Hey,

I've recently been helping my Dad sort out his computer with some problems, most of these were solved with a quick registry and spyware scan. However, this latest problem has me perplexed.

There was a recent Windows Update download and it installed various Adobe software (since removed) and updated Internet Explorer to version 7, although it said that it was an update to Outlook Express from version 6 to 7.

We were happy enough with version 6..... !

The update/download was about 3 or 4 weeks ago, and although the computer has not been used much generally, certainly not with any sound switched on, an audible " peep " alarm has since that time switched itself on, and was not there before the update/download.

I've been looking at the Device Manager and it says the sound card is working properly, checked properties and run through the troubleshooter. However, when i try to play music, Windows Media Player gives me an error saying that there is no sound card or that it is being used elsewhere.

Any ideas?

Windows update should not have loaded any Adobe software. Just curious: what were these programs?

Also Microsoft deemed IE7 a Critical Update for XP SP2 as a Security upgrade.
It is in Add/Remove Programs if you want to go back to IE6.

When do you here this BEEP? Most computers BIOS beep once at startup indicating a successful BIOS POST.

All that being said I would reload your Audio driver. To do that we need to know the make and model of the computer as the drivers will be on the manufacturer's web site.

hi again jephree,

Yeah, the Adobe stuff that got installed was a Adobe Photoshop Album Starter Edition 3.0. All the pictures files we have on the computer were instantly associated with it, and our Hewlett-Packard Scan options now wont open due to this installation. You click HP Director to open it and nothing happens, the same with HP Photo and Imaging Director, however the HP Photo & Imaging continues to work.

The "BEEP" occurs at some random times, when we get a system error, when you want to empty the recycle bin - essentailly any notification.

Back to the sound card, when we try to play music in WMP the following error message pops up:

"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."

Does this mean that we just have to reinstall the sound card????

Most likely you just need to reinstall the drivers.

If it is a PCI Sound Card that you added to the computer then we need to know the make and model of the card.

If you did not add such a card then we need to know the make and model of the computer or motherboard (if custom built).

Either the computer manufacturer or the motherboard manufacturer or the card manufacturer will have the drivers on their web site.

I don't know which thing is the sound card, here's a list of what comes up in the device manager.

Audio Codecs
C-Media AC97 Audio Device
Legacy Audio Drivers
Legacy Video Capture Devices
Media Contol Devices
MPU-401 Compatible MIDI Device
Standard Game Port
Video Codecs

I guess that the C-Media Device is the sound card, is this right??

PS. I have a motherboard installation disk - do you think this would have the soundcard drivers on???

I guess that the C-Media Device is the sound card, is this right??

That is your sound device. It is an on-board chip rather than a card but many people refer to all audio devices as cards.

I have a motherboard installation disk - do you think this would have the soundcard drivers on???

Yes. Open the CD and browse to Drivers. Audio AC97 C-Media.

Thanks Jephree,

I'll try it later today. Hopefully it will work

No joy im afraid.

I started the motherboard disk like you said, selected the Media Device in the menu that popped up. The computer restarted and there was no windows "log-on" tone. Tehn, we treid to play music and we got the same WMP error message as before:

"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."

I went to Device Manager and there was a little yellow "!" by the device. It told me to update so i did (from the disk). I restarted yet again and now im back to where i was before with the same error message as above and still no sound.

Any ideas???

PS. Ive tried changing the speakers to another pair and still nothing. The Sound and Audio Devices in Control Panel says that there is no default device installed, even though I just did it!!

PPS. Everything ove tried so far hasnt worked. Do you think that we should uninstall the audio driver and try again? Everytime ive reinstalled it, its said its still there even tho it isnt....

What is the make and model of your motherboard?

Is there an option on that CD to load all drivers?

If so try that. Perhaps your chipset drivers need reinstalling as well.

My motherboard is a ASRock AMD-SiS Series Motherboard and it when I insert the CD I get the following options:

"SiS AGP PCI-to-PCI Bridge Driver
SiS PCI 10/100Mb Lan Driver
SiS USB 2.0 Driver
C-Media AC'97 Audio Driver and Application"

Any use??

Also ive tried reinstalling the sound card a few times as well. Firstly I removed it in Device Manager then used the motherboard disk to reinstall. Upon the near completion of the install I got a "Found New Hardware Wizard" box appear showing an error:

"Found New Hardware Wizard
Cannot start this hardware
There was a problem installing this device

C-Media AC'97 Audio Driver

Windows cannot load the diver for the hardware
The driver may be corupted or missing (Code 39)"

This was at the end of what seemed to be a perfect installation.

Also, when the driver does install, it always comes up with a little "!" in the device manager. When I update the driver as prompted the "!" goes, but im still left with the same problem.

I've also removed and installed using the Windows "Add New Hardware Wizard". It looked promising to start with, but as soon as i restarted as prompted, the little "!" had gone yet I still had the same problem.

Hope this helps sort it out.

PS. I also noticed that when i explored the drivers folder on the disk there is no Windows XP driver, closest I could find were Win_95, Win_98,Win_NT40 and another folder called WDM

All of these save Win_NT40 contained the file cmuda.sys - i did some research and it seems this is the driver - I'm just wondering if the reason is because I need an XP version???