Hello, can anybody help?

After a Win Me system crash, lost audio (graphics, mouse pointer etc - but these are ok now).

I have an on-board ESS1938S 3D PCI audio chip. In the Device Manager, Driver is installed, active and not conflicting with anything else.

From Safe Mode, removed/re-installed ALL the drivers, removed/re-installed the multimedia components in the Windows setup [all many times] and with reboots in between.

There is still no Volume Control on the taskbar and in Sounds & Multimedia, playback and record parts etc. are greyed out with no "preferred sound device available". Properties|"Status: Driver is enabled but inactive due to an unknown problem".

There are no Mixing/Midi/Wav Devices installed and CD audio is unavailable.

The only way I can hear music is from the Music tab in DirectX 8.1 diagnostics [ESS port], even then, there is a generic failure in activating the Microsoft Synthesizer port.

According to System Information|Hardware Resources there are no Conflicts/Sharing problems.

By the way, System Restore is working perfectly now but wasn't at the time the problem occurred and this is well over a month old, so scanreg /fix is not a solution.

Loaded BIOS and Setup defaults - No luck.

Many thanks if you have a possible solution or other diagnostic suggestion for this problem.

Bill.

hello
have you updated the via chips provideing your mobo uses them?
might try going to mobo makers sight and see if theres any new drivers for your onboard sound.

Hi Bill.
This may be a simplistic answer, but have you thought about loading WinME over it's self?
Regards

Your probably have the Wave Device for Voice Modem as the preferred audio output device.

Check Control Panel - Sounds and Multimedia - Audio tab.

Try going to Start/Settings/Control Panel/Add/Remove Programs/Windows Setup/Multimedia and check Volume Control...