Hi,

Ive got an Asus PC with a M2N E SLI motherboard with built in sound card (CM6501). When i first got it everything was working fine. Then about 2 months ago the sound randomly packed up. Im not a computer wizz so i browsed the net looking for solutions.

I reinstalled new CM6501 drivers, and activated them and that worked because before my PC didnt have the icon in the bottom right hand corner but now it does. Ive worked out that the problem is when i go Control Panel>Sounds and Audio Devices>Audio(tab) everything is blanked out. I cant select anything. In the next tab (hardware) the CM6501 Sound device is working. When i select <Properties> then <Properties>(tab) and click each of the multimedia devies within the CM6501 sound device they each say 'Driver has been enabled but has not been started'. They havent been started but i cant activate them because the Audio tab is all blanked out.

So theres my problem, any help much appreciated. Thanks.

icon in the bottom right hand corner

That is probably now where your sound is now to be configured. Click on the icon to open it up and see.

Ok I can't tell from your post so does your sound currently work at all? Is everything in devices grayed or just the audio related entries?

Its weird my sound works in World of Warcraft, that started working yesterday. But say for instance if i open WMP and click on a song a red cross appears next to the name and an error message comes up saying 'Windows Media Player cannot play the file because there is a problem with your sound device. There might not be a sound device installed on your computer, it might be in use by another program, or it might not be functioning properly.' No sound on the internet either.

And to anser your other question, everything in Volume, Audio and Voice is greyed out completetly. Its really annoying. I cant play any sounds other than WOW basically.

Ok right click on my computer-->manage-->services and applications-->services. Look for any entries that have audio in them such as windows audio. I can't remember off the top of my head what it is called and I'm not running XP. Make sure any audio entries say "started" under status beside them. Also make sure that the startup type is automatic. If they aren't started unless it says disabled you can right click on the entry and select start. If the service isn't set for automatic or is disabled or if the service is "starting" double click on the service. Make sure it says automatic and click start. Or you can click stop and then start. If it is disabled you will first have to change to automatic and then click on apply before you can start the service. If status had said "starting" you will have to stop and then start.

If the audio service(s) are started them WOW might be blocking your audio so I would then try uninstalling it. You can also try uninstalling your drivers, rebooting, and then reinstalling your drivers. You can also try installing the drivers you had on you system before you updated. Good luck.

None of it worked . Its a really weird problem because i definitly have a sound card and it was working way before i got WOW. Then it stopped working so i got new drivers because i saw it advertised on this site and now for some reason only WOW works and i cant work it out.

If you think of anything else will be much appreciated i really need to get this working.

Did you uninstall WOW?

You could always reinstall windows or if it is a desktop you could put in an actual sound card. You indicated that the current one is built in (ie integrated). If your computer is still under warranty I would contact the manufacturer for assistance. However unless WOW has reconfigured it so that sound only works with it then all I know to tell you is to uninstall WOW or reinstall windows. You could try an official WOW forum to see if anyone else has had this problem [I'm sure someone has] and if so what they did about it. We're just a general hardware/OS forum that doesn't specialize on any one game.

Maybe someone else knows and will chime in.

Yeah i did uninstall WOW i geuss ill have to try and reinstall windows and if that doesnt work then ill have to contact the manufacturer.
Thansks for all your help though

I would conract the manufacturer first and/or check out a WOW forum. A windows reinstall should be a last resort.