Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

General discussion

Sound's dead

Mar 30, 2004 8:46PM PST

Since a week every time I load an application (ie games etc.)a window displays saying it could not load the sound because it is already been used by another application (but not other application is open).

I guess there is some software interfering with the sound (God knows where)

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
Re:Sound's dead
Mar 30, 2004 11:59PM PST

Rainbird,

Whenever posting questions on these forums, please give us as much information as possible about your computer. Depending on your issue, we might need the operating system, processor speed, amount of RAM installed, brand name of the computer, (if there is one), and any EXACT error messages you are receiving, plus any other information you think might be helpful. The more information you give us, the better informed our answer will be.

In the meantime, depending on your operating system, have you tried shutting down unnecessary start up programs by clicking on Start-Run, type "msconfig", click on OK, then click on the "Start Up" tab. there should be a listing of start up programs which can be UNCHECKED and stopped from running at boot. If you have any questions on which programs to UNCHECK, or if you're using Win2000 or XP and you need to shut down unnecessary "Services", here are a couple of links that should help you get that done:

http://www.pacs-portal.co.uk/startup_content.php

http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm

Have you also tried installing the newest audio drivers for your particular system?

Hope this helps.

Grif

- Collapse -
Re:Re:Sound's dead
Mar 31, 2004 1:19AM PST

Hi Grif,
thanks for the tip and the links.

Im running Win.XP (good guess) on P2-350Mh with 95MB RAM. I bought this PC from a private owner with the software, O/S, etc. already installed.

Im no sure how do you mean by "installing the newest audio drivers for your particular system".
Please explain
-RB

- Collapse -
Re:Re:Re:Sound's dead
Mar 31, 2004 1:47AM PST

RB,

It appears like that machine may have been "upgraded" to XP from a previous version of Windows. I'll make a suggestion to increase the RAM amount to something higher as XP will probably do better with more RAM. Even if you can only go to 256 on that mother board, it would help. In addition, hopefully, you were given the software reinstallation CD's, like the WinXP or Recovery CD...If you don't have them, then you're running on borrowed time as the system may eventually go down and you'll have no options to reinstall the OS.

Sorry, but back to your question.....In order to check for the current audio driver in XP, access the "Device Manager", by open the Control Panel, double click on the "System" icon, click on the "Hardware" tab, then click on the "Device Manager" button. Scroll down and click on the + sign next to "Sound, Video and Game Controllers" listing. Find the specific listing for your audio card, RIGHT click on it and choose "Properties". Write down the specific version number, the manufacturer's name, the date, and anything else you see there.

With all that data, you should be able to find the manufacturer's site on "Google" and download an XP compliant driver.

Hope this helps.

Grif