3 year old Toshiba Satellite laptop, XP SP2, auto-update

The symptoms:

1) Flash animations will play, but not the sound; thereby making sites like UTUBE unavailable.
2) When trying to record a narration in PowerPoint, nothing records.

The likely cause of the symptoms:

The windows sndrec32.exe file seems to be corrupted. When I open sndrec32.exe it will not play or record; it simply displays the user interface.

Things I have done:

I have replaced my copy of sndrec32.exe with a version from another computer with a working version of sndrec.32.exe. It did not fix the problem.

In fact, it seems that Windows is automatically replacing a copy of sndrec32.exe whenever I attempt to rename the old corrupted file. And the new uncorrupted file seems to be automatically corrupted.

I have checked the MS database and searched the WEB for info on this problem and have found no answers.

I have run "sfc /scannow" with no change in the function of sndrec32.exe.

I reinstalled Flash and ran a Flash repair program.

I reinstalled PowerPoint.

Any suggestions?

When you open sndrec32.exe are you choosing File > Open > C:\WINDOWS\Media > etc. ?

I don't think sndrec32.exe would have any bearing on online audio.

Do you have normal system sounds and other audio output?

Do you have any third party audio/video programs? e.g. Nero etc.

Thanks for taking a look:

When you open sndrec32.exe are you choosing File > Open > C:\WINDOWS\Media > etc. ?

Start> Run> sndrec32.exe
or
C:\Winows\System 32\sndrec.exe (double click)

Do you have normal system sounds and other audio output?

Yes, I can record using other audio programs.

Do you have any third party audio/video programs?

I have a Audigy 2 PCMCIA sound card, Gold Wave and a few other sound programs, and programs like MediaPlayer, Winamp and iTunes work fine.

I don't know when the problem began, because I have not used Flash or PowerPoint for a long time, till just recently. There could be a third party conflict, but where? How would I find it?

I'm not sure if the Flash is related to sndrec32, but PowerPoint definately uses it for its narration feature, and neither the narration feature nor sndrec32 work.


Thanks

I bit the bullet and paid for MS support to handel this.

They have informed me that there are known issues with PowerPoint sound for those who have installed SP2 for XP and SP3 for Office. However, they have suggested I contact PP support directly for that.

They are working with me on the Flash/no sound issue. It's not fixed yet, but here are the things they asked me to do and the results so far.

Step 1: Let us check the device's status by the following steps:

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1. Click Start, click Run, input "DEVMGMT.MSC" (without quotation marks), and then press Enter.

2. Double-click "Sound, video and game controllers" to expand it.

3. Double-click the installed Sound Card to open its Properties.

4. On the General tab, please check the message in the Device Status section.



Everything OK here.



Step 2:

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Then, if the device is working properly, please follow these steps to check the sound settings:



1. Click Start, click Run, input "MMSYS.CPL" (without quotation marks), and then press Enter.

2. Click the Audio tab, check "use only default devices", and click Apply. (Already checked)

3. Click the Volume tab, remove the check mark from the Mute box, and click Apply. (Already checked)

4. Click the Sound tab, choose one Program event with a volume icon before it and click the play button which looks like a triangle on it.

What is the result? (Will not play sound. The play icon is there, but it does not get dark, indicating its ability to play, nor does it play. I also changed the sounds for an event, but it would not play either.)

5. Put a check mark next to the "Place volume icon in the taskbar, and click OK. (Already checked)



In addition, please double check all cable connections between the sound card and speakers. Please make sure the speakers are correctly connected and the power is on. (All working)

More later

More instructions from MS that did not fix the problem ... yet.

1. Click the link below to download the file and save it to desktop.

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/regs...toresounds.reg

Please Note: The third-party product discussed here is manufactured by a company that is independent of Microsoft. We make no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding this product's performance or reliability.

2. Double click the file restoresounds.reg on desktop..

3. Click Yes in the pop-up window.

Let’s check the system event sound. What is the result?

It did not enable sound with system events.

Let’s disable all startup items and third party services when booting. This method will help us determine if this issue is caused by a loading program or service.

a. Click Start, go to Run, and type "msconfig" in the open box to start the System Configuration Utility.

b. Click the Services tab, check the "Hide All Microsoft Services" box and click Disable All (if it is not gray).

c. Click the Startup tab, click Disable All and click OK.

Then, restart your computer. When the "System Configuration Utility" window appears, please check the "Don't show this message or launch the System Configuration Utility when Windows starts" box and click OK.

Note: Temporarily disabling the Startup Group only prevents the startup programs from loading at startup. This shouldn't affect the system or other programs. We may still manually run these programs later.

Let’s try to play flash and PowerPoint file. What is the result?

I tried using Flash in FireFox 1.5 & IE 7, no sound, only images.
PowerPoint does not play.
Sound Recorder (sndrec32.exe) GUI appears, but does not record or play. Will open wav files, but will not play them.

If the issue persists after we disable the items, please not run step two and return from a Clean Boot state with the steps below.

============

1. Click "Start"->"Run", type "MSCONFIG" (without quotation marks) and press ENTER.

2. On the "General" tab, click "Normal Startup - load all device drivers and services".

3. Click "OK". Click Restart when you are prompted to restart your computer.

On start-up I received the error notice “Fail to find THOTKEY, Error Code 0x00031402,0x00000002
I tried using Flash in FireFox 1.5 & IE 7, no sound, only images.
PowerPoint does not play.
Sound Recorder (sndrec32.exe) GUI appears, but does not record or play. Will open wav files, but will not play them.