Windows Audio will not start

[smokinsarg]

I tried to play something the other day and was unable to hera the sound. When I looked into the problem I found that the Windows Audio service is not starting. When I try to start the service, I get a 126 error: the specified module could not be found. All the options for sound in Control panel are greyed out. I have uninstalled the audio driver and allowed Windows to reinstalled it as well as a reinstall using the manufactorer driver.
I can't tell when the sound went out; the two things that I did to the system recently are service pack 2 and a Winsock fix utility due to my IE browser.
I have tried the Reg fix for the default sounds.

Thanks!

 

[bcastner]

Run Belarc Advisor, and print out the results:

http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html

For whatever reason, XP is not convinced you have a valid
Sound device installed.

Based on the Belard results, download and expand a new driver set to floppy or your hard drive. Then use Device Manager to uninstall your existing device. Reboot. XP will the detect the missing device, and you can select 'Have disk" to point to the new driver set.

 

[smokinsarg]

I have already done that and checked the registry. I cannot figure it out. Help Me!!!

 

[bcastner]

1. click Start, then Run, and type "services.msc" (without
quotes) and click OK
2. find the "Windows Audio" service (without quotes), right click and select Properties, select
"Automatic" instead of "Disabled" (without quotes) in the
startup type box
3. Click Apply.
4. Click Start
5. Click OK.

 

[smokinsarg]

I have already tried that. The service startup type is set to automatic and when I try to start the service I get the error message I get an error 126: the specified module could not be found.
I have uninstalled and reinstalled the driver several times. Once allowing Windows to reinstall it for me and also installing the driver from the manufactorer software. I updated to Windows Media Player 10 and got an error that AVICAP32.dll is missing.
I am going to try to put that dll file back on my system and see if that resolves it.

 

[bcastner]

That file can be found here:

http://www.dll-files.com/dllindex/dll-files.shtml?avicap32

What would help:

. Start, Run, sfc /Scannow
. Please describe the make, and model of your sound device
. If there are any other sound related errors in your Event Logs, it would help a great deal to know them.

 

[linney]

Some background on Error 126 from similar (not identical) situations.

http://flashexperiments.insh-allah.com/ApacheError126.html

http://www.tech-forums.net/computer/topic/10563.html

DirectX: Description of the DirectX Diagnostic Tool

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;190900&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH