No Sound in Mindows ME - Can't change prefered device

[AceHigh1234]

I have a client with Windows ME. Herdisplay and sound became corrupted. Fixed the display. Could get no sound. Replaced sound card with a new Souynd Blaster LS. Still no sound. I get a lot of CThelper.exe errors in conjunction with run32.dll and kernel32.dll. I can get sound through dxdiag program that lets me check all the different sound devices. some Microsft port is listed as default, and produces an error. When I test the SB devices, I get sound. I tried to update directX and now the diagnostic won't work properly, and I get a bunch of dxreg.dll errors. I tried to change the prefered audio device to the SB or Game Compatible in Sounds and Multimedia, but all the options for playback devices are greyed out. I am at my wits end and have quite a few hours in this, so any help would be appreciated. Thank You

 

[LloydSev]

Have you tried reinstalling Windows ME over itself?

Windows ME is a devil of an OS. It is posessed, I swear. It became general practice to recommend XP upgrades to all ME owners who brought systems in for repair.

Computer/Network Technician
CCNA

 

[garebo]

What LloydSev said, and, if i recall correctly, lots of the same sound problems.

You dont happen to have onboard sound plus a sound card, do you? Sorry, have to ask.


Good advice + great people = tek-tips

 

[AceHigh1234]

No onboard sound. I've tried everything I could find, all the fixes on every board that were suggested to others and nothing has worked. I'm going to try a reformat and reinstall using the restore disks that came with the computer.

 

[garebo]

Best idea yet!


Good advice + great people = tek-tips

 

[mainegeek]

AceHigh124,
Before formatting it may be worth trying a few additional things.

Back-up everything the client needs.

Uninstall sound card drivers.

Uninstall windows sounds from control panel,add/remove
programs,windows installed components (they may be corrupt)

From Windows Explorer unhide hidden files and folders.
Remove sound card .inf files for new card and old one (if any are still showing) from Windows\Inf folder.

Click Start,Run, MSCONFIG and check the startup,autoexec.bat and config.sys for any entries related to either sound cards.(may also want to check DOSSTART.BAT
for entries by using command prompt EDIT).

Disable system restore.

Shut down and physically remove the sound card.

Restart in safe mode and check device manager for any orphaned sound devices (with the exception of wave device for the modem) and remove them.

Also, Media Player may be corrupt or damaged as well.

Should also update DirectX to the most recent version (9.0c I think)

Shutdown and install sound card(maybe try a different pci slot if available)

Power up and install drivers for the sound card.

Reinstall windows sound files.

If this doesn't work then hopefully the Restore CD's will.