Running Windows ME..no more speaker sound

Hello all. My name is Paul and I need someone's help please.....

I am running Windows ME on an HP desktop pc ( and AOL 8.0 ).

My computer was taken into shop because I was having all kinds of problems with AOL 9.0 BUT even the techs there told me that they could not successfully install AOL 9.0 either, so they re-installed 8.0 and cleaned up my computer. When I got home I realized that I have NO MORE sound from my desktop speakers, and to more SPEAKER Icon at the bottom left of the taskbar next to the time. ( This happened about 3 yrs. ago also but my daughter got it going from the help of a 'chat room' ). When I click MY COMPUTER, then Click SOUNDS AND MULTIMEDIA, looking at the SOUNDS tab I have the SCHEME set up to be 'windows default, When I look at the AUDIO tab, the 'sound playback preferred device' (speaker) is shaded in gray and it says 'No Playback Devices'......the 'sound recording preferred device' (microphone) is also shaded in gray and says 'No Recording Devices'...and the 'MIDI Music Playback' has nothing in the 'Preferred Device' area. Then when I look at the 'VOICE' tab,'Preferred Device' is shaded in gray and says 'No Playback Devices' (Speaker)...and the 'Voice Capture' shaded in gray says 'No Recording Devices' (microphone). ( Though I really don't care about the mic, I would LOVE to get my SOUND and SPEAKER Icon back again ). Lastly, in that window, I go to the 'DEVICES' tab, and it shows me all the Multimedia Drivers. I close out that window, double click the 'SYSTEM' icon in Control Panel, click 'System Properties' and look at the 'DEVICE MANAGER' tab, it "looks" okay to me, and the 'Sound, video and game controllers' section info "looks" okay. ( but I am just a beginner ). Can anyone please help me ? I'd appreciate any feedback...even at my AOL e-mail address.
PS - Even the tech guy from the shop could not help me out..He did not know much at all about Windows ME. Thanks, Paul

 

I expect the "greyed out" means the drivers are not installed (or the wrong drivers are installed).

Identify the audio hardware correctly. First you will need to find if the audio is "on-board" or "add-in ". Looking at the back of the computer, is the audio in one of the add-in card slots or part of the motherboard connectors?

I expect it is not an add-in audio card, and so, an audio chip on the motherboard. Either way, you will need to identify the audio hardware and find the correct (more likely, updated) drivers for it.


One method...you can find the chip that runs audio and put the information printed on the chip into a websearch.

For on-board audio you will find the drivers at the manufacturer of the motherboard's website. If it is a branded computer, like a HP, Dell, Compaq, etc, you should find the audio drivers at their website (Edit: I reread and see it is a HP, look on the HP website). If it is a "built" computer you will need to identify the motherboard (are there any disks or manuals that came with the computer?).

As I said, I expect that either the drivers are not installed for the audio or the wrong drivers are installed.

Matt
AOL...mmm, me, I try to avoid it.