# Any computer geeks here?



## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

I had a weird glitch on the laptop. I have three media players, that up to now have worked perfectly well: Windows Media Player, VLC Media player and RealPlayer. 

Well, suddenly Windows Media Player no longer works: "WMP encountered a problem while playing the file." As might be expected from Gatesware, it cannot tell me what the problem is.

VLC Player opens the file and plays it, but there is no sound. YouTube videos do the same: they look normal but there is no sound.

RealPlayer seems to work normally, though with MP3 files the sound is annoyingly soft, sometimes almost inaudible (not a problem with video files). I have had this same problem with WMP for a long time though.

WMP can still play MIDI files, and system sounds like the little clicks and bells and things still work.

Someone suggested that perhaps I should update VLC player's software, which I did: no luck. I then uninstalled it, and restarted the computer.

Things promptly went from bad to worse: there is now a persistent, massive noise, like a billion amplified cicadas, in the headphone speakers. WMP now opens files without error messages, but instead of music, just the persistent electronic cicada noise. 

I can't work out whether this is some sort of software problem, or whether it's the computer's sound card that has given up the ghost.

Any computer geeks with any advice?


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## Jos (Oct 14, 2013)

Sorry Brian, no help here, I am a complete retard when it comes to the innards of computers. That's why I stick to the products of Apple.
They give you an image of being hip and sofisticated, but they are for the dummies really....
Best of luck with the solving of these problems, these things can be infuriating, I know.

Cheers,
Jos


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## Taggart (Feb 14, 2013)

First thought is control panel , troubleshoot, audio playback and see what it says. Have a look at your sound card configuration software as well. Right click on the speaker icon in the notification area and look at some of the configuration options there. Silly thought, check your headphones are in the headphone socket, not the speaker socket. I'm on Windows 7 but there should similar features in other versions. All the best.


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## Flamme (Dec 30, 2012)

File you are trying to watch is corrupted possibly a trojan...


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## Taggart (Feb 14, 2013)

Possibility, but he did say _files_. Thing about trojans is that they often say that you need a codec download and point you to a dodgy site.


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## Gilberto (Sep 12, 2013)

I don't know about those other players but my WMP stopped working a few days ago and I d/l my Windows Updates, which restarted my computer. I clicked WMP and it came on with a box that said "welcome to new version WMP click okay blah blah" and now it works fine.


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## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

Taggart said:


> First thought is control panel , troubleshoot, audio playback and see what it says. Have a look at your sound card configuration software as well. Right click on the speaker icon in the notification area and look at some of the configuration options there. Silly thought, check your headphones are in the headphone socket, not the speaker socket. I'm on Windows 7 but there should similar features in other versions. All the best.


I looked around the configurations, but couldn't see anything obviously amiss. My control panel doesn't have a troubleshoot option. Someone suggested I re-install the soundcard driver software, but it all came with the machine so I don't have a disk for it.

I can't quite work out whether it's a software problem, or the soundcard itself that is fried. If the latter, there is not a thing I can do about it, but if I can confirm that, then at least I know where I stand.

Flamme: It's not just one file. They all do it, What's more, the noise is permanent, even when no media file is playing. It only goes away if I mute the speakers.

The most annoying thing about this is that I have spent two weeks now downloading a huge amount of music and documentaries and stuff, planning to enjoy it all later. Alas! No more recorded music for me.


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## Taggart (Feb 14, 2013)

What OS? Try the internet for updated drivers. Don't give up. Try this Microsoft thingy for XP.


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## GioCar (Oct 30, 2013)

To establish if it's the sound card (actually it could be, from what you have written) you should have an alternative way to play your music. 
You should try with an external DAC plugged onto your USB port. If you do not have one, you can consider to buy it from, for example, Amazon. They sell very cheap USB-DAC about 60 Euro, Fiio is a good product, very easy to use.
I would suggest Fiio E10, just to try.
Moreover, these small and cheap USB-DACs usually sound better than the PC in-built sound cards, so you can keep it for the future

Or, alternatively, try to change the sound card.

Good luck, I know it's very frustrating...


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## ahammel (Oct 10, 2012)

RealPlayer still exists? Huh.

The cicada noise sounds like a hardware fault to me. To confirm, you could boot up your machine using a different OS. It's pretty painless to run Ubuntu from a DVD or USB. If you still get cicadas under a different OS, it's a hardware fault (presumably the sound card, but I'm a software guy and we're notoriously untrustworthy when hardware is involved).


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## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

Taggart said:


> What OS? Try the internet for updated drivers. Don't give up. Try this Microsoft thingy for XP.


According to that page, a laptop usually doesn't have a sound card. Instead it has something called an integrated sound processor. I wonder if it is possible for such a thing to burn out all on its own without the rest of the computer being affected. Anyway, I'll try updating the software and see if that works.


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## Vaneyes (May 11, 2010)

Your WMP may be corrupted. First consider "fixit".

http://support.microsoft.com/fixit/

If that doesn't work, consider uninstalling and reinstalling WMP. Google for instructions that are compatible with your OS.


