Sound Problems!

[DrJones]

Having problems with .WAV files. When I go to the control panel, sounds and try to play a sound it has the following message, "Windows cannot play the c:\windows\media\Chimes.WAV file. It may be damaged or may not be a valid sound file. Replace the file and try again." But I can play that file in Media Player, and I have tried a new file gotten off the web with the same results. Strange? Anyone ever had this problem? I have reinstalled all drivers, made sure they were new, volumes are all up and .WAV files are selected. I even reinstalled Microsoft MCI.

 

[Guest_imported]

1/ go to control panel and open system
2/ check unknown devices (?)
3/ you may find your sound card hasn't been installed.
4/ delete multimedia unknowns
5/ check multimedia settings, if there is a (!) on any delete these as well.
6/ reboot system, new hardware should be found reinstall drive with original disk.

regards
mogwi1972

 

[Comtech]

It should be chimes.wav, not chimes.WAV which is why you're getting the error.
Go back to sounds, and "browse" to c:windows\media, and reselect the file. Try it again. Cheers,
Jim

http://members.cnx.net/reboot/

 

[unityco]

I am having this same problem. Sound card is properly installed, have tried removing and reinstalling MCI Devices and Sound Compression (and have had intermittent but temporary success i.e. the problem reoccurred, usually upon reboot, but the same steps don't always fix the problem) and I know there is nothing wrong with my wav files, despite the error message. The only acknowledgment I can find of this error from Microsoft is in relation to a piece of software I'm not running (Cheyenne Bitware Fax,

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;EN-US;Q260290&)

which you're probably aware of. I've had this problem on three separate computers, on one of which I've completely wiped the hard drive and reinstalled all programs, only to have this problem come back. I imagine it must be some sort of software conflict, but for the life of me, I haven't been able to figure out what.

 

[mainegeek]

Go to control panel, add/remove programs, windows setup,
multimedia, uncheck it,apply, ok, reboot windows then go back in and re-install multimedia again.

 

[unityco]

Thanks, mainegeek. I had tried that before, and I did again, but no luck. I should also mention, this problem is not just related to trying to preview sounds with the sound tool in the CP, but to all system sounds. My computer (and the others) run silent (which some may consider a blessing... ;-))

 

[unityco]

I'm sorry, I want to clarify: My computer does make sounds (i.e. I can play files in Windows Media Player, Windows CD Player does work, etc....) it's just the system sounds that are absent. (No dings, chimes, chords, etc.)

 

[unityco]

I seem to have resolved my problem. I was running NetMeeting's Remote Desktop Sharing on all the computers I was having problems with. Exiting the program seemed to clear up the issue. (I can't say for sure... I haven't been in the same room with the computers to see if they're still making noises! ;-)) Still, I don't think that should be a problem.