no sound - problem with sound device

[Guest]

My computer will not play any sound. When I track to play something on
Windows Media Player I get an error message saying 'WMP cannot play your file
because there is a problem with your sound device. There might not be a sound
device installed on your computer, it might be in use by another program, or
it might not be functioning properly'. And when I try to open Volume Control
(which many of the Help guides have told me to do) it tells me 'there are no
active mixer devices available. To install mixer devices go to ...'

So, my question is - how do I get the sound back? I've been through a lot of
Help questions on the Windows support thing, looked at all the computer
installation documents, checked the cables are in the right place, re-started
etc. but still nothing.

Is the sound device related to the sound card? I looked at the system
details on the Windows Help & Support area and found the model and driver of
my SOUND card. How do I find out whether this is working properly?

My computer is Windows XP, Home Edition, Version 2002, and manufactured and
supported by eMachines.

Any help would be very appreciated. Thanks.

 

[peter]

Sound Card=Sound Device
right click MyComputer......Properties.......Hardware......Device Manager
Look under Sound,Video&Game Controller.........any red or yellow marks means
a problem.
Look for the Drivers for your Sound Card...usually on the CD that came with
your system/Sound card.
Install these drivers and reboot.
Then Look again to see if any yellow or red appears and post back with
specifics of which devices are problematic

peter

 

[Guest]

Thanks for replying.
I did the first step, looking at the Device Manager, and there were no red
or yellow marks in the sound, video & game controller area. Does the next
step still apply in this case?
If I can't find the system CD, is there anything else I can do/use?

 

[peter]

use that make and model of sound device that you have to do a google search
for XP drivers.
Download and install those drivers
post back if still problamatic

peter