Please Help Me!!! (Windows is broken)

[Aes]

I don't believe that is the problem. When I try to play a .wav file (as in specifying Windows sounds to play [e.g. when Windows loads up]), the play button is grayed out.

When going to the multimedia option box in control panel, the option to display the volume icon is grayed out, and the icon doesn't show, so I can't mess with any of those settings.

And when I try to play media, I get the following error:

MMSYSTEM002 A device ID has been used that is out of range for your system

[platinum]

Lets start from scratch huh?

Go to control panel > multimedia > devices
remove any 'wave audio devices' if there are any there.
Run the hardware wizard and select from the list yourself. Try Microsoft MCI.

That *might* work....

[Aes]

Nope -- it's not there.

[platinum]

the drivers not there you mean?

[Canolli]

Aes,

Does your device manager show anything under "Sound, video and game controllers"?

Also, depending on your BIOS, your boot screens should show all the PNP devices and their IRqs. Maybe you have an overloaded IRQ.

Sound cards typically use two or three IRQs. Make sure that you don't have any of the ones that it wants to use reserved in your BIOS setup.

Any help?


Canolli

[nicklfire]

hey lol this sounds like every day work,
i work for hp and i'm customer support, you know those guys you phone and you get those techies i'm one of them lol.
your sound ok first you should really check your speakers connection, is your color in your jack to your tower the same as your actually tower color.. red in red blah blah.
also if they are try playing a wav off your hard drive if that dosnt work then try playing a music audio cd. if that dosnt work then it's probably your drivers so go into device manager like they said before , rip all your sound video and game controllers in safe mode, all of them if you have like 20 they are all ghost drivers lol. Also try adjusting your volum on your speakers. then whatever that othe guy said about your system tray speaker. Then if is still dosnt work um.... Get some new speakers from a friend and see if it still dosnt work it's not the speakers.

[tommatthews]

Originally posted by nicklfire
hey lol this sounds like every day work,
i work for hp and i'm customer support, you know those guys you phone and you get those techies i'm one of them lol.

Don't you love how those customer support people treat you like a complete idiot!
No offence intended nicklfire as I am sure that the majority of your calls are from complete idiots (I do training so I understand).

It's got to be some sort of driver problem!!!

[weirdbeardmt]

Whatever Windows has done, it has done a really good job of destroying your system. It sounds vaguely like a particularly nasty little virus.

Concerning your sound... what type is it? If it's a SBLive, I wouldn't be at all surprised.

In terms of that error message it suggest there is an IRQ conflict. That would be worth checking.

Just out of interest, how did this happen? Did you install any new hardware/software? Were you messing with the registry? Did you do anything that might explain why such a collosal system collapse could have occurred!!

[Aes]

I was performing routine maintainence -- cleaning out junk files, defragging etc. -- things I do every couple of months. Windows decided to make an attempt at taking its life and failed, but in the process deleted a few drivers.

[Canolli]

AES,

Is your sound still out?

If yes, have you detected a virus on your system recently? Was your maintenance just routine or as a result of some problem you had? Have you looked at your IRQ situation?

Have you looked at the sound drivers in your Device Manager? If so, were there any? If so, have you tried deleting all of the drivers (not the actual files, just the listings)?

If you don't see any sound drivers listed and you reboot, your system should detect the card's available devices. If your system doesn't do this, you should move the card to another slot.

If a subsequent reboot doesn't detect the card, check in your BIOS setup for "Reserved IRQs" (lists as "primary" or "secondary" in Award BIOS), if you see 5 or 11 reserved (the most common for sound devices - not an exhaustive list), change them to available (disabled). Also, check to be sure that the IRQs aren't set for "Legacy ISA" if you have a PNP sound card. If your system still doesn't see your sound card, put the settings back the way they were and try another card.

Good luck.

Canolli

[Aes]

Thanks -- I'll try those. Wish me luck!

[AlexC]

AES, not sure if this will help but about 6-7 months ago the same thing happened with the cable modem - just wouldn't work

after a week, i resorted to thinking about the modem - uninstalled the modem (so i could put a better one in) and the cable modem sprang back to life

turned out it was a device conflict -

**DISCLAIMER: I CANNOT BE HELD RESPONSIBLE IF SOMETHING GOES WRONG***

check theres no device conflicts, if there is try changing an IRQ setting