No Sound All of a Sudden

[Lori]

This is for my aunt's computer. She out of nowhere has had her sound stop
working in her machine. We have tried to disconnect and reconnect her
speakers and you hear the crackle like there is sound, but nothing comes
through that should. Of course it has been rebooted. Don't know where to go
since I operate on Windows XP and it's been a long time since I've been on
98. Does anyone have any suggestions, please, as to how to troubleshoot
this? Thank you very much.

 

[MEB]

Sound card make and model would help.
Did you check to see if it was still shown in Device Manager?
Do you have another set of speakers or a headphone to plug in to test
whether the card works?

--
MEB http://peoplescounsel.orgfree.com
--
_________

"Lori" <Lori@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:33254EA5-0911-483D-9E64-3E88EC20F9CF@microsoft.com...
| This is for my aunt's computer. She out of nowhere has had her sound stop
| working in her machine. We have tried to disconnect and reconnect her
| speakers and you hear the crackle like there is sound, but nothing comes
| through that should. Of course it has been rebooted. Don't know where to
go
| since I operate on Windows XP and it's been a long time since I've been on
| 98. Does anyone have any suggestions, please, as to how to troubleshoot
| this? Thank you very much.

 

[Lori]

Hi. Thanks for the fast reply. How do I tell her how to find that in
Windows 98? I am on XP. I don't know. She is very illiterate when it comes
to computers which is why I'm helping and I don't live near her. Told her I
would post and try to help her.

I don't believe she has another set of speakers. But would they just stop
working? You hear the noise when you plug them in like there is sound, but
nothing comes through, sort of like the sound "program," so to speak, is
inoperable but the hardware is willing.

"Lori" wrote:

> This is for my aunt's computer. She out of nowhere has had her sound stop
> working in her machine. We have tried to disconnect and reconnect her
> speakers and you hear the crackle like there is sound, but nothing comes
> through that should. Of course it has been rebooted. Don't know where to go
> since I operate on Windows XP and it's been a long time since I've been on
> 98. Does anyone have any suggestions, please, as to how to troubleshoot
> this? Thank you very much.

 

[Alan Edwards]

Have you tried the Windows 98 Sound Troubleshooter?
(Start-Help-Troubleshooting-Windows 98 Sound Troubleshooter)

....Alan
--
Alan Edwards, MS MVP Windows - Internet Explorer
http://dts-l.com/index.htm


On Wed, 28 May 2008 03:07:05 -0700, in
microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion, Lori
<Lori@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

>This is for my aunt's computer. She out of nowhere has had her sound stop
>working in her machine. We have tried to disconnect and reconnect her
>speakers and you hear the crackle like there is sound, but nothing comes
>through that should. Of course it has been rebooted. Don't know where to go
>since I operate on Windows XP and it's been a long time since I've been on
>98. Does anyone have any suggestions, please, as to how to troubleshoot
>this? Thank you very much.

 

[Lori]

Thank you for the reply. I did write an email to my aunt and tried to walk
her through how to find these things. Wish I were closer to do this myself
because I could probably figure out what is going on. Hard when it's not
your computer, but am trying to give her some assistance. Will let you know
when/if she does what I am recommending.

"Alan Edwards" wrote:

> Have you tried the Windows 98 Sound Troubleshooter?
> (Start-Help-Troubleshooting-Windows 98 Sound Troubleshooter)
>
> ....Alan
> --
> Alan Edwards, MS MVP Windows - Internet Explorer
> http://dts-l.com/index.htm
>
>
> On Wed, 28 May 2008 03:07:05 -0700, in
> microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion, Lori
> <Lori@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
>
> >This is for my aunt's computer. She out of nowhere has had her sound stop
> >working in her machine. We have tried to disconnect and reconnect her
> >speakers and you hear the crackle like there is sound, but nothing comes
> >through that should. Of course it has been rebooted. Don't know where to go
> >since I operate on Windows XP and it's been a long time since I've been on
> >98. Does anyone have any suggestions, please, as to how to troubleshoot
> >this? Thank you very much.
>

 

[J. P. Gilliver]

Lori wrote:
> Hi. Thanks for the fast reply. How do I tell her how to find that in
> Windows 98? I am on XP. I don't know. She is very illiterate when
> it comes to computers which is why I'm helping and I don't live near
> her. Told her I would post and try to help her.

Ah - I don't think we originally realised you were doing it remotely.
>
> I don't believe she has another set of speakers. But would they just
> stop working? You hear the noise when you plug them in like there is
> sound, but nothing comes through, sort of like the sound "program,"
> so to speak, is inoperable but the hardware is willing.

They can just fail, but it sounds as if they're OK - you can plug them into
anything else that has a suitable headphone socket to check them out! (Turn
the volume to nearly minimum first though!) IME, it's the connectors -
either the plug or, worse, the motherboard socket - that goes, rather than
the amplifiers or actual speakers.
[]
I suspect a software problem first though. First suspicion is mute or volume
down. Assuming the volume knob on the speakers isn't down: is there a
speaker symbol in the try (bottom right of screen by the clock)? Ask her to
describe the icons that are there, as not everyone would recognise a speaker
symbol. (I think the W98 one is yellow.) If there is, left click on it a
little window should pop up with a slider in it, and also a mute box the
slider of course shouldn't be at bottom, nor the mute box ticked.

Second thought - a channels thing: right-click on the speaker icon, and
select Open Volume controls this will depend on the sound card to some
extent, but making sure all sliders are not at the bottom, no mute boxes are
ticked, and all enable boxes (if any) are ticked, might help.

If there _isn't_ a speaker icon, we have more of a problem. The icon _can_
be turned off by a setting somewhere, or it could be the sound card drivers
are genuinely giving problems.

This is getting more into hazy memory now (my W98 machine is at home), but I
think Start | Settings | Control Panel | multimedia will bring you to a
window where it shuld show what sound hardware is selected for input and
output if it says something obscure, then that's probably the model of
sound card, if it says no devices selected (or something like that) then we
may have problems (though it's also worth trying the drop-down list of which
"no device selected" is one of the options, and selecting something else, if
it'll let you).

But before that: if she plays a sound file (get her to do a Find - Windows
key plus F - for *.wav there are some .wav files on almost any Windows PC -
then double-click on a big one), does she get some window that looks as if
sound ought to be playing, even if it isn't, or does she get an error
message?
--
J. P. Gilliver | Tel. +44 1634 203298

Essex home for sale, £59,950: see http://www.soft255.demon.co.uk/home/