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## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

brianvds said:


> According to that page, a laptop usually doesn't have a sound card. Instead it has something called an integrated sound processor. I wonder if it is possible for such a thing to burn out all on its own without the rest of the computer being affected. Anyway, I'll try updating the software and see if that works.


No luck - I get a message that the correct software is installed.



Vaneyes said:


> Your WMP may be corrupted. First consider "fixit".
> 
> http://support.microsoft.com/fixit/
> 
> If that doesn't work, consider uninstalling and reinstalling WMP. Google for instructions that are compatible with your OS.


I'll go try out this page and see what happens - thanks!


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## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

Vaneyes said:


> Your WMP may be corrupted. First consider "fixit".
> 
> http://support.microsoft.com/fixit/
> 
> If that doesn't work, consider uninstalling and reinstalling WMP. Google for instructions that are compatible with your OS.


I don't know what WMP is. According to the auto-fixer on the page above, the problem is that "The device isn't set as default." The software automatically fixed it, or so it claimed, but the problem persists.


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## Guest (Dec 23, 2013)

WMP is Windows Media Player.

As far as I can see you haven't said which version of Windows you are using, although someone seemed to think that you are using XP.

I've had various sound problems in the past with 95, 98, 2000, XP, Win7 and Win 8. The solution is usually found in checking that the relevant drivers are working, and that the sound settings in "control panel" are adjusted correctly. Strangely, the latter can get messed up, and it's often not clear what caused it.

To check the drivers in XP, go to start/control panel/system and security/system/device manager. Click on sound, video and game controllers, then look for "sound", right click on "properties"/general/device properties. Make sure that the relevant device is "enabled". Asuuming all ok ...

To check the audio settings, go to start/control panel/sounds, "speech and audio devices"/audio. Under sound playback make sure that the correct device is selected, then check "volume" by opening up the panel and make sure that nothing is muted and that the balance is in the middle and volume on maximum. After making any required adjustments click on apply and OK. If you aren't sure which to adjust, try them all until it works.

If this doesn't work, the chances are your sound device is faulty. Best to buy an external usb sound card.

There is only a very slim chance that your problem is malware-related. One of the best free malware removers is "Malwarebytes". Simply download the free version and let it check the system on "quick scan".

It won't solve your problem but there is another very good free music player, Creative MediaSource 5. This allows both recording and playback. I prefer it to WMP, VLC, Real Player and all the several others I have tried.


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## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

Partita said:


> WMP is Windows Media Player.


Ah, okay - silly me! I have used this abbreviation myself! 



> As far as I can see you haven't said which version of Windows you are using, although someone seemed to think that you are using XP.


It is Windows 7 in fact.



> I've had various sound problems in the past with 95, 98, 2000, XP, Win7 and Win 8. The solution is usually found in checking that the relevant drivers are working, and that the sound settings in "control panel" are adjusted correctly. Strangely, the latter can get messed up, and it's often not clear what caused it.


Perhaps they built in an autodestruct thing to make sure you'll need to keep on buying upgrades. 



> To check the drivers in XP, go to start/control panel/system and security/system/device manager. Click on sound, video and game controllers, then look for "sound", right click on "properties"/general/device properties. Make sure that the relevant device is "enabled". Asuuming all ok ...


Hmm, my system looks different, presumably because it's a different version of Windows. Under the "Sound video and game controllers" heading there are only two subheadings:

-IDT High Definition Audio CODEC
- Intel(R) High Definition Audio HDMI

Not sure what any of that means. If I right-click on them, they both give me the option of updating the software, but when I tried that I got a message that the software is up to date. I can also check the properties, and under both, the porperties tab gives a message that "This device is working properly."



> To check the audio settings, go to start/control panel/sounds, "speech and audio devices"/audio. Under sound playback make sure that the correct device is selected, then check "volume" by opening up the panel and make sure that nothing is muted and that the balance is in the middle and volume on maximum. After making any required adjustments click on apply and OK. If you aren't sure which to adjust, try them all until it works.


Once again, my system looks different so I couldn't find exactly what you refer to here, but did find something that may be of interest. Here is Control panel -> Hardware and sound:









When I click on Sound, I get this:









If I right-click on "Rec. Playback" I get the option to disable or enable it. In the above screen cap it is disabled. What I just noticed is that when it is enabled, I get the deafening cicada noise from the speakers; when it is disabled, the noise disappears.

Hey, just noticed that now the whole thing is working again too: I can play media files, and when I un-mute the speakers, they work and the noise is gone.

So the problem seems solved, sort of. I am just very curious about why there are devices on the machine that need to be disabled before the thing will work! I also wonder how long before I have another crash of some sort...

Anyway, thanks for all the help; your clues put me on the right track!


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## Guest (Dec 23, 2013)

brianvds said:


> Once again, my system looks different so I couldn't find exactly what you refer to here, but did find something that may be of interest.
> 
> ..
> 
> ...


You didn't state what operating software you are using. If I had known you have Windows 7, I would have given you the directly relevant instructions for Win 7. As I explained, I gave you the specific instructions assuming you have Windows XP, because that's what another member thought you have. That's why the specific procedures I gave you are slightly different.

