Failed to Play Test Tone, other assorted bugs/quirks

[GaWd]

Hello all,

I took the plunge and upgraded to Vista last week. This appears to have been
a mistake. I have 2 most annoying problems that appear to be widespread.

1- I have NO sound. None. I had it when I upgraded, all was good until I
installed the updates. Now I have nothing. This appears to be a widespread
problem and I cannot find a solution(and trust me, I've tried every solution
I've some across on the internet).

I have removed the device and re-added it. I've used new manufacturer
drivers, I've used old manufacturer drivers. I've used the Vista-installed
driver. I've cleared the DRM filders. I've tried different players, different
settings.

I tried a restore point, but it looks like that first major push of updates
wipes out old restore points. The oldest restore point I have did not help.
Microsoft's hotfix (KB930883), for this did nothing.

2- Video won't play. No matter what format I have, no matter what player I
use, I get 3 seconds of video and then it just quits with a C00D*** error.
The information returned from the web help link is not helpful at all.

I installed a codec pack, and there was no change. This affects AVI, MPG
files.

I really need help with this. I'm just about ready to uninstall this and
request my money back from Microsoft.

Any thoughts?

Sam

 

[Mohamed Mansour]

Hi,

I am having the same problem, but it is saying Out of Memory, but I have 4GB
of memory, sometimes the sound wont play .... What I do, I run MPlayer, and
the sound and video come for some reason... Then I close it and run another
application and it works. So I assume something is wrong with the
compositing engine in vista that is causing problems, but I don't know.

 

[GaWd]

I have 2GB of RAM and have never seen any memory errors. Just no darned
sound. No system sound, no media sound, no sound in MP11, no sound in
alternate media players...

Sam

 

[Rick]

Hi,

I did a clean install to Vista about 2 months ago and have the identical
problem. Likewise, I have tried all possible solutions to no avail. This
forum was my last hope but so far I've haven't received any comments
concerning things that I haven't already tried.
This seems to be a widespread problem so I'm not sure why Microsoft can't
come up with a solution.
Anyway, I'm going back to XP today.

Good Luck

 

[GaWd]

I'd love to work with the squints at Microsoft on this problem, but I've
found no detectable method to open up a support ticket without dealing with
their foreign phone support. This cannot be such a serious issue that it
cannot be solved.

It's widespread. It's reproducible. It's verifiable. For crying out loud,
just fix it!

I have a feeling I'm going to have to go back to XP and wait for a few more
years until Vista worked. I just thought "What the hey", why not upgrade
after I doubled my RAM due to some DIMMs frying. I like the interface(though
some things are a touch annoying). I like the look and the feel. It's
definitely fast enough for me. But no sound and no video support is a
deal-breaker for me.

Sam

 

[Curt]

What kind of sound card do you have? Did you install it,
or was it preinstalled? Have you checked the HCL?

You can search for it on mthe net. Normally, I would say it
was drivers. But I am guessing you already have updated drivers
from the manufacturer? Are they vista capable?

Any info you can provide might help. Just saying X doesn't work
and can you fix it doesn't help. You need to be a bit more specific.

Then we will do what we can.

Curt

 

[GaWd]

Curt,

Please carefully re-read my first post on the topic. I was very specific,
except as to the make/model of the soundcard, because it's most likely
irrelevant.

If you believe it will help you, it is a Sigmatel Onboard soundcard in my
Dell E310 Dimension 3100. This error/unresolved problem does not appear to
affect one maker, one brand, one hardware line or one soundcard. I have
ordered a new soundcard, but have seen that many people with this problem did
not have a positive outcome when installing an additional soundcard and
driver from a new manufacturer.

Just do a quick search on "failed to play test tone" on your favorite
internet search provider. There are 100 solutions to the problem, which tells
me that there are numerous causes to this problem. Unfortunately, the error
information returned is nil, and that makes it difficult to troubleshoot.

The #1 problem (no sound), is a silent problem(pun intended). The hardware
is installed properly. The driver reports no problems. Numerous drivers from
different sources have no positive outcome. Settings changes do no good.

The #2 problem is frustrating as well. Perhaps I'll open up a new thread to
deal with that specifically.

Sam

 

[Curt]

Ok, I searched, and found this. I migine you've tried it?

http://doogalbellend.blogspot.com/2007/12/solving-vista-to-play-test-tone-sound.html

 

[Curt]

Also, there's a hotfix from MS.

I can't see all of the original thread, so I am flying blind

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/930883

 

[GaWd]

Here's the original thread. Not sure why you can't see it all. The hotfix was
garbage:

Hello all,

I took the plunge and upgraded to Vista last week. This appears to have been
a mistake. I have 2 most annoying problems that appear to be widespread.

1- I have NO sound. None. I had it when I upgraded, all was good until I
installed the updates. Now I have nothing. This appears to be a widespread
problem and I cannot find a solution(and trust me, I've tried every solution
I've some across on the internet).

I have removed the device and re-added it. I've used new manufacturer
drivers, I've used old manufacturer drivers. I've used the Vista-installed
driver. I've cleared the DRM filders. I've tried different players, different
settings.

