Eyebrow raising update: Last evening, I loaded AOE II on my Dell. Surprisingly, the background music played just fine during the game, but no voices or other sound effects. Before and after that, though, Windows still is silent.

Does this extra piece of information help anyone to diagnose my problem? Thanks very much.

Have you checked the individual Volume controls reached by Right clicking the Yellow Speaker Icon in the Taskbar and then clicking the Open Volume Controls on the Pop Up for a Mute on an individual control?

 

 

Yes, the volume controls are all unmuted and I can vary them up and down at will. Thanks for your suggestion and keep them coming - I need help!

Oh, now that's not good. Do you know of any utilities I could run that could confirm it as a hardware error, or any software tests I could run to see if it is just a Windows problem? I'm still confused why I get sound out of the AOE application.

 

Thanks...

Since you have reinstalled the drivers and the original problem cropped up so suddenly, I woud suspect that it is Hardware centered and particularly on the maibboard or connections to it(cables , wires etc) since your headphones do not work either.

Well, I guess I missed that about the AOE. I noticed that you are using SP2; why not download and give SP3 a try? You could also try rerunning the W2k CD. Out of curiosity, when you originally installed W2k, did you clean install it or upgrade from a previous version? Sometimes queer things happen with an upgrade. My son who is a Semicoductor engineer made the comment on one occasin that" putting a bunch of software from various sources in a computer is like dumping a bunch of alley cats in a Barrel and then putting a lid on it. They may get along and then again they may not". The SP3 takes a while by DialUp download, If you would like a copy on a CD-R, it will only cost for the raw disk and postage. Also, with that comment from my son in mind, did you install a new program on your LT shortly before the problem occurred? Just a thought because you have gone through all the obvious  solutions.

Message Edited by leduke30 on 01-18-2003 09:43 PM

Thanks for your help. I downloaded SP3 and installed it, but the problem remains. I also retried AOE II and am getting the same result - no startup music, no voices or sound effects, but the background music plays whenever you play a game. And Windows remains silent. Very unusual, indeed.

My W2K was installed with the PC. I am trying not to reinstall Windows 2000, because I have had bad experiences in the past with reinstalls (nice analogy about the alley cats!). I didn't install any programs any programs the night the problem appeared, but since then I have installed more drivers than I care to and with updates (such as SP3) I certainly don't know what the software innards of my system look like now.

More and more, I fear it is a Windows corruption problem (somehow I kluged a file somewhere) or a hardware problem with the ESS chip. I may try ESS Tech Support to see if they have some kind of utility program to help me check the viability of the chip.

Please keep the suggestions and questions coming - I really appreciate them!

 

http://www.esstech.com/techsupp/drivers.shtm    

This link has drivers for all the operating systems, and if memory serves me, you have the ESS Maestro 2E audio, just like my CPtV; those drivers are there also. You might try theirs and see if it will make a difference. Quite frankly, your problem has me scratching my head; I have heard of bugs with W-XP, but you seldom hear of that sort of problem with W2k with the SP's installed. Well, any way, give it a shot; it's free and so you lose nothing except time.

Message Edited by leduke30 on 01-19-2003 01:17 PM

I installed the ESS driver, and no change in results. Could another defective file somewhere in Windows be causing my problem? And what about other audio codecs or legacy audio drivers shown by the device manager? I must confess I am at the limit of my Windows understanding.

Yeah, I know what you mean about limits as I am at mine also. You might right click on that speaker Icon in the Taskbar and look into Adjust Audio Properties to make sure you haven't misset something.You should Show Maestro in both slots and have a checkmark in Show Volume Control****. In the Advanced button for Playback, select the speaker setup you have; in performance the 2 sliders should be Full and Good(Default). I wish you good luck, but I just can't think of any other suggestion.

Thanks again for your helpful suggestions. I plan to try Dell and ESS technical support directly. If I find the answer, I will post it here. Also, I will keep looking here so if anybody else has any ideas for me to try, please post.