Hi all: All of a sudden, I now only have some sounds on my computer. For instance, if I'm playing a game, even the games that come with Windows, I don't have any sound until the game ends. I do hear some of the regular Windows sounds like when it first boots and when it closes down, though. I don't even hear my modem dialing to the Internet any more. Any ideas what I can do to correct this problem? Thanks so much!

Webacon

P.S. I forgot to mention that my speakers seem to be working fine and I did double check in my Sounds property that Windows Default theme is set. Also, when visiting a site that has ecards with music, I hear nothing. I hope this explains my problem well enough. Thanks again.

Webacon

Might be worth checking all the sound file extensions to see if it's just particular ones that have died. Such as:

.wav .mid .au .mp3 .rm

I would also check the movie files (in case it's their sound that has gone missing). Such as:

.mpg .mpe .mpeg .avi .wmx .mov

You are likely to have samples of these and more on your HD if you Find/Files or Folers using *.wav (or whatever). When you double click them they should play. Don't choose very small versions or you might not have chance to hear them.

DerekW

Might be worth checking all the sound file extensions to see if it's just particular ones that have died.

Oh oh! That doesn't sound good! I went through everything you wrote down and here's what I found:

.wav - No sound

.mid - No sound

.mp3 - It works

.rm - No sound

.mpg - It works

.avi - No sound

.mov - No sound

I don't have any .au, .mpe, .mpeg, or .wmx files.

I hope this helps you, 'cause it sure doesn't do a thing for me. LOL.

Thanks for such a quick reply Derek.

Webacon

Take a look in your main Windows sound mixer - you may have some types of sound set to too low a volume or muted. If you see a speaker in your taskbar lower right (you may have to click on the arrow to show it), RIGHT click on it, choose Open Volume Controls. If you have another name brand (same as the sound brand) sound mixer, look there too.

Also right click My Computer then go to Device Manager. Look under Sound Video & Game Controllers and see if there are any error symbols (yellow question marks and the like).

If it happened as suddenly as you say, perhaps the best and quickest way forward is to Restart in MS-DOS (Start button/Shut Down) and type:

scanreg /restore

Hit Return key afterwards. Select a registry dated just before the problem started. If it's registry glich it will fix it. If you've installed anything since that date it will probably need to be re-installed.

DerekW

Oh no!!! It didn't work!! I tried the scanreg/restore and I got this message:
"System restore operation failed." What now?? I already tried it twice. Is my poor computer dying?

I also checked in Device Manager and there's no error symbols. And my volume control is set just fine - nothing is muted. I also ran Scan Disk and Disk Defrag before trying the restore just in case and everything went fine there.

Is there anything else I can try? Thanks.

Webacon

Hmm, I never like it when it says things like that, so I feel we must tread carefully.

Have you got the W98SE CD to hand just in case we need it?

If so:
Make yourself a boot floppy (Control Panel/Add-Remove Programs/Startup Disk). It is worth having this around.

Then try scanreg /fix (instead of scanreg /restore). The former rebuilds your registry. I normally regard this as quite harmless but as you've had words of warning it might be best not to risk it unless you have CD and bootdisk available in case it should backfire.

DerekW

Backfire??? As in what?? Do you mean if I can't boot up the computer again afterwards? Then what do I do? Start the computer with the boot disk in the floppy drive? Then how do I access my Windows CD if I need it? Can you tell I'm getting a little nervous here? LOL.

Webacon

I've used scanreg /fix stacks of times without any problem. Because your machine errored on scanreg /restore I am just being ultra careful.

I'm not expecting any problem but against the remote possibility scanreg /fix backfiring then having the floppy and CD means that you could simply reload Windows again without losing any of your stuff.

I don't think you'll have any problem but if you should, this is the prcedure:

You boot with the floppy, type the command to switch to the CD, then type setup and away it goes. The boot floppy temporarily steals your normal drive letter so you increase it by one.

So, if your CD drive is usually D you do this:

Boot with floppy.
Select "With CD-ROM support".

Type:

E:

Then type:

setup

(hit Return after each of the above two command).

I must emphasise that I'm being VERY careful and don't anticipate any problem with scanreg /fix at all. However, it is not my machine so I want a way forward if I'm proved wrong. If you prefer not to take the risk I quite understand.

Your sound seems badly messed up so I think Windows overlay is possibly on the cards anyway. There is also (now) a very strong indication that the problem is in the registry.

DerekW

Well, Derek, I did the scanreg /fix and it says it successfully fixed the registry. However, that didn't fix the sound problem. I'm starting to think I've got a real problem on my hands. Any more suggestions?

BTW, thanks for spelling everything out for me. I was just a little nervous that my Windows wouldn't restart and I'd be totally lost.

Webacon

Before we think about bigger hammers, can you tell me what players start when you run each of the file extensions you gave in #3?

Thx

DerekW

See response 5 in this to check out your PS and hard drive:
http://www.computing.net/windows95/...

If they check out okay.......
You could try an "overtop" install/Setup of Windows, if Windows was installed from a regular Win 98SE CD.
If you still have the brand name system's original software on this computer, it may have come with only a Recovery CD instead of a Windows CD. Some Recovery CD's are actually Windows CD's with added stuff that allows you to access the hidden partition and restore your other original software - that type can be often be used the same way as a Windows CD.
An "overtop" install/Setup of Windowswill not harm your existing Windows installation, but it can only fix things Windows detects as wrong, and/or replace corrupted or missing Windows files that are on your original XP CD. If running it doesn't cure enough of your problems and/or the problems are caused by things not on the original Windows CD, you will probably have to make a clean install of Windows from scratch.

