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My neighbour has a machine running XP that no longer makes Windows 'event' sounds, such as the Startup/Shutdown sounds. I've checked all the obvious things. If I go in to edit the sound scheme, I can see the sounds are assigned to the event, I can click the little 'play' button and it plays the right sound. It just won't make any noise on its own.

What really got me stumped was that if I click the volume icon in the system notification area and then start changing the volume, rather than a ding sound at various volumes from the speakers, all I get is a beep from the internal speaker.

It's an HP machine of some sort, with Realtek audio.

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But he does have other sounds, like from media players and so? – Phoshi Oct 18 '09 at 15:04
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wow. i'd kill for a default Windows install that does this. instead i have to go in and kill the sound scheme manually every time. – quack quixote Nov 18 '09 at 10:51
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2 Answers

up vote 1 down vote

You should make sure that the "Windows Audio" service is running:

  • Click "Start"
  • Click "Run"
  • Type "services.msc"
  • Double-Click "Windows Audio"
  • Change "Startup" to "Automatic"
  • Click "Run"
  • Click "OK"
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Thanks, that's one I hadn't thought of, I'll have to go round and take a look. – user13105 Oct 4 '09 at 14:39
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Open the "Sounds and Audio Devices" control panel and click on the "Audio" tab. Is the "Sound playback" "Default device" set to the Realtek device?

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Sorry, I've been through all of those settings. All was set correctly. – user13105 Oct 4 '09 at 14:37
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