Windows XP Home SP3 Sound Problem

I have WMP 11 and it has all of a sudden stopped working. When I open a music file MP3 WMP 11 opens and it says it is missing a Codec file and can go to web help and when I get there it says there is nothing to download. I re-installed WMP 11 and still get the same result. I have also discovered that my Windows sounds are not playing. I went to the sounds in Control Panel and when I highlight a windows sound the small arrow is not highlighted to test the sound. I checked my speakers and they do work. So far only in ITUNES
I do have ITUNES and that works fine. I also have Pinnacle Studio and opened up a movie I captured and played it and the sound works there. I also went to YouTube and played a file but there is no sound there.
Any idea what is wrong?

Thanks for your help.

Go here and download the Codec pack.

http://www.free-codecs.com/K_lite_co...k_download.htm

I donwloaded K-Lite Codec 4.8.5 Full and installed. It did not change anything. All is the same as it was. The items that were playing still do, however the issue is not resolved.
I now have a program called Media Player Classic on my desktop after installing K-lite. My MP3's do play on that. Is there something in this program I need to change so that all works?
Thanks for your help

Note: I have Realtec AC97 Audio. While poking around I see it is not digitally signed, if that helps

Also in device manager if I double click Audio Codecs it says location unknown.

I had a similar problem once and the Codec pack did it for me--sorry it didn't work for you.
I don't kow what else to tell you to do--but--there are a lot of extremely knowledgeable people here so I'm sure someone will solve this for you.

Good luck

Hopefully someone else will reply with a solution. I have tried everything I know of.
Please Help!!
Thanks

So let me see if I can help, so far the only program that your not getting audio from is your Windows Media Player 11 right? And your system is a Windows XP 32bit or 64bit? Home or Professional? There is no "!" listed in your hardware profile is there?

Windows XP Home SP3 32 Bit. I am not getting sound in WMP 11, also no systems sounds (when windows starts or shutsdown). If I go to youtube and play something there is no sound. I do have sound when I open ITUNES and I also get sound if I play a movie I did in Pinnacle Studio.

I went to the sounds in Control Panel and when I highlight a windows sound the small arrow is not highlighted to test the sound. I checked my speakers and they do work.

I have been doing some reading online and came accross this.
regsvr32.exe l3codeca.acm. I did a search for this and I cannot find it. Although I do not think this would solve everything. Does that mean anything.

I still think it's the sound card drivers. Instead of just reinstalling them from your CD go into device mgr and uninstall the sound card. Then reboot and let windows install the drivers for you.. you may then need to stick the CD into the drive for Windows to find it... but there are probably default windows drivers that will work too.

Your sound card will likely show up as Soundmax integrated digital audio in device mgr.

I have done that already and installed from the CD. Still no cure yet.

typically when things start going strange with system sounds (test button greyed out) it's got something to do with the sound card or its drivers.

I'm not sure what else to suggest unless maybe you can borrow a pci sound card to see if that works.

I do not have a seperate sound card, it is through the motherboard. Maybe someone else has some ideas. You never know.

I do not have another card to try. I tried to do a system restore and that did not work. There must be some type of file that is missing. Any thoughts on that would be appreciated.

The only other thing I can suggest that hasn't already would be to uninstall wmp11 and go back to what you used previously (9 or 10?). It can be uninstalled in add/remove programs.

I uninstalled WMP 11 and went to the Microsoft website and installed WMP 10. That now works, so one thing is fixed. Question, in My music folder all my mp3 icons have now changed to the wmp icon. Can I change them back to the MP3 Icon and if so , how?
I still have no systems sounds and I also went to YouTube to play something and I get no sounds. Same when shutting down or restarting the computer.

Have you tried an sfc/scannow? You'll need your XP cd.. that will replace any system files that are damaged or missing.

http://www.updatexp.com/scannow-sfc.html

Which mp3 icons did you have? different players give them different icons.

I tried the sfc /scannow however it says I have the wrong CD. I have had my original Windows XP Home CD for years. Since then my machine has been reformatted a few times and other CD's have been used to re-install using my serial number. Is there a way around this?
As far as the MP3 Icons I guess it does not matter. They did say MP3 on the icon before I installed WMP10.

Quote:

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Is there a way around this?

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You'll need the CD for the version of XP you're running. You could borrow one if
necessary.

So if I have Windows XP Home SP3 I need the SP3 Version?

Not necessarily... I believe that the service pack install files archived on the
hard drive would be used but you'd need the home CD to start the process.

Do you have home installed or was it changed with other CD's?

I don't mean to insult your intelligent but did you check the volume control on the player itself? Check the slide bar and make sure it near max out. I can't believe everthing else will play just fine, except your WMP. Check the volume control and get back with me. Also make sure it not muted.

No insults taken. My WMP 10 now works along with ITUNES. Internet and systems sounds are the things not working. I have checked all volume levels.

Use Google and search......windows xp system sounds not working...............there's a lot of info there, maybe something will help.

Good luck

Thanks, I am working on it. I will post back when I find something.

If your system sound is not working are you talking about the "Theme" sounds and the web "clicking sound"? Goto your Control Panel>Display>Theme tab and re-select your theme that you want and see if that fixes the problem, also insted of single clicking on your volume speaker (double click to open the Speaker volume control and make sure that the volumes are up and no check marks are in the Mute area expectly in the Wave.) since your themes run off the .wav audio

Here are the drivers for your system. (from google)
http://download.cnet.com/Realtek-AC-...-10238712.html

Well here is the end result. I had to end up formatting the drive and re-install Windows. That was the only solution. Of course now I have to re-load all of my programs and put back my files that I back up on two external hard drives I have.
Thanks to everyone who helped along the way this past week.
The issue is now resolved.

I appreciate this thread is three years old but there could still be someone having similar issues.

Surprisingly, nobody suggested checking that Windows Audio service was enabled; this can be done by clicking Start, right-click My Computer, click Manage, click the + next to Services And Applications, click Services, and in the ensuing window scroll down to Windows Audio making sure it is set to AUTOMATIC and STARTED. If you double-click on the item a window opens to enable you to make changes.

There may be other services that need to be enabled so it is worthwhile scrolling through for potential issues among the numerous services. As you scroll down item-by-item, a description of the effects appears just left of the table of columns.

I hope this is of help to someone. It is my first post having happened on the thread while researching a different problem with my audio sounds breaking up, apparently because of heavy CPU demands.

Thank you for allowing me to post.

vass20.