See response 5 and 23 in this:
http://www.computing.net/windows95/...

tubesandwires
"original XP CD". This is W98SE.

I feel that too much of the information you referenced does not apply in any way to this particular problem and is likely to confuse the poster.

Subject to the posters resonse requested in my #11 then, yes, I do think that Windows overlay might be in order. This was spelled out sufficiently in my 9.

Ensuring that a Product Key is available is a good point just in case it should ask for it. I will cover this point if we decide to embark on Windows overlay.

webacon
Do you have a recovery floppy or CD?

DerekW

"original XP CD"

Oops - i copied part of that from a blurb for an XP Repair Setup.

Just trying to cover all the bases. His problems could be due to data corruption, which can be caused by a faulty hard drive or by a PS that causes flaky hard drive behavior.

tubesandwires re #14 second para.

Yes, all things are possible, although if it was HD or PSU trouble I would have been surprised if it was only sound that was affected. A registry glich could be in just one area but it's a bit worrying (and relatively unusual) that scanreg /restore nearly backfired.

webacon

Try running scandisk and see if you get any errors.

DerekW

Derek: I think you hit the nail on the head!!! When you asked what players worked when testing the sound files, I double-checked and it was ONLY Windows Media Player. Real Player wasn't working at all, nor could I access it. I checked program files through My Computer and Real Player folder was filled with files and folders, including Setup. So, I reinstalled it and found out it's an outdated version, so I updated it. I retested the file extensions as in Response #3, and now everything opens with Real Player.

I rebooted the computer, and VOILA, I HAVE SOUND! Is this amazing, or what? So all this problem was caused by an outdated Real Player??? Is that enough to cause it to just stop working?? I am flabbergasted!

But I have to thank you heaps, Derek, for sticking with me through all of this.

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!!

Webacon

Great news. I was rather hoping that we could avoid getting too carried away with this post.

I suspect that somehow RealPlayer got corrupted, so we'll have to hope that it doesn't happen again (or some other problem). If so, you know where we are but these thing do sometimes happen without any further problems - who knows why.

It would still be worth running scandisk just in case, as it's quick and easy to do.

Thx for popping back to let us know.

DerekW

Well, Derek, let's just hope it was one of those computer glitches. And I sure hope nothing else happens. BTW, I forgot to mention that I did run ScanDisk again and no errors were found. Phew! Let's hope all goes well from now on.

Thanks again for all your help.

Webacon

Fine, just had a thought tho. "Just in case" (my favorite saying), have you got a Product Key for that W98SE CD? If not get it now like this:

Type regedit in the Run box (usual Return). Go to Edit/Find and search for this:

ProductKey

If you do this exactly as written (no spaces) it will eventually show it in the right hand pane.

Your scanreg /restore problem also points to some sort of glich - same one maybe. If all goes well scanreg /restore should be fully available in due course because on each boot-up day it adds a new backup registry (5 total).

DerekW

Glad to hear you solved the probem.

Tubesandwires

Yep, seems like it. No idea what caused corruption to both RealPlayer & Registry though.

As you rightly said there are many possibilities. After about a week with no problems I'll feel happier.

DerekW

Wow! That's a neat trick, Derek. I do have my product key for the cd, but just had to check out your solution anyway. That's amazing! LOL. Thanks again for helping me and I really do hope I don't have any more trouble for a lot more than a week!

Thanks Tubesandwires, I'm really glad we were able to resolve this too.

Webacon

There are many ways. Wanna laugh:

Copy all that is between the lines that follow):

===========================================
var WSHShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell");
var ProductKey =
WSHShell.RegRead("HKLM\\Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Productkey");
WSHShell.Popup(ProductKey, 0, "Windows 98 Product CD Key", 64);
===========================================

Now open Notepad and paste it into it. Save the file somewhere as Prodkey.js (the name doesn't matter but the .js does).

Go to the file you've saved and just double click it. Now aint that real pretty?

Nice and portable (on a floppy or whatever). I think it works for all 9x, not sure about WinME but definitely no good for XP.

DerekW

You're welcome. The goal is success.

WOW!!! Derek, I copied those lines exactly as you said and then opened the file. WOW!!!is all I can say! Another amazing trick!! How do you know all this stuff?? I'm just glad I found this board. The tidbits I've picked up here have really helped me. I've now got a binder full of problem-solving tips and how-to's. Let's hope I never need them. LOL.

Thanks for the chuckle Derek, I enjoyed that.

Webacon

Don't worry, I too have a folder full (over 13,000 files). Hanging around this website since mid 99 helps a lot but tends to consume you rather LOL. It's a good forum.

DerekW

I tried the Prodkey.js trick and it doesn't work in my Win98SE. None of the *.js files work that are on my computer. The file association is correct. I vaguely recall I disabled or deleted something, or two somethings, after I read a recommendation to do so somewhere, to prevent hackers or malware from using java script against me, but I can't remember what they were.

Yep, I have to ensure IE is at default security for it to Run - anything higher disables scripting in Security/Custom level.

There's a very good freebie program I use called ScriptSentry. This allows you to use the normal default settings and not disable/remove anything. When a script tries to act you get a pop-op which asks if you want to run it. The program doesn't actually run (a bit like SpywareBlaster), so it uses no resources.

It comes up if you double click a .reg file too but it's only a couple mouse clicks to get past it, as long as your are sure it is OK to go ahead.

DerekW