nhoffman.. you can try this...


This article presents four methods to help you resolve the sound issues. Try the methods in the order in which they are presented. If one does not work, try the next. After you try each method, determine whether you can hear sound. To do this, play an audio file by using a program such as Windows Media Player.

Note Make sure that the output device (speakers or headphones) are plugged in and turned on. Also, make sure that the output device is not on mute and that the volume on the output device and on the program volume control is set high enough so that you can hear sound. Back to the top
Method 1: Try another sound device

If possible, plug a different output device into the computer. For example, if you have been using speakers, try a different pair of speakers or a set of headphones to make sure that the problem is not related to the device itself.

Determine whether you can hear sound. If you can hear sound, there is a problem with the original output device and the issue is resolved. If you cannot hear sound, plug the original output device back into the computer and go to method 2.Back to the top
Method 2: Use the Windows XP Sound Troubleshooter

Windows XP includes a troubleshooting program which could help you resolve your sound issues. Start the Windows XP Sound Troubleshooter automatically or manually and then answer each question on-screen in order to try to find a resolution.Step 1: Start the Sound Troubleshooter

If you are already familiar with Windows XP Help and Support Center, click the following link to start the Sound Troubleshooter: Sound Troubleshooter (hcp://help/tshoot/tssound.htm)
OR

Start Sound Troubleshooter manually by using the following steps:

1. Click Start, and then click Help and Support.
2. Under Pick a Help Topic, click Fixing a problem.
3. In the navigation pane on the left, click Games, sound, and video problems.
4. In the topic pane, on the right side, click Sound Troubleshooter.

Step 2: Use the Sound Troubleshooter

1. Click the option that describes the problem that is occurring, and then click Next.
2. Repeat step 1 until your problem is resolved or until you have reached the end of the troubleshooting path.
   
   Note You can click Back at any time to repeat the last step, or you can click Start Over to start the Sound Troubleshooter again.

Determine whether you can now hear sound. If you can hear sound, the issue is resolved. If you cannot hear sound, try method 3.Back to the top
Method 3: Update your Media Player software

If the sound problem that you are experiencing occurs when you use a media player such as Microsoft Windows Media Player, try updating your media player software. To obtain the latest version of the Windows Media Player, visit the following Microsoft Web site: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/win...Downloads.aspx (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/win...Downloads.aspx)
Determine whether you can now hear sound. If you can hear sound, the issue is resolved. If you cannot hear sound, try method 4.Back to the top
Method 4: Update sound drivers

Out-of-date sound drivers may cause sound problems. Check whether an updated sound driver is available. You can use Microsoft Update to help you determine your current sound driver and if an update is available. Then contact the sound driver hardware or the computer manufacturer to request an updated sound driver.

To find out whether applicable driver updates are available, visit the following Microsoft Windows Update Web site: http://update.microsoft.com (http://update.microsoft.com)
If the sound driver is out of date, follow these steps to find the name and provider of your sound driver:

1. Click Start and then click Run.
2. Type dxdiag in the Open box, and then click OK.
3. Click the Sound tab.
4. Under Device, look for Name, and under Driver, look for Provider.
5. Click Exit.

Contact the manufacturer of the sound driver to request an updated sound driver.

For information about your hardware manufacturer, visit the following Web site:Hardware and software vendor contact information (Hardware and software vendor contact information)
Microsoft provides third-party contact information to help you find technical support. This contact information may change without notice. Microsoft does not guarantee the accuracy of this third-party contact information. Back to the top

NEXT STEPSIf these methods did not work for you, you can use the Microsoft Customer Suppor...


If these methods did not work for you, you can use the Microsoft Customer Support Services Web site to find other solutions to your problem. Some services that the Microsoft Customer Support Services Web sites provide include the following:

• Searchable Knowledge Base (Advanced Search) : Search technical support information and self-help tools for Microsoft products.
• Frequently Asked Questions (Help and Support) : View product-specific frequently asked questions and support highlights.
• Microsoft Product Support Newsgroups (Microsoft Newsgroups: Find a Newsgroup for Your Language or Area) : Contact counterparts, peers, and Microsoft Most Valuable Professionals (MVPs).
• Other Support Options (Help and Support) : Use the Web to ask a question, contact Microsoft Customer Support Services, or provide feedback.

If you continue to have sound problems, you might want to contact Support:Help and Support (Help and Support)
Back to the top

MORE INFORMATIONFor more information about how to troubleshoot sound issues in Windows XP, clic...


For more information about how to troubleshoot sound issues in Windows XP, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 279819 (ISA Non-Plug and Play Sound Cards Are Not Detected ) ISA non-plug and play sound cards are not detected
306317 (Troubleshooting playback in Windows Media Player for Windows XP ) Troubleshooting playback in Windows Media Player for Windows XP
236396 (Error message when you try to play a video file that contains audio in Windows Media Player: "Cannot play back the audio stream: no audio hardware is available" ) Windows Media Player cannot play back the audio stream
812394 (How to troubleshoot sound-related issues in Microsoft games ) How to troubleshoot sound-related issues in Microsoft games


Music and sound help with Windows 7 (Music and sound - Help & How-to - Microsoft Windows)
No audio in Windows Vista (No Sound in Windows)
No audio device error message in Windows Vista (No Sound in Windows)
Sound problems in Windows XP (How to troubleshoot sound problems in Windows XP) Back to the top

APPLIES TO

• Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
• Microsoft Windows XP Professional

Back to the top
Keywords:

kbresolve kbenv kbinfo kbtshoot kbsound KB307918
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Provide feedback on this information

good luck J

nhoffman50... i found this too...



