The Sound of Silence

[ritaxis]

Speakers are cheap, so I got a pair.  Did not solve the sound problem, but they are little and cute. No sound comes out of them.

On a Windows Xp machine, when you look at the list of sound devices, what should you see?

I see:
Optiarc DVD
Realtek High Definition Audio
Audio Codecs
Legacy Audio Drivers   
Media Control Devices
Legacy Video Capture Devices
Video Codecs

When I look at "properties" for each of these (except the first two) the location is "unknown" and the manufacturer is "standard system devices."  That's bad, isn't it? Doesn't that sound like the computer is not actually finding any of these things? But each thing is supposedly working correctly, according to Windows.

I have tried to get the computer to find the speakers -- the old ones and now the new ones -- and I can't tell if it does.  I tell it to look for new hardware.  Nothing.  I run the troubleshooter and it can't find anything that isn't working correctly. I tried downloading new drivers and the computer says there are no outdated drivers.

Where are the file associations kept?  I can adjust the file associations for the headphones but it doesn't seem to make any difference in what I can hear (which is only the mp3 files of my own singing, and no other sounds: not system sounds, not the CD I was listening to a while back, not Youtube, not The Sims' sounds . . .nothing), either on the headphones or through the speakers.

My old speakers were sputtering every so often, which is why I figured on changing them out anyway.  But the change from basically adequate sound to none at all (with that one exception) was sudden.  Not in the middle of listening to a file, but between listening to one file and trying to listen to the next one.

Any ideas?

I am almost resigned to taking it in to SC ELectronics.


 

Comments

[heleninwales.livejournal.com]

I am not very au fait with technical stuff, but have you tried Googling to see if anyone else has had a similar problem and found a solution to it? The fact that the sound works when you play one particular thing suggests to me that whatever program you use to play MP3 files is somehow keeping the sound settings to allow only itself to play.

Which program do you play MP3 files with?

[ritaxis.livejournal.com]

I play them with the windows media player, except some web stuff plays with quicktime, I don't know why. I recorded them with audacity, which I have uninstalled to see if it makes a difference.

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

Okay, I pulled up my WMP and played a bit of an included MP3 (I usually stick DVDs in). I clicked on Organize (at the top), then Options, then Devices, and here it has Speakers in the list. I click on that and then on Properties, and then click on the down part of "Select the Audio Device" and it shows me my speakers.

There's a Help button there, too, that comes up: Speaker settings in Windows Media Player so that might help.

[ritaxis.livejournal.com]

I have Xp and not 7 or Vista and my WMP has certain difference. No "organize" button: but there is a "tools" button. Under devices it does not really address my speakers -- even the "speakers" properties asks me which sound card I want to use, not which speakers. There's an "add" button which for some reason opens the Windows 7 Compatibility webpage.

I'm about to restart the computer again and see if any of the changes I have made make any difference whatsoever.

[ritaxis.livejournal.com]

Nope, no difference. Guess I have to take the computer in to the shop.

[heleninwales.livejournal.com]

It sounds like the only solution. But it is a very strange problem. If something was wrong with the hardware, it wouldn't play via Windows media player, so it has to be a setting that's got messed up somehow.

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

I just looked at my speaker list and it thinks I have RealTec, when I have AlTec Lansing. They don't have my type anymore, they're about 14 years old, but very good speakers (with subwoofer). Does your list have a Default in it?