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Resolved Lost some of my audio, sound card is okay

Discussion in 'Windows XP' started by ranatlas, 2015/08/02.

  1. 2015/08/02
    ranatlas

    ranatlas Inactive Thread Starter

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    Hi everyone,

    I'm new here, although I have checked out this site on several occasions and I think you folks are great.

    So here's my problem, and it may be a strange one. Please bear with me....

    I have lost my volume control from the Windows taskbar but Realtech HD Audio does show in Device Manager. It shows as working properly, driver is updated, etc. Here is the strange stuff: I am able to play CDs using several programs, I can play music in iTunes, but I have no sound while attempting to watch and hear videos on YouTube, and I've lost my Windows sounds -- such as starting Windows and exiting Windows (play button/arrow is greyed out).

    So, it seems that the problem is not an issue with my speakers, nor with my sound card (I think?).

    I guess that I can live without the Windows sounds -- although I am curious as to why the speaker icon disappeared from my taskbar, and I cannot get it back -- but I would like to play videos on YouTube and hear the sound.

    I have tried just about everything to try to fix this issue -- System Restore (tells me it can't do restore because nothing has been changed), troubleshooting tips I've found on the web, etc., but nothing has helped.

    I've looked through other forums aside from this one but haven't seen any posts with a problem such as mine.

    Does anyone here have any thoughts as to what is going on with my audio?

    My PC's specs are below, if they are of any help. (Oops, it looks like they're not below, although I filled them in after I registered.)

    Thank you very much!
     
    Last edited: 2015/08/02
  2. 2015/08/02
    retiredlearner

    retiredlearner SuperGeek WindowsBBS Team Member

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    Hi ranatlas, I had to fire up my XP comp to check. Start > Control Panel > Sounds and Audio Devices > check Place Volume Icon in the Taskbar.
    No check in Mute?
    Let's know what more we can do. Neil.
     

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  4. 2015/08/02
    ranatlas

    ranatlas Inactive Thread Starter

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    Hi Neil,

    Thanks for the reply. I'm sorry that I forgot to mention in my original post that I have tried Start > Control Panel > Sounds and Audio Devices > check Place Volume Icon in the Taskbar, like you suggested. However, when I try to check Place Volume Icon in the Taskbar, it won't accept a checkmark and I get an error message from Windows that says the following:

    "Windows cannot display the volume control of the taskbar because the Volume Control program has not been installed. To install it, use Add/Remove Programs in Control Panel. "

    I went to Add/Remove Programs last night - but I didn't see a way that I could add the Volume Control program. Also, my Realtech High Definition sound card doesn't show up there (is it supposed to?) but as I mentioned, I can hear sound when playing CDs... so I believe the card is working okay; it does appear in Control Panel > Sounds and Audio Devices > Hardware > Devices (Device Status: This device is working properly).

    I appreciate your trying to help me with this matter. Maybe my PC is trying to tell me that it's time for me to start looking for a new computer... this PC is about to turn 10 years old. I think it's lasted this long because I've been babying it -- i.e., updating/upgrading whatever might help to keep it going. Over the past 5 years or so, I've done a memory upgrade to get up to the maximum RAM, installed a new sound card, video card, ethernet card, cleaned out dust from the inside, and had a new hard drive installed by a repair tech.

    Any other ideas that I could try, before I throw in the hat?

    Many thanks,

    Randy
     
    Last edited: 2015/08/02
  5. 2015/08/02
    retiredlearner

    retiredlearner SuperGeek WindowsBBS Team Member

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    Hi Randy, Found this: Lost Sound in Windows XP

    I was looking to find Kellys Korner which was the 'goto' for XP for a number of years. I think it's been closed down so I think this might be worth a try. Neil.
     
  6. 2015/08/02
    ranatlas

    ranatlas Inactive Thread Starter

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    Thanks, Neil - I will check that out. I appreciate it.
     
    Last edited: 2015/08/03
  7. 2015/08/03
    ranatlas

    ranatlas Inactive Thread Starter

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    Hi Neil,

    That Microsoft website's possible solutions didn't help, unfortunately... oh well.

    Thanks,
    Randy
     
  8. 2015/08/03
    retiredlearner

    retiredlearner SuperGeek WindowsBBS Team Member

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    Hi Randy, I'm sorry that didn't help you. :eek: Kellys Korner was the XP tweak site with downloadable dlls to repair little problems and losing sound in XP used to be very common but I can't remember what the fixes were. (I've discarded a lot of the hard copy I had on XP - too old)
    I can only suggest Googling or maybe another BBS member can recall the fixes. Neil.
     
  9. 2015/08/03
    ranatlas

    ranatlas Inactive Thread Starter

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    No problem, Neil. Thanks again for trying to help me with this issue.

    Randy
     
  10. 2015/08/05
    ranatlas

    ranatlas Inactive Thread Starter

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    Okay, folks - I'm trying not to give up on this issue, but in the process I think I'm getting even more puzzled!

    I just discovered that I can play music tracks on Dropbox and I *do* hear the sound. I cannot get sound on Vimeo, nor on facebook, in addition to YouTube (the latter of which I had mentioned earlier). My attempts at playing tracks on SoundCloud result in the song "hanging" and then I get this message: "There was a problem playing this track ".

    I have tried different web browsers and I get the same results. So it seems that I cannot get audio when there is a video associated with it.... except that I also can't hear sound on SoundCloud. Plus, still no Windows sounds.

    This is so puzzling to me... (sigh)

    PS - Re: no audio on YouTube videos - I have the latest version of Adobe Flash Player on my PC.
     
