even play
normally if I use Windows Media Player to play them.

 

[Eric]

Note that Bogey Man said "All other sounds (wav files) play properly".

I wish I could help. I just played around a bit with my sound settings,
but
I couldn't find a way to make the Test button fail while the wav files
play
OK otherwise.

Have you tried playing the files in Windows Sounds using Media Player or
your favorite audio player? Maybe those files, and only those files, have
been corrupted. Somehow...

Ah, I must've misread that. I thought the OP was saying all sounds produce
just a 'click'.

If you can play other sounds (like through WMP) and they come out fine, but
only "windows alerts" sounds don't come out right, can you restore all
Windows sounds from Windows setup/control panel? Is there a one click
option to reload or would you have to copy them all in manually? It sounds
like those particular sound files are corrupted.

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

Ah, I must've misread that. I thought the OP was saying all sounds produce
just a 'click'.

If you can play other sounds (like through WMP) and they come out fine, but
only "windows alerts" sounds don't come out right, can you restore all
Windows sounds from Windows setup/control panel? Is there a one click
option to reload or would you have to copy them all in manually? It sounds
like those particular sound files are corrupted.

Exactly as I said above, in my last (complete) sentence. It's the only
thing I can think of - but *please* don't ask me how that might have
happened

Aside to Bogey man - find a wav file that works, copy it into the same
folder as the system sounds, and assign it to some event. Now see if you
get that sound properly. Choose a short sound - Beethoven's Ninth is too
long

If that works, the other files there are corrupt; if not, something is
messed up in the logic used by Windows to find those sound files. Of
course, you could test the other system sounds directly in your favorite
player, as I already said.

 

[Bogey Man]

Exactly as I said above, in my last (complete) sentence. It's the only
thing I can think of - but *please* don't ask me how that might have
happened

Aside to Bogey man - find a wav file that works, copy it into the same
folder as the system sounds, and assign it to some event. Now see if you
get that sound properly. Choose a short sound - Beethoven's Ninth is too
long

If that works, the other files there are corrupt; if not, something is
messed up in the logic used by Windows to find those sound files. Of
course, you could test the other system sounds directly in your favorite
player, as I already said.

Thank you all for your responses. I have found a way to make the Windows
sounds play but the reason that they didn't play before is still a mystery.

I had my sounds set up to play digitally and they had been playing without a
hitch and suddenly stopped even though all other sounds continued to play
perfectly. I got the sounds to play by switching from digital to analogue
sound. Previously, I had audio and video delivered via HDMI from the digital
output of my video card that also is capable of audio. My "tin ear" can't
tell the difference so I haven't really lost anything.

I have a hunch that the auto switching between digital and analogue sound
that is supposed to happen (CMOS settings) isn't happening for whatever
reason.

It is working so I will just forget trying to solve the mystery.

Thanks for all your help.

Ron

 

[dilytink]

Hi we had the same problem, and went to help and support on the desktop and
followed the instructions to test the speakers...have you tried this?

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

Thank you all for your responses. I have found a way to make the Windows
sounds play but the reason that they didn't play before is still a mystery.

I had my sounds set up to play digitally and they had been playing without a
hitch and suddenly stopped even though all other sounds continued to play
perfectly. I got the sounds to play by switching from digital to analogue
sound. Previously, I had audio and video delivered via HDMI from the digital
output of my video card that also is capable of audio. My "tin ear" can't
tell the difference so I haven't really lost anything.

I have a hunch that the auto switching between digital and analogue sound
that is supposed to happen (CMOS settings) isn't happening for whatever
reason.

It is working so I will just forget trying to solve the mystery.

Thanks for all your help.

Ron

Thanks for the update.

I would never have thought of this for the simple reason that I was totally
ignorant of it

In fact, I still am, honestly speaking - it's time to Google a bit.

 

[Bogey Man]

That was one of the first things that I did. Thanks

 

[Bogey Man]

Thanks for the update.

I would never have thought of this for the simple reason that I was
totally
ignorant of it

In fact, I still am, honestly speaking - it's time to Google a bit.

I hope that you find something interesting!

Ron

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

I hope that you find something interesting!

Ron

Not sure. All I found, if (big if!) I understood it correctly, was that
some systems will let you have analog and digital active simultaneously,
but it's

(a) Not switched, automatically or otherwise,
and
(b) Controlled by Windows and the sound driver, not the BIOS.

 

[Bogey Man]

Not sure. All I found, if (big if!) I understood it correctly, was that
some systems will let you have analog and digital active simultaneously,
but it's

My system is such a system.

(a) Not switched, automatically or otherwise,
and

My video driver has controls for digital video but no separate controls for
digital audio even though the digital video is supplied via HDMI which I
find strange. If I have the HDMI set for the monitor and take the
independent audio connection (Analogue) off of the monitor and plug it into
separate speakers I will get sound from both sets of speakers.....strange.

(b) Controlled by Windows and the sound driver, not the BIOS.

There is an "Auto" setting for the onboard sound in the Phoenix Bios and
that is the only "auto" setting that I can find anywhere that controls
sound. I have a feeling that the Bios is a hybrid concocted by Acer as I
cannot find the Bios identification on the Phoenix site.

The Windows sound driver has 3 possible devices all of which can be active
with one being set as default. I have a feeling that this is where the
problem lies. Seeing that I am going to do a clean install of Windows 7 in
the future I am not going to waste any more time at this point in trying to
figure it out.

Thank you for the information

Ron