This is similar to an earlier thread I posted, but I have more info. My bosses Dell Dimension computer running XP had some bad viruses on it and I wiped it out. It works fine, except for one thing. The sound doesn't work for Windows itself. No login music, no outputting on Windows Media Player, Internet Explorer, etc. However, other programs, like iTunes, will play just fine. I reinstalled the Live card and it had no effect. I yanked the Soundblaster card out and just went with onboard sound and had the same issue. The computer has a ton of programs on it that he doesn't want to lose, so wiping is not a real option, but I don't know what in particular to look for that got corrupted/infected by the virus. Any suggestions? Would a Windows repair help, or am I going to lose a shit-ton of documents and programs?

8/1/2010 7:41:17 AM

if you open sound properties can you get the default sounds to play through there? (I think it's called a theme or something).

8/1/2010 2:39:51 PM

Negative. That's where I initially found the problem. As I said, iTunes and other 3rd party programs can output sound to either device, but not any MS/Windows programs.

8/1/2010 4:38:35 PM

This is just a hunch. But maybe those other programs aren't using Direct Sound and the DirectX install is corrupt or missing some files. You could try re-installing DirectX. If there are any corrupt Direct Sound files, that should fix it.

8/1/2010 6:13:19 PM

A repair installation will not remove any documents, but perhaps an easier thing to do is use the system file checker; run this command in the Run dialog (WinKey+R):

sfc /scannow

8/1/2010 6:16:21 PM

^I was thinking along those lines, but didn't know specifically what to look for. I've got an even more fucked up problem now. Some sort of power/cpu/mobo problem. When you plug it in, I get an amber light on the power supply. Since we are a Dell shop at work, I know that blinking amber means a capacitor or something has screwed the motherboard, but this one is just solid. One time she tried to power on and started to wind up like a jet, so I immediately yanked the power. I swapped the PSU and got the same result. So I can only assume its the motherboard or CPU that is going bad. Going to see if I have something compatible at work that I can test a different CPU from, and if that doesn't work, then I'll assume that the motherboard itself is shitting the bed.

8/2/2010 8:33:49 AM

You said you're a Dell shop. Do you guys have any spare CPUs that will work in that motherboard?

I would also let it keep power for more than a few seconds. Typically at bootup, before the BIOS and OS take control of the fans, they default to a maximum setting, which can be quite loud. This is the case for my computer. As soon as the BIOS takes control the fans, it gets much quieter, and once when Windows loads, it gets even quieter. That has been my experience with most computers.

Another thing. On my computer, and a lot of other motherboards, a solid light usually indicates that there is still power in the motherboard. This helps you know not to touch it until the light goes out if you decide to open the case and do work, as it can take a while for the capacitors to drain.

8/2/2010 12:13:34 PM

^I know what you mean about them occasionally spinning up to max before cutting back to necessary speed, and this was certainly not it. Our SX280s with those small fans can sound like a jet engine starting up at first. This is a pretty sedate box with one large fan and it started off very low and ramped up. After probably 5-6 seconds it was starting to get extremely loud and that's when I killed it. Saw on some message boards that if you let that continue, it usually follows with smoke coming from the CPU/socket area. Obviously, I was trying to avoid that!

And yes, as I said in the post before, I'm going to see if one of our older GX260s that has a 2.8 CPU is compatible, since this has a 3 ghz processor.

8/2/2010 6:35:55 PM

Similar thing happened to me. Had a virus, reformatted...no sound. Had to find the right driver and install and it worked fine.

I think it was prowin32.exe.

8/3/2010 11:26:37 AM

Make a new user account on the computer, log into that account and see if the sound works there. It sounds like the user profile may be corrupt/damaged.

8/4/2010 2:24:31 PM