[SOLVED] Strange sound problem with Windows XP

[GWarner]

Within the past week I've noticed that some of the Windows sound effects such as the startup or shutdown sound are no longer playing. I have no idea when this started, I just that I noticed it this week.

I've check the Sounds applet in the control panel and the events have sounds assigned and the sounds play just fine from there.

I've also tried updating my sound drivers to the latest version.

The rest of the system appears to be working without problems including sounds from other programs like Money's startup sound or IE's navigate sound or YouTube videos. It seems only the Windows sounds are affected.

System specs: (everything is at stock speeds)

MB: Gigabyte GA-MA770-UD3 (AMD 770 chip set)
CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 940
PSU: Antec Signature series 650W
RAM: Corsair 3 GB XMS2 Pro DDR2 800 C4
Video: eVGA GeForce GTX 275 896 MB
HDs: 2x Seagate 160 GB SATA 3 Mb/s
CD/DVD1: Sony/Optiarc DDU-1681S CD/DVD-ROM SATA
CD/DVD2: Sony DRU865S CD/DVD-RW/RAM SATA
Case: Antec 900 Ultimate Gaming case
OS: Windows XP Home SP3 with all updates

Does anyone have any ideas what else I could check or try?

[Rook Zimbabwe]

in case you lost your manual:
http://www.manualowl.com/m/Gigabyte/GA- ... ual/207743

When my company used to support this board (when I had a job) two things might overcome this...
2. change sound scheme completely (use a STANDARD schemata not a custom one) and see what happens
3. turn off fast post/quickboot...


you might also check the boot load order of the drivers for sound... they may be loading in a different order because of updates or possible malware interruptus

You could try tapping F8 prior to windows boot to get the advanced startup options and select:
Enable Boot Logging - Creates a file, ntbtlog.txt, that lists all the drivers that are installed during startup and that might be useful for advanced troubleshooting.

also try BootVis:
http://majorgeeks.com/BootVis_d664.html

I have also used this tool to detect boot drivers loaded but it doesn't help too much:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysi ... s/bb897416

[GWarner]

Some new information, it seems that windows is playing the default beep through the tiny peizo speaker attached to my motherboard instead of the sound files though the buit-in audio system.

I checked the hardware manager and there are no errors showing even with show hidden turned on.

[Rook Zimbabwe]

And you attempted ANY of my suggestions?

[GWarner]

I have checked the sound scheme and it is currently set to the Windows XP default scheme, my personal scheme was the same but with a couple of events with no sound changed to play a sound and a couple set to play a sound switched to no sound. Neither one scheme made any difference.

The rest of your suggestions will have to wait until this weekend when I'll have time.

[GWarner]

I fonally fixed this problem by restoring a backup from before the problem began. Since I store my data on a second physical drive, all I had to do after restoring was to apply any updates that came in after when the backup was made.

Thanks to all for your suggestions even though none of them helped.

[codewalker]

I finally fixed this problem by restoring a backup from before the problem began.

That's making the problem go away but without finding the cause of it.
Two things that haven't been mentioned here are 1. codecs and 2. the registry.
Can you still remember what you installed, de-installed or changed on your computer
before the problem came up ? Usually a problem like you had is caused by conflicts
in the registry or with audio/video codecs installed on your system.
greetings
cw

[GWarner]

True...

After the restore the sounds were back but after applying the updates and such that came after the restore the problem returned.

After spending much of the day tinkering with it I found the problem, in the past I've always been able to update my sound drivers by simply installing the new drivers over the old ones. But this time that didn't work. I had to first uninstall the old drivers, then install the new ones.

[GWarner]

Well, the problem came back, I now suspect the latest sound driver versions, so I will be uninstalling them and going back to the previous version.

If that doesn't work, as much as I hate it, I may have to consider re-installing Windows...

