I just recently upgraded to Windows 2000 and ever since i haven't been able to get any sound. I have all the latest drivers, but there is something called Microsoft Kernel System Renderer that seems to be giving me problems. When i go to try to enable a device all are greyed out but the drivers for the card say its good...plz help!!!! need sound to live!!!

First of all is there a volume icon in the task bar (bottom right hand corner)? If you have no icon then you will not have any sound. Go to Start>Settings>Control Panel>Sounds and Multimedia and see if the box "Show volume control on the task bar" is ticked. If it isn't and it is not greyed out, then tick it and you will get the icon. If it is greyed out then you need to reinstall the sound driver. While still in the above, click Hardware and examine the sound icons. One of them, usually Audio Codecs, will have something through it. Click on it and then press troubleshoot button. You will be informed whether the driver is working correctly or not. It should state that you need to reinstall the driver. Follow the instructions and install the Windows driver. After that, you may have to go back and click the box to show the icon in the task bar. PLease reply with some feedback, thanks.

thanks for replying, i didnt think anyone cared about it. i tried all the things u said. the button that says show sound thingy in taskbar is checked but its greyed out and doesnt let me uncheck or change it. as for the audio codecs it says they are working properly and that doesnt seem to be the problem. i am still really stumped on the whole thing, do u think getting Service Pack 4 would help??? by the way i have Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 with the absolute latest drivers possible...

another thing i forgot to mention, all of the hardware in the sounds and multimedia say they are working good. the thingy is ticked but no icon in the bottom corner. all the options in the audio tab are greyed out. strange case, cant seem to find the problem its a very tricky one this is....

Ok, another update. today i was playin around on a game called Soldier of Fortune 2, and when i went into sounds i enabled EAX sound and it started working!!! but that seems to be the only one with working sound.... :(

Dear Kyle I had the same problem until 30 seconds ago, but I think I have fixed it! ...thanks to reading your problem and Mark's replies - so I hope I can help you too! Last week I bought a new computer with Windows XP. After a few days the sounds stopped completely. I spoke to technical support who told me to delete the sound drivers and re-install them from the motherboard utilities & drivers disk. This worked - but only for sound in games, NOT windows .WAV files. SO....I read your messages, went into CONTROL PANEL - SOUNDS AND AUDIO DEVICES - AUDIO. In the AUDIO window, the top box (Sound Playback, Default Device) had the wrong device in it - so I changed it. Then i checked the LITTLE BOX IN THE LEFT HAND CORNER and clicked on APPLY. .....AND HEY PRESTO IT ALL WORKs. I am so lucky, cos now I have all those annoying little Bill Gates noises when I use my machine - my next job is to turn them off, one by one!