How to Troubleshoot Sound Problems in Windows XP

March 2, 2009 by Anthony
Filed under: Windows XP



No modern PC can and should do without sound. Windows XP as well as a lot of applications use sounds to give feedback to the user, or to signal an event happening. And when you play an MP3 file or watch some video, you definitely want to hear sound from your speakers or headset. Another typical area where sound problems can come up is while making voice calls over the internet. Skype, AI, MSN, Yahoo, GoogleTalk, the all are very suited for voice calls.
When you are facing audio problems, a structured way of finding the cause can be helpful. We will skip the steps where you check if everything is plugged properly, since that should always be the case. If your audio card uses jack sensing technology, make sure you select the proper device when asked about it (when plugging devices). Follow the green = speakers, pink = microphone and things should be okay.
Steps to Fix Sound Problems

• If you have an onboard audio card, you need to make sure the onboard audio device is enabled in the Bios. Instruction will vary per motherboard, so you need to follow the instructions in your PC or motherboard manual for this. If you are using a separate sound card, the onboard should be disabled of course!
• In Windows XP, open the Device Manager (open the Control Panel -> double-click the System icon -> in System Properties dialog box, select Hardware tab -> click Device Manager button).
• In the Device Manager, open the “Sound, video and game controllers” group. Here you should see your audio device as shown in the image.
• If the sound device is not listed, check if any devices are listed in the “Other devices” or “Unknown devices” group, most likely with a yellow exclamation mark.
• If the device is not listed or if devices are listed under the “Unknown devices” group, the most likely cause is a missing or incorrect device driver. If you have the sound driver for the sound device, (re)install the sound drivers. If you do not have the drivers the easiest method is to use a driver update tool.
• If updating the drivers does not work, you need to find the cause of the problematic device.
• If the sound device is listed in the Device Manager, and you still do not have sound, first open the Control Panel.
• In the Control Panel, double-click “Sounds and Audio Devices”.
• In the first screen, with the Volume tab active, make sure the Mute checkbox is not selected and that the volume slider is close to High.
• Next, click the Advanced button, and in the Advanced Audio Properties dialog box, make sure you have a valid Speaker setup. At least make sure it is not set to “No speakers”. Click OK when done.
• Now click the Speaker Volume button. Both the Left and Right speaker volume should be close to High. Click OK when done.
• Next, select the Audio tab in the Sounds and Audio Devices Properties dialog box.
• In the Sound playback group, you want to set the Default device to your sound card device. Part of the name will normally match with the name you found in the device manager.
  Also click the Volume button in the Sound playback group and adjust the Volumes to a high enough level. The Volume Control will show the mixer, which does depend on the audio device installed. The sample has a SoundMax audio card. Clear all the Mute checkboxes.
  
• You can repeat these steps for the MIDI music playback.
• Although not a frequent problem, check if the Audio Service is running:
  • Select Administrative Tools in the Control Panel.
  • Then double-click Component Services, which will open a separate window.
  • In the left-hand pane, click Services (Local).
  • In the right-hand pane, scroll down to the Windows Audio service and make sure it is not disabled. If necessary, right-click Windows Audio, in the popup menu select Properties and then set the startup type to Automatic.
• If you have sound problems in games, you can check the sound card resources. Especially older games have limited detection of sound cards in respect to resources (IRQ, I/O address range).

Test Sound with an Application

With these steps, you have checked and adjusted the sound setup in Windows XP. If sound problems still persist, chances are there are problems with the sound settings in the application you are using. If the sound problems are present for all applications, there probably is something wrong with the hardware.
The best application to test your sound setup with is the Windows Media Player, as it will use the standard Windows sound setup, which you just verified and adjusted.
One setting in the Windows Media Player that needs to be verified is the DirectSound device.

• Open the Windows Media Player.
• In the Media Player, select Options in the Tools menu (press the Alt key to show the menu if not visible).
• In the Options dialog box, select the Devices tab.
• Now select the Speakers device and click the Properties button.
• In the Speaker Properties dialog box, select the audio device to use for Sound playback. By default it will have Default DirectSound Device selected, but you can change it to the DirectSound device that is listed for your audio device.
  Also clear the Use 24-bit audio for audio CDs for now to make sure that this Performance setting is not causing any problems.
• Click OK to close the Speaker Properties and then click OK again to close the Options dialog box.

For testing purposes, use an audio file that was installed with Windows XP. These audio samples are standard audio files, which do not require any additional or special audio codes.
Other applications that use sound will normally have a similar option to change the sound device selection and volume. For games, the sound setup is particularly sensitive. The right and latest device driver is often required.
Audio and Video Codecs

When a computer plays an audio or video file, it will decode the audio or video data to be played with the sound device. Each different audio and video format requires its own decoder, or codec. One of the possible problems with no sound is that the right audio codec or video codec is not installed.
If your standard audio files do play, but a certain MP3, AVI or WMV file does not produce audio, the first thing to try is to install missing codecs. You can try and find out which codec is required and then find and install that code, but luckily there are a number of codec packages that can be downloaded and installed.
One of the most used codec packages is the K-Lite Codec Pack. With that installed most audio and video should play without problems … and with sound. There are more of course, a quick internet search can help you find others.
Find Out Which Sound Card Is Installed

Knowing exactly what type of sound card is installed in your computer can be of great help in looking for solutions to sound problems. It can help you find the right sound driver, look up software and maybe help search the internet for more targetted problem descriptions based on manufacturer and model.
One handy way of finding out which sound card is installed is to use a program like Belarc Advisor. It will analyze your system and tell you about your hardware and software.





found this too... J

Hello Nhoffman! Welcome to the Forum!

I see Big J has found some info for you (thanks Big J!)

If you require further help with this I will open the thread for you to gain a techs input

Regards,

Smokeycheech