Are There Any Computer Experts Out There ?

by hjm218
10 replies
Hi all,

I can't get any sound.

My computer recently had some strange sofware problems
so I had to have windows removed and re-installed by a
repair company. They said it needed to be completely 'wiped'

The computer is working fine now but when I tried to install
windows media player I'm told that I can't because the
windows that's been re-installed isn't my original, it's one
that the repair people used.

Is there any other way of getting my sound back without
having to have to start again from scratch ? Is there an
alternative to media player, or maybe contact the software
people ?

I know I could take it back and make them use my original
windows and start all over again but I could do without all
the hassle.

Apart from this the computer is working really well now.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

John
#computer #experts
  • Profile picture of the author BIG Mike
    Banned
    [DELETED]
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    • Profile picture of the author DaveDunn
      while in control panel have you checked the 'sounds and audio devices'?

      This should be set to your sound card as the output.

      Also in the taskbar have you checked whether the audio is just muted?

      You can double click the speaker icon and it should bring up a mixer.

      Sometimes the 'wave' output might be turned down.

      Hope this helps

      Dave
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  • Profile picture of the author Keegahn
    If you're interested in switching software I personally use foobar2000 for audio and Media Player Classic for video - both are free. VLC is a decent media player as well.
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  • Profile picture of the author Solidsnake
    Banned
    Your problem is not with windows media player but on the sound driver... You can have a better answer to this at Annoyances.org.

    I has the same problem but I managed to remeber my sound driver and I was able to install it..

    You may try it also:
    VIA Vinyl AC'97 Codec Combo Driver - Free software downloads and reviews - CNET Download.com
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  • Profile picture of the author sarthakbehl
    Are the sound card drivers even installed properly? That might be the problem...

    -Sarthak
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  • Profile picture of the author kazakhan
    How to update a sound card driver in Windows Vista and in Windows XP
    Try letting it find a driver automatically, which will be an option during the "wizard".
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    • Profile picture of the author Stangracer
      You can go to device manager and see if the sound card is installed properly. To get to device manager on Windows Vista you can go to control panel.

      To get to device manager on Windows XP you need to right click My Computer then go to properties. Click on the hardware tab on top then device manager.

      You will see in the list of devices towards the bottom 'sound card'.

      If there is a little yellow ! next to the sound card, then you need to install or repair the sound driver.

      It will also tell you which sound card you have so you can do a Google search and find a driver to install.

      If you can't figure out if it is and / or how to update the sound driver, you can always use your disk and do a restore to factory settings.

      It will basically reload your original software including sound driver back on your machine.

      This is usually pretty simple to do.

      When you put your disk in it should boot to it automagically and ask if you want to do a restore to factory default.

      You say yes and follow the instructions.

      You can put the disk in and then boot the machine also and it should boot to the disk.

      The other alternative would be when you first boot your machine it may say on the screen something like "Press F11 to start recovery"

      It comes up fast and only lasts a few seconds. Push whatever "F" button is says to push then just follow the instructions.

      It is designed for non-computer people and usually very easy to do.

      No need to take it back to the repair company.

      That would be the last resort, but doable.

      Good luck...
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      • Profile picture of the author hjm218
        Many thanks for all the replies - they're much appreciated.

        I will try out some of the suggestions and see if I can fix
        it myself

        Regards to all.

        John
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  • Profile picture of the author Afton Davies
    Are you getting this problem when you connect to Microsoft and attempt to get the latest version of Windows Media Player? If that is the case, then it sounds like an Activation problem. MS is now putting things into Windows that forces you to activate the product so they know you have a genuine copy and not a pirated one.

    If you have a System Restore Disk, plug it in and then do a Restore.... This will give you a valid version of Windows, but it will also wipe your drive and reinstall Windows.
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  • Profile picture of the author zachary0611
    Device manger usually fixes those problems or you can use system restore
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