Regardless of which version of the Windows operating software one is using, they're all basically the same in terms of going into "control panel" and looking for "sound" devices and settings. Once you are pointed in the right direction, it's very simple and straightforward to dabble around with the various settings to get things working properly again. I'm not sure exactly which setting(s) you adjusted but very often the lack of sound problem can be resolved by making sure that the relevant device is selected, and then by checking that the "mute" option for that device hasn't become selected, or that its volume control hasn't become turned down too low.

I have never found out why these settings can occasionally become corrupted, but it does happen from time to time, and it's worth keeping a note on what to do to rectify the situation because, believe it or not, it's easy to forget what to do if it happens again many months later.

Anyway, I'm glad to hear it's all OK now. I know how annoying it is to find you've lost sound from the PC or laptop. As somebody else suggested, it's worth considering buying a USB sound card. Google up some models, as they come at all price levels. It's only worth spending a lot if you have decent speakers and amplifier.


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## Taggart (Feb 14, 2013)

What I think happened: You can record - you have a microphone set up. You can playback - you have headphone. You can both record and playback at the same time - fine. *But *you're not actually recording anything so all you're getting is some sort of feedback whine or chatter. Turn off recording playback and the system works fine.

I assumed that you had XP because you said you didn't have troubleshooter. You did - it's under system and security. Sorry about that. I have control panel set up as a menu on my start menu so it's all readily available.

Glad to hear you've got everything going. Now you can enjoy all your downloaded audio.


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## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

Partita said:


> You didn't state what operating software you are using. If I had known you have Windows 7, I would have given you the directly relevant instructions for Win 7. As I explained, I gave you the specific instructions assuming you have Windows XP, because that's what another member thought you have. That's why the specific procedures I gave you are slightly different.


They were nevertheless very helpful!



> I have never found out why these settings can occasionally become corrupted, but it does happen from time to time, and it's worth keeping a note on what to do to rectify the situation because, believe it or not, it's easy to forget what to do if it happens again many months later.


Perhaps not even Bill Gates knows why this stuff happens. 



> Anyway, I'm glad to hear it's all OK now. I know how annoying it is to find you've lost sound from the PC or laptop. As somebody else suggested, it's worth considering buying a USB sound card. Google up some models, as they come at all price levels. It's only worth spending a lot if you have decent speakers and amplifier.


I'll have to go check up. It is unlikely I can afford anything like that at the moment.


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## Flamme (Dec 30, 2012)

Taggart said:


> Possibility, but he did say _files_. Thing about trojans is that they often say that you need a codec download and point you to a dodgy site.


Not always, when they first showed up it was like that but now you have variety of threats, some only work in the background and undermine the work of your PC downloading in the same time their ''cousins'' and infecting more and m ore system files till eventually computer crashes...An good and efficient anti virus program like Norton is a MUST


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## Guest (Dec 23, 2013)

Flamme said:


> Not always, when they first showed up it was like that but now you have variety of threats, some only work in the background and undermine the work of your PC downloading in the same time their ''cousins'' and infecting more and m ore system files till eventually computer crashes...An good and efficient anti virus program like Norton is a MUST


In the past I've had two paid-for a/v software - Norton and Kaspersky - and didn't find them any better at preventing virus or malware attacks than some of the free software. Among the latter, I've tried all the main free offerings but I usually get fed up with them after a while, with their irritating pop-ups, and adverts etc. I'm referring to software like Avast, AVG, Avira etc.

I've now alighted upon a system that works well for me:

A/V - I use the free version of "Bitdefender" as my main a/v software. It runs trouble free, with hardly any unnecessary pop-ups, and is light on computer resources. There isn't much control over options, in fact none, but it seems to do the job well. According to the PC mags, it has a very good virus detection rate.

Malware removal - I still don't trust Bitdefender or any of the a/v software 100%. Occasionally I run the free version of "Malwarebytes" antimalware. This software only runs when you instruct it to do so. I reckon this is among the very best software for removing any infections that get through. I have sometimes run it and found infections that got past the main a/v software. For example, a few weeks ago I was hit by a nasty bit of ransomware that froze my PC. Somehow this got past "Avast" which was the a/v I was running at the time. I ran Malwarebytes and it got rid of this infection easily, and it didn't even require to be run in "safe mode".

Firewall - For my firewall, I use "privatefirewall". It seems to be very good, is simple to operate, and is light on resources. I have tried several others but I find them irritating with lots of useless pop-ups and occasional adverts for the "pro" version. You get none of this with "privatefirewall".


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## Flamme (Dec 30, 2012)

Partita said:


> In the past I've had two paid-for a/v software - Norton and Kaspersky - and didn't find them any better at preventing virus or malware attacks than some of the free software. Among the latter, I've tried all the main free offerings but I usually get fed up with them after a while, with their irritating pop-ups, and adverts etc. I'm referring to software like Avast, AVG, Avira etc.
> 
> I've now alighted upon a system that works well for me:
> 
> ...


I dont know what viruses you've picked up but Norton and Kaspersky albeit earlier flaws are today very solid and robust infection fighters...They do take more resources than others but in plain language they left no stone unturned...


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