[codewalker]

Hi,
Uninstalling drivers in windows is a bit tricky because after the next reboot
the old drivers are automatically reinstalled again. In windows 7 you have to
specify uninstall and remove. Windows xp doesn´t even have this remove option,
so here you have to uninstall them manually in C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers.
The easiest way to locate exactly your audio drivers is using a driver extractor
like driver magician or driver genius. Once you know the locaction of your audio
drivers, delete them manually. After that you use crapcleaner to remove the orphaned
registry keys. Then you install your new audio drivers. Don´t rely so much on keeping
updating your system, because a newer version isn´t always a better version.
I messed up my system a couple of times just by updating my wifi, video drivers,
skype, service packs, etc. etc. Once you notice that your system is very stable
I wouldn´t update drivers and service packs anymore unless really necessary.
greetings
cw

[GWarner]

Features wise they both look the same, but after downloading, installing and running each in SandBoxie, Driver Magician was clearly better. It showed traces of drivers for equipment I hadn't had for years, Drive Genius didn't show these so it would not be able to remove them.

I may not even need them, after uninstalling the drivers and rebooting, Windows was unable to locate and install drivers for the detected hardware so the uninstall must have also removed them.

Replacing the sound drivers didn't work and in fact I'm beginning to think that whatever is causing this problem is in my backups as well because I've restored it from it twice and both times the problem returns.

At this pooint I have two options, live with the lack of Windows sound events until I can find a solution, if I can find a solution, or reinstall Windows from scratch.

[codewalker]

Here's a good, detailed and freeware driver inspector, backup and restore program:(portable)
Info:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/drvback/?_test=beta
Download:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/drvback ... vBK%202.1/

Here's another one: (it's also portable)
http://www.boozet.org/dd.htm


Do you have a pci soundcard installed or an integrated soundchip on the motherboard ?
In case of a pci soundcard try to put it in another pci slot. This helps in case of
registry conflicts.

Features wise they both look the same, but after downloading, installing and running each in SandBoxie,

Yeah, sandboxie is great. Since I started to browse the internet in sandboxie all webshit problems are gone.
greetings
cw

[GWarner]

Here's a good, detailed and freeware driver inspector, backup and restore program:(portable)
Info:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/drvback/?_test=beta
Download:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/drvback ... vBK%202.1/

Here's another one: (it's also portable)
http://www.boozet.org/dd.htm

Thanks!

I might have gone with Driver Magician, but the trial is crippleware, and I have long ago decided never to support companies that use it because it's not a true trial, so they are deceptive practices which for me lowers their credibility and trust level.

Do you have a pci soundcard installed or an integrated soundchip on the motherboard ?

I use the integrated sound system on the motherboard, it provides more than enough sound quality to make me happy and to not see the point in spending money on something I already have. This motherboard uses Realtek's high definition audio system and up until this problem developed, it has never given me any trouble.

Yeah, sandboxie is great. Since I started to browse the internet in sandboxie all webshit problems are gone.

Yeah, I first found out about SandBoxie from the freeware thread here because back then SandBoxie was free, but soon after I got it I paid for a registration key not because I needed the extra features it unlocked but because it was such a great program that I wanted to support further development of it. I also switched to running my browser in a sandbox because it isn't enough to avoid questionable sites any more. You could visit a site you've visited many times before but this time some hacker has broken in and modified it to push some kind of malware at visitors.

It's such a good idea that the paid for version of Avast now offers browser sandboxing as a feature.

I also find it great for looking at programs like I did and will the driver programs, that way if I decide I don't like the program I can be completely rid of it by emptying the sandbox. Once I find something I like I can install it on the host.

[GWarner]

Here's a good, detailed and freeware driver inspector, backup and restore program:(portable)
Info:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/drvback/?_test=beta
Download:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/drvback ... vBK%202.1/

Here's another one: (it's also portable)
http://www.boozet.org/dd.htm

All these do is backup and restore drivers which is not what I need, but thanks anyway.

I did run across a Codec Tweak Tool that comes with the K-Lite Codec pack but the option to fix sound problems like mine is greyed out with no clue what it needed to enable it.

[LuCiFeR[SD]]

I would say this is a registry issue... nothing whatsoever to do with dodgy drivers.

run regedit

go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Sound

and check the value for 'beep'

if it says no, change it to yes.