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General discussion

audio pb: Laptop plays Midi files but no other format

Nov 18, 2004 5:58AM PST

Greetings!

I have a sound problem with my Compaq laptop (736 EA Presario) equipped with OS XP.

All of a sudden, I could not hear any audio files with any player (Windows Media Player, RealPlayer, Winamp...) and when I start my laptop, I no longer hear the usual sound either. Those players get activated when I try to play a song (i.e., the song timer starts running), but I simply have no sound; of course, I checked the volume.

This happened while I was watching a video with RealPlayer, which I had just downloaded. Still, I still can see videos but have no sound.

I tried to restore SoundMax (ADI audio) with XP help center, like I used to do when I had this kind of problem, but it did not work out. Nor did restoring the laptop at a previous date work.

On the other hand, and very surprisingly, I can listen to songs in Midi format (with any of the above-mentioned player). So, it seems that it's not a hardware problem. In addition, I have just scanned my laptop with Norton and no virus came out.

I guess it may be a driver problem but I am too sure and I don't know how to proceed.

Has anyone have this problem? Any tech nerd can help? Thank you.

Take care!
Rebecca

Discussion is locked

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Re: audio pb: Laptop plays Midi files but no other format
Nov 18, 2004 11:32AM PST

I have found that Real Player is more trouble than it is worth. It is too intrusive.
It has been banned from my computers.

Click Start
Click Control Panel
Double click Sounds and Audio devices
Check ALL the settings under the tabs titled:
Volume
Audio
Voice

You will probably find Real Player's footprints in there somewhere.

...
..
.

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Don't forget to check volume on the record side.
Nov 19, 2004 1:50PM PST

Normally, you'll see the playback controls. You must use the menu to get to the record settings.