Sound Troubleshooting in XP

[CCT]

Sound Troubleshooting in XP:

General:

Usually, people lose sound because of driver corruption (malware/viruses or user error) or after doing an operating system re-install. Of course, sound chip failure is also a possibility.

The following suggestions may help identify the problem area to aid in getting it back. Users should use a program like Everest or Aida32 or Belarc or even using the Windows System Information data.

The key thing is to clearly identify:

Make and model of computer (if a manufactured model)

Make and model of motherboard and/or chipsets installed

Add-on devices (has a sound card been added or is the onboard sound used or is there only an add-on card)

Sound devices/drivers/codecs listed in Device Manager and Add/Remove programs


Checks:

Check the motherboard bios to ensure sound is enabled.

Check Start, All Programs, Accessories, Entertainment, Volume Control to ensure no 'mute' box is ticked and volume sliders are at maximum.

Check Start, Control panel, Administrative Tools, Services for the Windows Audio entry and ensure it isa set to automatic and is started.

Check Start, Control Panel, Sounds and Audio Devices, Speaker Volume to ensure speakers volume is maximum and then check Advanced to ensure speaker setup is right.

Check Start, Control Panel, Sounds and Audio Devices, Audio - make sure a default device is entered for Sound Playback and for Midi Music Playback.

Check Start, Control Panel, Sounds and Audio Devices, Hardware - click on the cd/dvd and make sure it is enabled then look at properties - properties to make sure the cd/dvd isn't muted and the sound volume is at maximum.

Check Start, Control Panel, Sounds and Audio Devices, Hardware - there should be an Audio Codecs entry and an entry for the Audio Controller.


The audio codecs can be further explored by clicking properties - properties. A number of codecs may be displayed. It may be useful to select the Microsoft codecs

one at a time and click properties and re-number them 1-5 such that they are the default codes. Make a note of the original sequence of priority so you can return to the original later if you want to.

The audio controller can be further explored by clicking properties. Make sure the device is enabled.


If you have done and recorded ALL the above, prior to seeking help, it then becomes easier to provide information that can be used to fix your problem.


note: maybe I missed something - feel free to add to it.

[xpuser357]

Also Start,Control panel,system,hardware,Device manager. and check for
any yellow round exclamation marks.

[woodsi]

Oakii So i have Had No Sound Now for A few Months And Its Really annoying Now :L I think I Accedently Uninstalled it .......Im not All That good With Computers and i dont really Know what too Do ...
i Have ....
Windows XP Home Edition
Version 2002 Service Pack 2
MEDION Intel(R) Celron(R)
Thats All the Infomation i Could find :S i hope it helps .....And as i said i Dont koow much About Computers....

[NooNoo]

Woodsi, please start your own thread about your sound problem, this thread is for people reading up on the problem for themselves.

To add to CCT's list

Speakers can die, especially the cheaper ones. On newer setups the speakers need to be powered and the speakers plugged into the green speaker jack on the computer.

So an additional check would be to remove the speakers from the computer, power them up and plug them into the headphone socket of something like a walkman or other portable audio device. If you don't get sound, your speakers need replacing and there is probably nothing wrong with your computer.


Most newer computers can have 5.1 or some sort of surround sound. For this they configure the red, blue and green jacks in the software found in control panel... If you have 5.1 configured and only stereo speakers, your sound won't work, neither will a stereo speaker configuraiton with 5.1 speakers work.

Make sure your speaker configuration matches your actual speakers. Most motherboards nowadays only need to be configured using control panel, however there are some out there which have jumpers on the motherboard that have to be moved around.

If you are not sure which type it is, start new thread and post what you know about your computer. Download and install Everest Free Home Edition to give you more information about the computer

Would someone write an Everest tutorial on how to get a quick report? I only have pro, so it won't run on my machines....

[[email protected]]

help urgently i dont have any sound driver on my system, and i use windows vister my system is acer aspire3613wlmi. could any one help please?

[NooNoo]

Welcome to Windrivers otuts2001

vista drivers for your acer - click here the sound driver is called realtek.

[bigtech]

If you don't have sound but things are somewhat working try to fix it
check by going to Run then typing services.msc then check to ensure windows audio is active

also insure you have streamic.dll installed. find it on the web download and drag it to windows\system32\ file. that should solve it.

[Platypus]

STREAMCI.DLL ? (The Streaming Device Class Installer)

It's something to keep in mind. Normally if there's an application requiring the class library and it's not present, you'd expect to see an error message, but possibly not, and people don't always connect the error message to the symptom it's producing. Thanks for mentioning it bigtech.

[bigtech]

STREAMCI.DLL ? (The Streaming Device Class Installer)

It's something to keep in mind. Normally if there's an application requiring the class library and it's not present, you'd expect to see an error message, but possibly not, and people don't always connect the error message to the symptom it's producing. Thanks for mentioning it bigtech.

Platypus.. it took almost a week and numerous hours for me to narrow it down to that one file that was missing. Once I restored it Voila! back to normal! I don't want NOBODY else to go thru it!!

[kiri]

no sounds

[Platypus]

Welcome to WinDrivers, kiri.

Do you have a question?

[SARGE1]

Also Start,Control panel,system,hardware,Device manager. and check for
any yellow round exclamation marks.

I was reading up on sound card problems because I recently had a "BLUE SCREEN" hard fault and after sending report to windows got a solution screen that indicated I could be having sound card problems! And last on the list was disable Sound card which is working fine, I think!

I went throught windows checks and found your web site and read your entry after checking everything on "CHECK" list above your entry as last resort and sure enough I found 4 YELLOW question marks, all under the heading "other devices" which has a ? in front of it and 3 ???s under it with a wierd symbol the best I can describe looks like a backwards "z" attached to a lower case b?

can I just erase these?

I tried to update driver but there is nothing to update to.

How can I find out what they go to?

Thnaks in advance for your help!

Oh, I am using windows XP and my sound card is a
Creative Audio PCI ES1371,ES1373 (WDM)

[NooNoo]

Welcome to Windrivers Sarge1

Yes you can delete/remove those devices... I would suggest you do it in safe mode and when you reboot to normal mode, the hardware wizard should launch and identify the device that needs drivers.

[Berbs]

Platypus.. it took almost a week and numerous hours for me to narrow it down to that one file that was missing. Once I restored it Voila! back to normal! I don't want NOBODY else to go thru it!!

Where and how can you restore it? Running my XP CD doesn't help. It will not copy the file.

[NooNoo]

Welcome to Windrivers Berbs. The file belongs in system32. Click start, run, type in
msconfig
click ok
Make sure the XP cd is in the drive and click on Expand file and fill in the details