Confused Guy

I recently had a nasty virus on my computer that was fixed (with infinite gratitude to techsupportforum.com), but one of the side-effects seems to be that some of my sounds do not function. Audio from Java, Windows Media Player, Real Player, iTunes, and Winamp works. Adobe Flash Player and normal system sounds are not functioning. When I open "Sounds and Audio Device Properties" in the control panel, I am unable to play windows sounds (note: the actual "play" button is grayed out).

I have to guess that something was mis-diagnosed and removed (deleted) from the system during an aggressive virus scan.

I'm using Windows XP, purchased with a Dell machine about a 4 months ago (updated as necessary). Not sure if something's missing here, but this is what my device manager lists:
Audio Codecs
Legacy Audio Drivers
Legacy Video Capture Devices
Media Control Devices
SigmaTel High Definition Audio CODEC
Video Codecs

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Deleted090308

Hi

Make sure you have enabled "Sound scheme" in "Sounds and Audio Device Properties" >> Sound tab.
sou.jpg

Also - have a look in C:\WINDOWS\Media. There should be about 40 "wave" files.

Confused Guy

Hi - Thanks for the quick response. I have the sound scheme set to Windows Default. When I highlight any sound that has a speaker icon next to it, the play button in that window stays grey and disabled.

I've got a bunch of audio files in C:\WINDOWS\Media. Ironically, they all work in my media players.

Deleted090308

Try #6 here: http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

Confused Guy

Done. Still no sounds.

Deleted090308

Download and run both these files:
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/regs...toresounds.reg
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/regs_edits/dingfix.reg

Restart the computer.

If that doesn't help:

Download and install the K-Lite Codec Pack (3.7.5 Full).

Click Start >> Programs >> K-Lite Codec Pack >> Configuration >> Codec Tweak Tool.

k-lite.jpg

"Tick" the items marked red in the picture below:

k-lite2.jpg

Click Next and close the Codec tweak tool. Restart the computer.


Still no go? >>>>

Create a new administrator account in Start >> Control panel >> User accounts.

Log off Windows >> then log in to the new account.
Are there system sounds now?

Confused Guy

Tried all the above, to no avail. It's the same issue with the new user (grayed out play button in sound & audio device properties). It's like the computer knows it has sounds to play but can't/won't play them.

Deleted090308

Check if Windows is looking in the right directory (WINDOWS\Media):

Control Panel >> Sounds and audio devices >> Sounds >>
>> Click an event under "Program events", then browse.
Windows should go to the Media folder automatically.
If it doesn't I think you'll have to "reprogram" all the events (associating them with sounds).

systemsounds.jpg

Confused Guy

It's going straight to the "Media" folder. Is it possible that I'm missing drivers?

Confused Guy

bump.

todd perkins

I have the same thing going on . did you get it fixed?

Confused Guy

Not yet. I'm kinda stranded here... Let me know if you hear of anything that works.

brow96

Under Sounds and Multimedia, on the "Audio" Tab, what is your preferred playback device?

If no playback device is selected? Then pick one from the drop down menu. IF there are no selections? Then your sound device is not installed as as far as this Control Panel Applet is concerned.

HTH

Bill

Confused Guy

Hi Bill - Thanks for getting back to me. My sound playback is "SigmaTel Audio." (The only alternate is "Modem #0 Line Playback.") Please advise.

brow96

OK, that means the "sound" drivers are installed. It might be a corrupt installation, but at least it's there!

I need to explain a few things so we both understand things alike. When you press that radio button in the System sound application you are NOT sending that audio (wav) file to any of the "regulation" sound devices, that you are aware of. You are sending it to "KMixer". KMixer is an abbreviation for Kernel Mixer. Not much is known or documented about this system application. It's just a simple SYSTEM sound playback device.

Please read this short article on KMixer:

http://www.file.net/process/kmixer.sys.html

Unfortunately you've been infected with a virus, in the past! There is a good chance that this file is either corrupt or missing, OR even replaced. The file is located here:

C:\Windows\System32\drivers

You might want to see if it's there and see if it's a "Real McCoy" file, i.e. right click on it and bring up the properties of it. Hopefully its there and there is nothing wrong with it.

Sometimes a virus cure is worse than a system crash, i.e you might have to cut off a few things to stop the infection from spreading. Looks like you might have a casualty here. But lets see about fixing it, if possible?

Lets see if the file is there and if it's an MS file. Also, check and note down the file size. Virus and Trojans can be injected into a file.


Bill

Confused Guy

Interesting... What you're saying makes sense, so hopefully we're on the right track.

My kmixer file is a recognized file size (172,416 bytes) and is copyrighted by MicroSoft. Do you want me to try downloading Security Task Manager?

brow96

That's good to hear. Since you've already tried the registry entries for restoring the system sounds, and that didn't work either, then there appears to be nothing wrong with the registry in that regard.

Found this very interesting thread:

http://forums.techguy.org/windows-nt...sic-sound.html

There is more than one solution offered there. many of which worked according to the respondents. It's worth reading, I won't copy it here or repeat all the instructions. Just let us know which one works. I think this has to do with mapping, but as usual, I could be wrong.

HTH

Bill

Confused Guy

So yeah, I know this is a long time coming, but I finally revisited this problem (I'd been living without system/embedded video sounds for a few months now). I re-read the thread you recommended (and ones that it refered to) and finally solved the problem. I think the virus scans deleted "msacm32.drv" from c:\windows\system32. I had to copy it from a different location (c:\i386) into the system32 folder. Once I did that simple operation, all sounds were restored.

THANK YOU!!!