    Last edited: 2015/08/05
  11. 2015/08/05
    retiredlearner

    retiredlearner SuperGeek WindowsBBS Team Member

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    Hi Randy, just a thought - have you got the latest Codecs? Neil.
     
  12. 2015/08/05
    ranatlas

    ranatlas Inactive Thread Starter

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    Hi Neil,

    Good question - I'm not sure if I do. Will check into this. Thanks!

    In the meantime, I've found that I can hear audio when I use a program called Media Player Classic. But no luck using Windows Media Player.

    Take care,
    Randy
     
  13. 2015/08/05
    ranatlas

    ranatlas Inactive Thread Starter

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    I uninstalled my K-Lite Codec Pack (it was old) and installed the latest version -- this didn't seem to help me at first. But Neil, you may have pointed me in the right direction, because I rebooted and now I am able to go to Start > Control Panel > Sounds and Audio Devices > check Place Volume Icon in the Taskbar, and it lets me put the checkmark in there, without getting an error message. This is the first time in days that I've been able to do this! (Although I still have no Windows sounds...go figure.)

    Also, I searched the web some more and found that a lack of sound could be due to the disappearance of a file named Sndvol32.exe . Sure enough, I was missing this file. I was led to a website where it could be downloaded. So I did that, installed the file into C:\Windows\system32, and tried to use Windows Media Player to play some music. From there, I got an error message which looked kind of suspicious, saying that I need to "click here" to get a file called fhg.CAB in order to use WMP. So I browsed the web to check on the validity of this message and someone had posted on a Q & A site that it is safe to click and get fhg.CAB. I took a chance... and Bingo! Now I can now play audio in Windows Media Player.

    I still can't hear audio on YouTube, etc. but I won't give up trying...

    Many thanks, Neil. Are there any other codecs that I might be overlooking? Or possibly a conflict of codecs, if that's possible?

    Take care,
    Randy
     
    Last edited: 2015/08/05
  14. 2015/08/05
    MrBill

    MrBill SuperGeek WindowsBBS Team Member

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    Do you have the latest version of Adobe Flash Player installed? That is what it takes on You Tube and FB to see their videos till they all get changed over to HTML.
     
  15. 2015/08/05
    retiredlearner

    retiredlearner SuperGeek WindowsBBS Team Member

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    MrBill, you missed this:
    Post #9.
    Randy, glad to see you've got something working. Neil.
     
  16. 2015/08/05
    ranatlas

    ranatlas Inactive Thread Starter

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    Thanks, guys.

    Well, at the Codec Guide website, there is a page called "11 fixes for no sound in Flash videos ", and number 9 says to "check if the file msacm32.drv is present in the C:\Windows\system32 folder. If not, copy it from another PC (that has the same version of Windows) and place the file in the system32 folder."
    My computer is missing this msacm32.drv file.

    The page I'm referring to is this:
    http://www.codecguide.com/fix_for_flash_sound_problems.htm

    What next? Do I need to check around and see if any of my friends are also running Win XP with SP 3, and if so, copy the file from them?

    Good night,
    Randy
     
  17. 2015/08/06
    MrBill

    MrBill SuperGeek WindowsBBS Team Member

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    Your right. Don't remember if you can disable in in IE in the latest version for XP or not.
     
  18. 2015/08/06
    ranatlas

    ranatlas Inactive Thread Starter

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    Hi MrBill,

    Thanks for mentiong that. I will check it out!

    Randy
     
  19. 2015/08/07
    ranatlas

    ranatlas Inactive Thread Starter

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    Looked around in IE, in the latest version for XP, but didn't see where/if I could do the disabling thing. Uninstalled and reinstalled Flash but no luck. Looked for an alternative to Flash, found HTML5 plug-in and that didn't help either.

    Now I'm left with Adobe Flash, and when I try to play YouTube videos I see a Flash logo in the middle of where the video should be (video screen is black except for the Flash logo), video appears to begin to play but then the video screen goes blank and I get "an error occurred" message from YouTube. Also am seeing video ads that have the Flash logo in them -- I click on the logo and the ad plays! No sound, though...

    Still have no sound when I'm at sites where the audio is associated with video. I remembered that SoundCloud has sort of a video for each song -- the volume bars that go up or down when the song is being played (looks kind of like an equalizer). So I think that's why get no sound @ SoundCloud.

    So here's a summary of where I'm at: I do have sound when playing CDs, when I use Windows Media Player (and other programs/apps such as iTunes) to play songs saved on my computer or CDs. I have no Windows sounds such as when I log on to Windows and when I exit Windows, etc. No sound when I'm at sites where the audio is associated with video. I have a speaker icon on my taskbar and when I right-click it, I can get the Volume Control. From Control Panel > Sounds and Audio Devices > Sounds and Audio Devices > Sounds Tab, under Program events, I select a sound but play arrow is greyed out. My computer is missing the file/driver called msacm32.drv .

    Well, that's about it. If I can obtain msacm32.drv , I will try that. Otherwise, I think I will start saving $$ for a new computer. This one has served me well, so I can't complain about the sound issues. I just wish that I/we could figure out what's going on... it's just the sleuth in me. :)

    Thanks,
    Randy
     
    Last edited: 2015/08/07
  20. 2015/08/07
    ranatlas

    ranatlas Inactive Thread Starter

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    Now I can play videos on YouTube using the Chrome browser, but still no sound... and as I type this I can see a Flash logo just above this post, at the upper left.... I clicked on it and it's an a video ad for Disney World.

    I swear I'm not making any of this stuff up...
     
  21. 2015/08/07
    MrBill

    MrBill SuperGeek WindowsBBS Team Member

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    HTML5 is what is replacing Flash. Not all sites are up to date yet. There is nothing to download for HTML5. It just works.
     

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