I tried a restore point, but it looks like that first major push of updates
wipes out old restore points. The oldest restore point I have did not help.
Microsoft's hotfix (KB930883), for this did nothing.

2- Video won't play. No matter what format I have, no matter what player I
use, I get 3 seconds of video and then it just quits with a C00D*** error.
The information returned from the web help link is not helpful at all.

I installed a codec pack, and there was no change. This affects AVI, MPG
files.

I really need help with this. I'm just about ready to uninstall this and
request my money back from Microsoft.

Any thoughts?

Sam

 

[GaWd]

BTW, the first link you posted is one I had failed to uncover in my quest to
unlock my sound. I will look at that key when I get home.

Sam

 

[GaWd]

I hate to keep updating the thread with things as they come to me, but after
considering the content of that link, it appears his issue was truly a
permissions issue. This wouldn't surprise me at all. I've had numerous issues
where I've been seemingly restricted from using my own personal
directories/documents/media files since I upgraded.

I seem to remember similar issues on Win98-->Win2K upgrades.

 

[Curt]

If it all worked when you got the computer, have you thought about
maybe reinstalling it, and then updating the driver to test it, then
doing the MS updates?

Do you have an update disk? I mean pristine source?

Do you dual boot vista and XP? does it work in XP?

Curt

 

[GaWd]

This was an XP computer that I just upgraded to Fista(freudian typo or
what?). I may roll it back to XP later this week if nothing else works.

Sound worked under XP(always), worked when I first got Vista installed. I
have only the upgrade disk. No pristine sources, and no dual OS; though now I
wish I had just installed it as a second OS...

Sam

 

[Curt]

If you want, there is a workaround to do a pristine install of Vista
by using the upgrade disk. I read about it somewhere on the net,
but you need the XP disk as well in order to do it.

It may be that there's an issue with the upgrade. Since you said it once
worked,
then you know it works under Vista. The issue is to find otu what's breaking
it, if you think it's worth the time to.

Might mean installing the updates one by one as well.

Curt

 

[GaWd]

Sonofabitch. You found the one "fix" I had not yet. That was the solution.
Delete the DefaultAccessPermission key in that HKLM entry.

You wonder why MS hasn't released a hotfix or a KB doc for this...

Now onto my video problems...

 

[GaWd]

Rick,

Curt found a solution that worked for me. Here are the step-by-step
instructions to follow:

From the Windows Start menu, choose 'Run...'.
Type regedit in the 'Open' text box.
Navigate to 'Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Ole
Delete the registry key 'DefaultAccessPermission'. If it isn't there,
chances are this isn't the problem causing your lack of sound.
Beware that fiddling with your registry can cause system problems if you
modify important settings.


Good luck.

 

[GaWd]

FYI, my video problems were due to the audio not working. I wish Vista
returned better error codes. This could have made everything much easier to
track down. The 2 error codes and the "failed to play test tone" errors just
led me around in circles...permissions, file location, network access,
firewall-these were some of the suggestions to troubleshoot this problem from
Microsoft.

Sam

 

[DarkSentinel]

Hello all,

I took the plunge and upgraded to Vista last week. This appears to have
been
a mistake. I have 2 most annoying problems that appear to be widespread.

1- I have NO sound. None. I had it when I upgraded, all was good until I
installed the updates. Now I have nothing. This appears to be a widespread
problem and I cannot find a solution(and trust me, I've tried every
solution
I've some across on the internet).

I have removed the device and re-added it. I've used new manufacturer
drivers, I've used old manufacturer drivers. I've used the Vista-installed
driver. I've cleared the DRM filders. I've tried different players,
different
settings.

I tried a restore point, but it looks like that first major push of
updates
wipes out old restore points. The oldest restore point I have did not
help.
Microsoft's hotfix (KB930883), for this did nothing.

2- Video won't play. No matter what format I have, no matter what player I
use, I get 3 seconds of video and then it just quits with a C00D*** error.
The information returned from the web help link is not helpful at all.

I installed a codec pack, and there was no change. This affects AVI, MPG
files.

I really need help with this. I'm just about ready to uninstall this and
request my money back from Microsoft.

Any thoughts?

Would help if you provided more information. In cases like this, it is most
helpful when you provide...

What kind of Computer. Desktop or Laptop
System Type. Processor. What kind of Sound Card, etc.
What version of Vista. x86 or x64
Service packs, if any
Whether drivers, BIOS, updates, etc are up to date.

The more info you provide US, the better we can help YOU.

 

[GaWd]

Re-read my initial post and you'll see that this is:

1- a widespread problem
2- a problem not related to specific hardware or software, or manufacturer
3- an issue researched relatively well by the initiator of the complaint

The make and model would not have helped. The amount of RAM would not have
helped, either. I came here for help on a known issue, and someone obviously
searched somewhere I did not and found the perfect solution-many thanks to
Curt for that.

I'd already gone way past the first-line support, and eliminated factors
that would have been impacted by such things.

Anyhow. Thanks anyways.

Sam