Hope this is the right place to post this, if not I apologise.

Recently I lost system sounds (startup and shutdown etc.) and all sound in anything flash related/based (YouTube etc.).

I removed all my codecs when I was trying to get Movie Maker working and it screwed up these sounds it seems. I've installed codecs again and new drivers and no luck.

I've tried googling this problem but just find mostly unrelated junk and people with the same unresolved issues

Other than those sounds everything else works; MP3, AVI, MPG, WMV etc.

At first I thought it was just flash, reinstalling that didn't help. Then I noticed the startup and shutdown sounds were missing and checked to see if they were turned on, which they are. It won't let me play any of the system sounds in the Sounds menu from Control Panel either. I also think other sounds, such as MSN Messneger ones, get interrupted at times too.

Can anyone help me?

I've had this problem before, but for the life of me, I can remember how I resolved it.

You can try reinstalling your sound card driver.

Found new drivers and tried that, then removed them and windows automatically installed drivers back and still no luck

Had this same problem for months and finally found a fix for it... So I created a site to tell people how to fix it... www.NoSystemSounds.com

It works! Thanks so much

I installed K-lite codec pack or whatever it's called but was unaware of that little tweak fix thing, stupid me ^^;

Glad it worked, I had this problem for months and tired everything to try fix it! If you know anyone else who is having same problem please let them know about the site...

ei im having the same problem.even my brwser sounds wont play

I have the same issue except for the play button under Audio is not grayed out. I can push the button and it acts like it plays the sound, however I hear nothing at all. This is happening off a fresh install of Windows XP Pro and it started after I formatted my computer due to some nasty virus / spyware. I have done the following:

-Reinstalled windows XP 2 times.
-Verified codecs are located under the hardware tab and all are in tact.
-Uninstalled and reinstalled my audio driver for my onboard HD audio (Gigabyte m57SLI-S4 board)
-Downloaded the K-Lite codec pack *NOTE* when I try the fix under tweak tools under "fixes" the option to fix system sound is grayed out and it says "no problem found".
-Attempted the registry fix specified and entered it into system registry.
-Windows default sound scheme is selected,
-Rebooted multiple times after all troubleshooting steps.

*NOTE* This was after a fresh install of windows. Worked fine before I reinstalled. Windows Media player and movies etc all work fine. Only thing that is effected is the system sounds and internet sounds (AIM, youtube, flash etc. *That I have noticed so far*)

Also remember I have reinstalled windows XP 2 times now with the same result. This is on a brand new system that I have built with all hardware up to date and was working originally the first time the OS was installed.

PLEASE HELP ME BEFORE I RIP OUT MY HAIRS!!!!!

I fixed it or actually it fixed itself. This is what I did (after everything I have already specified):

Pulled my old sound card out of my old system and installed it. Disabled my onboard sound (which was the one having the issue.) Installed the drivers for my old card. Now everything is working but my old sound card does not sound near as good as my new card (since the one from my new motherboard is HD etc). I played with it for awhile and said screw the system and internet flash sounds etc and just hooked my onboard back up.

Since this was a fresh install I had to reconfigure some of my system displays and looks etc.

THE ONLY THING I did software-wise other than the sound card swap was updated my XFX video card driver and switch windows to classic mode. (I always run windows in classic mode for max performance and I just flat out like it better). Now I do not know if the switch back to classic mode did the trick or not I am not certain but I then rebooted to update my video drivers and while I was shutting down heard the 'exit windows' wav.

Now everything is working as should. I really can not explain it but the other fixes out there that worked for everyone else never worked for me.

Not sure as to what the ACTUAL FIX was but I hope this helps for anyone else having this issue.

CIAO!