Saturday, January 12, 2013

Fix Sound Errors in Windows XP

Fix Sound Errors in Windows XP:
With sound and video bring ubiquitous on the internet, in voice and video email, in computer games and even many of the latest applications, working sound has almost become a necessity to use your computer. Sound causes more problems than any other single thing on every personal computer operating system.

Symptoms

A computer with sound problems will display one or several of the following symptoms:
  • There is no sound at all
  • The sound keeps fading in and out
  • The sound seems to skip or jump on everything you try to play
  • The sound is distorted or scratchy on everything you try to play
  • The computer freezes or reboots if you try to play sound
  • You receive one of the following error messages:
    • MIDI output error detected
    • No wave device that can play files in the current format is installed
    • The CD Audio device is in use by another application
    • WAV sound playback error detected
    • Your audio hardware cannot play files like the current file

Solutions for Sound Problems in XP

There are several common methods to troubleshoot and repair you windows XP sound problems:
  • Use the Windows Troubleshooter
  • Update sound card drivers
  • Update your media Player
  • Install a new sound card

Use the Windows Troubleshooter

Windows XP has a built in troubleshooter. To use this feature perform the following steps:
  • Click Start and then select Help and Support
  • Under Pick a Help Topic, select Fixing a problem in the window shown below
  • In the navigation pane, on the left, click Games, sound, and video problems as shown in the picture below.
  • In the topic pane, on the right, click Sound Troubleshooter

  • The window shown below will open. Select the option that describes the problem that is occurring, and then click Next.
  • Repeat the steps for each condition until your problem is resolved or until you have reached the end of the troubleshooting path.

You can click Back at any time to repeat the last step, or you can click Start Over to start the Sound Troubleshooter again. If your sound is still not working, try the next method.

Update the Sound Card Drivers

The easiest way to check your drivers is to use the DirectX diagnostic tool. To run the tool do the following:
  • Click Start -> Run, type dxdiag in the Open box, and then click OK. The screen below will open.
  • Click on the Sound tab. The window shown below will open.

  • Click on Test DirectSound. Repeat the test on the Music tab as shown below for item listed in the Test Using this Port box.

Alternately you can go to:
  • Start -> Run -> Control Panel
  • Click on the System icon
  • Select Hardware
  • Click on the Device Manager Button
  • Open the Sound, Video and Game Controllers as show below
  • Right click on each device and select Update Driver as shown below
  • The driver wizard will open as shown below
  • Follow the directions to update the drivers.
  • Repeat the process for each device
If you are still having problems then try the next method.

Update Your Media Player

If you are using Window Media Player, go to the Microsoft website and download the latest version. For other media players such as Real Player, iTunes, Quick Time and VLC media Player, go to the publisher’s website and download and install the latest version.
If that doesn’t fix the problem then try the next method.

Install New Hardware

If you got this far, you most likely have a hardware problem. Either you sound cable, your speakers or your sound card is bad. We tried all of the repairs that were free in the preceding methods. Perform the following steps to test your sound.
Borrow a known good sound cable and replace the one on your system. If the sound works, buy a new cable.
If not, leave the good cable installed and borrow known good speakers and replace your speakers. If the sound works, buy new speakers.
Next, either borrow a known good sound card and replace your sound card. If it is a different card than the one you have, make sure you install the correct drivers for the sound card before testing the sound. If the sound works, replace your sound card.
If the sound still doesn’t work, either buy a new computer (you probably need a new motherboard) or take your computer to a repair shop and let see if they can fix the problem since they have equipment that can test all of the hardware components.

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