Way Off Topic! Computer / Sound Card woes | FerrariChat

Way Off Topic! Computer / Sound Card woes

Discussion in 'Technology' started by CarlDog, Mar 31, 2004.

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  1. CarlDog

    CarlDog Karting

    Nov 3, 2003
    52
    Southern NH
    Full Name:
    David
    I am a new poster on F-Chat and I am inclined to ask for help purely based on the solutions members have recommended for other members having computer problems with success I was hoping I could be as fortunate.

    My windows media player will play movies without sound?

    It won't play some movies at all saying that there is a problem with my sound device or I don't have one installed then when I insert a music CD I get the same message all the time.

    I have uninstalled and reinstalled the sound driver 3 or more times and the results are painfully the same. It all happened after I got the computer back from having a couple of larger hard drives installed. The person who installed the new drive(s) left town, how nice. The computer had sound for a few days after the drive work and then this started.

    My device manager indicates that said "sound device" is working properly, however the problem still exists.

    The factory driver that I downloaded from Silicon Integrated Solutions had a couple of test files to be played so after the install I opened the first test file which was a midi orchestra and it was heard through the speakers. The second was a .wav file and the error message listed above re: the sound device error was again displayed.

    I have called and paid for tech support from SONY and Microsoft, and went to the company (SiS) that manufactured the sound device and drivers and no results. I was hoping maybe someone on F-Chat could give me a trick to get this computer back up to speed.

    The computer - Sony VAIO
    OS - Windows ME
    Windows Media Player has been updated to the latest version.

    I would greatly appreciate any help or ideas in this annoying matter.

    Thanks in advance.

    Regards to all,

    David C.
     
  2. dm_n_stuff

    dm_n_stuff Four Time F1 World Champ
    Lifetime Rossa Owner

    Start with an upgrade out of Windows ME. It was, and still is, a total disaster of an op system.

    Go to XP, or 2000, but run from ME.

    That alone will probably make almost every problem go away.

    Can't or won't change? Ok, then at least re-install windows ME, clean install, and update it completely from the windows update site, if they still support ME there. Did a little digging and apparently they do support it. Will wonders never cease?

    http://www.microsoft.com/windowsme/update/default.asp


    I struggled with ME on a couple of computers and finally ditched it. Even a move to windows 98 would be a large improvement.
     
  3. MikeZ_NJ

    MikeZ_NJ Formula 3

    Dec 10, 2002
    1,533
    Southern NJ
    Full Name:
    Mike Z.
    I concur. Ditch Me. Run as fast as you can; don't look back.

    I personally am partial to Windows 2000, BUT you cannot upgrade Me to 2K. You might get lucky if you try, but you'd be the only person I know to successfully do it, and it's not supported by MS. I guess try upgrading to XP Home. That's supported and will run you ~$100 at Best Buy or the like.

    That said, with regards to your sound issue... what version of Media Player are you using? Have you tried to update it? Have you tried playing the sounds/videos in something like RealPlayer?

    It makes sense that midi is working, because a midi file is just a data file; it holds no actual sound.
     
  4. Schatten

    Schatten F1 World Champ
    Owner

    Apr 3, 2001
    11,237
    Austin, TX
    Full Name:
    Randy
    Just movies right? Might be a codec issue in the file format you are trying to play. My first suggestion would be to get the defiler pak. You can get it here: http://hellninjacommando.com/defilerpak/ This contains *most* of the common codecs out there and combines it with a nifty install program.

    ME sucks, but you don't need to ditch it if it works for you. ME has it's issues, but this isn't one of them. Let me know if this does/doesn't work for you.
     
  5. MikeZ_NJ

    MikeZ_NJ Formula 3

    Dec 10, 2002
    1,533
    Southern NJ
    Full Name:
    Mike Z.
    Only reason I don't think it's a codec is because regular CDs won't play at all. I've seen Me and some versions of Media Player have problems though.
     
  6. Etcetera

    Etcetera Two Time F1 World Champ
    Silver Subscribed

    Dec 7, 2003
    22,177
    Full Name:
    C9H8O4
    Regular CD's won't play at all?

    It's possible that the cable from the CD-ROM to the sound card was not reattached during reassembly. That would explain why audio CD's or DVD's wouldn't play, but it wouldn't explain the error message.

    What model VAIO is it?
     
  7. CarlDog

    CarlDog Karting

    Nov 3, 2003
    52
    Southern NH
    Full Name:
    David
    I will have some time to play around with it tonight and will start backing up my files for the potential upgrade.

    Thanks a lot !

    I will grab a real player, D/L it and see what goes on there.

    Also may as well grab the codecs mentioned above.

    Korr - The model is SONY PCV-RX-450

    Again, thank you all.

    Regards,

    David
     
  8. Enzo

    Enzo F1 Rookie

    Feb 14, 2002
    4,088
    MinneSOta
    Full Name:
    Pat Pasqualini
    I'm betting on codecs and if no sound from CD's but windows does make sounds then I would agree with the wire running from the cd-rom drive to the sound card is unplug (very common to happen)
     
  9. CarlDog

    CarlDog Karting

    Nov 3, 2003
    52
    Southern NH
    Full Name:
    David
    I D/L'd real player, and apparently it will play the disk, however the speakers just make a slight click noise when the tracks change. Windows does not make any sounds but at least I don't get an error message when playing a cd - just no sound.

    I went into the control panel and opened up sounds and multimedia properties and did some digging.

    Under the "audio" tab it mentiones under sound playback that there is no preferred device ? Actually it says there are No Playback Devices and it is grayed out so the dropdown menu cannot be accessed.

    Maybe I just need a new computer ?

    Again thanks for all the help !

    signed,

    Clueless in NH.

    DC
     
  10. MikeZ_NJ

    MikeZ_NJ Formula 3

    Dec 10, 2002
    1,533
    Southern NJ
    Full Name:
    Mike Z.
    Did you update media player? Try that.
     
  11. CarlDog

    CarlDog Karting

    Nov 3, 2003
    52
    Southern NH
    Full Name:
    David
    Hi Mike,

    Yes I updated the media player today and still a no go. Thanks to all that have helped but maybe I will just throw the computer into my driveway and run it over 5, 6 , or 8 times. Microsoft's tech support b l o w s and so doesn't SONY's. I have no clue as to what is happening or what has happened.

    I downloaded the codec's,

    I updated the sound card drivers again.

    Thanks for all the help! It may be time to save my files and upgrade.


    Thank you.

    Regards,

    Dave
     

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