My sound selectively works. Some programs never have sound, some always do - there are none that sometimes work/sometimes don't.

Anecdotal stuff:
System sounds never work - I can't even try to get them to play. If I go to the Control Panel, open Sounds and Audio Devices, click on the Sounds tab, and choose a sound (ie, asterisk), the 'play' button is greyed out. It doesn't matter if the scheme or the sound itself is from Windows or custom.

There is no sound from MSN messenger or MSN explorer, or from videos watched on YouTube, or any of the games that come with Windows XP (freecell, solitaire, etc).

But, I can play videos with Windows media player and the sound works fine, and it always works when I'm playing The Sims 2. Videos watched on filecabi.net have working sound. Games downloaded or played from MSN games have sound.

Technical stuff:
The sound card is Realtek AC'97. I have gone through all of the steps of the troubleshooter Windows has, and it was unable to solve the problem. All the sounds and music work fine when I use DirectX Diagnostic tool. I tried rolling back the drivers, and installing new drivers for the sound card, but neither worked. The volume icon doesn't appear in the tray, even though the option "Place volume icon in the taskbar" is checked. When I access the volume control from the control panel, nothing is muted and all the volumes are on high.

Thanks so much to anyone who has any suggestions!

Sorry for the delayed response but if you are still having problems:

Go to start Run... dxdiag and open the Sound tab.

What is listed under Device?

Also what is the make and model of the computer?

Try running this scan:

http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html

Post back what is listed under these headings:

System Model

Main Circuit Board

Multimedia

Thanks for your response. I am definitely still having this problem - I've had it for months. It's not *extremely* important - as long as my Sims game has sound, I'm good - but it would be nice to hear my log on music again. I'm more curious about the problem than anything, since I've had a few geeks look at it and they've run out of ideas.

Device
Name: Realtek AC97 Audio
Decide ID: PCI\VEN_1106DEB_3059SUBSYS_810A1043REV_6
Manufacturer ID: 1
Product ID: 100
Type: WDM
Default Device: Yes

Sysyem Model
HP Pavilion 061 PC028A-ABA A620N 0nB1211RE101KELUT00
System Serial Number: MXK43105TZ NA430
Enclosure Type: Desktop

Main Circuit Board
Board: ASUSTek Computer INC. Kelut 2.02
Bus Clock: 200 megahertz
BIOS: Phoenix Technologies, LTD 3.08 06/11/2004

Multimedia: Realtek AC'97 Audio for VIA (R) Audio Controller

Thanks again for your response.

Do you know your exact Pavilion model #? e.g. Pavilion 2700 Desktop PC etc.

Also: what was the source of the previous drivers that you have tried?

Here are two possibilites that I find:

1.a) Please click the "Start" menu => click "Run" => type "cmd" <without
quotation marks> and click "OK".

b) Copy or type the following commands into the prompt window:

Cacls %WINDIR% /E /C /T /G EVERYONE:F (Press Enter Key)

Exit (Press Enter Key)



2. Try the options here: (scroll down to):

Question: Where did my Sounds go?

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/top10faqs2.htm

Thanks for the quick response!

The front of the computer says hp pavilion a620n.

The drivers were from Realtek's site, http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/...etDown=false#1, the first download. I see now it's been updated again, so I've downloaded the updated driver - with no change.

When I paste into the command prompt Cacls %WINDIR% /E /C /T /G EVERYONE:F and press enter, I am given the message
'Cacls' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.

I tried everything from kellys-korner - downloaded all the registry edits - but unfortunately nothing fixed my problem.

Thanks so much for all of your help.

Try the driver listed at HP:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/s...424215&lang=en

cacls is an external command controlling permissions on the computer. Perhaps this is only valid in XP Pro I am not sure. The point was perhaps your sound options at to System Sounds were restricted from your user. The above command should have given permission to everyone.

That does raise another point though. You could try another user or log onto the main Administrator account just to see if this is a particular user issue.

One other user on the computer is having the same problem - I can't access the other two to check. All users are administrators.

The driver from HP didn't work.

Thnaks again for your suggestions!

Is this Home or Pro?

Would one of the other users have set such restrictions?

It's Home.

I really doubt they would have set such restrictions. These restrictions were not in place before - I used to have a custom sound scheme that worked fine. The problem began a few months ago - I can't recall what could have started it, unfortunately.