Member Avatar for risho

I have windows XP Pro SP2, with windows media player 11 beta it hasnt given me any issues for weeks now the only thing I changed was to download a new divx 6.4 codec and xvid 1.10 codec, sounds and videos play fine in my VLC player/Real Player/Divx...etc its only the windows media giving me issues lol it figures :) it wont play and gives me a error for normal only sound files and with videos it plays them fine but with no sound and no error.

Ive already checked under device managers for any !/? etc everything looks normal in the whole branch/tree and sound section as well, my motherboard has C-Media onboard high Def sound built into it and never had a problem since I built this PC early this year.

What other areas can I check? Ive even checked for the obvious mute on any programs and windows or changed setting everything is fine, is there anything in my BIOS i can play with?

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by Zephone_UK

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A short expert summary and focused checklist that addresses the problem described by and the codec/ per‑profile theories raised by and .

A very common cause when only Windows Media Player is silent is that WMP is using the wrong audio renderer. Check WMP’s internal speaker selection (Tools → Options → Devices → Speakers → Properties) and set “Audio device to use” to the Default DirectSound Device or the specific card/driver in the dropdown, then restart the Player. This single step fixes many WMP‑only no‑sound cases. (zachd.com)

If the player’s device is correct, third‑party DirectShow filters (ffdshow, AC3Filter, codec packs) often hijack audio and can be set to passthrough digital audio (SPDIF) or to an unavailable renderer — which produces silence in WMP while players with built‑in decoders (VLC) still work. Temporarily disable/uninstall recently added codec packs or open the audio filter’s config and turn off any SPDIF/bitstream passthrough or re‑encode options. Reboot and test WMP after each change. (ac3filter.net)

If those fail, verify system basics: confirm the Windows default playback device (Control Panel → Sounds and Audio Devices), run dxdiag’s Sound tests, ensure the Windows Audio service is running (services.msc → Windows Audio → Startup = Automatic), and test WMP from a clean/new Windows user profile (to rule out per‑profile WMP settings). If multiple fixes are needed, use Microsoft’s XP sound troubleshooting flow (KB307918) as a structured next step. (learn.microsoft.com)

Notes: avoid reinstalling drivers blindly — try the WMP device change first, then undo codec/filter additions before reinstalling system drivers. If evidence shows WMP reports an “audio device not installed” error, the device‑selection and filter‑passthrough checks above are the highest‑yield actions. (zachd.com)

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Member Avatar for caperjack

the only thing I changed was to download a new divx 6.4 codec and xvid 1.10 codec, sounds and videos play fine in my VLC player/Real Player/Divx...etc its only the windows media giving me issues lol it figures :) i?

is that ALL. you media player is beta ,in the building stage, what do you expect from it .! you are being used as tester by microshaft ,contact them with the error message and see what help they offer ,im sure they will be glad to hear from you

Member Avatar for risho

is that ALL. you media player is beta ,in the building stage, what do you expect from it .! you are being used as tester by microshaft ,contact them with the error message and see what help they offer ,im sure they will be glad to hear from you

Are you serious? It does the same with Window Media PLayer 10, 9, and ancient mplayer2.exe thats in the system32 folder, would you like non beta screen shots so you couldnt blame it on the beta 11 stage?

Member Avatar for caperjack

Are you serious? It does the same with Window Media PLayer 10, 9, and ancient mplayer2.exe thats in the system32 folder, would you like non beta screen shots so you couldnt blame it on the beta 11 stage?

Yes Im serisous ,and you cold have mentioned that it did the same with all the players ,so its most likely the new codex you've install ,why blame it on wmp

Member Avatar for risho

Yes Im serisous ,and you cold have mentioned that it did the same with all the players ,so its most likely the new codex you've install ,why blame it on wmp

But it only does it with windows media player, not any other of my players...guess im on my own....

Member Avatar for caperjack

But it only does it with windows media player, not any other of my players...guess im on my own....

Ok ,its strange to say the least that it only affect the sound in WMP,just for the fun of it i loaded the codex and the converter on another machine i have here and it works ok,
did wmp ever work after you installed the divix codex or did this happen right away after installing them ,I had one error when installing wmp 11beta it was finished ,just install some music store i agreed to [just for the heck of it ]when it stoped responding ,i did and end task ,then got a possiable plugin error of some sort ,
if it started after the install of dicx ,have you tried uninstall the divx

Member Avatar for Zephone_UK

I've posted my own version of this fault and no one came up with any answers there either... Although my fault was with WMP 10 AFTER i unistalled WMP 11 beta... The really annoying thing is that WMP 10 works PERFECTLY on any of the other user accounts on this my system... It just tells me that there is a problem with my sound device or that there isn't one installed.... Like i said though NONE of my other users have this problem and take great joy in the fact that they can still use WMP and i'm stuck with winamp...

Member Avatar for caperjack

maybe reinstall sound card drivers on the affected user

Member Avatar for Zephone_UK

Nope... Tried that... Both sound drivers and MoBo drivers... No help... This just seems to be one of those "Windows Faults That No One Can Explain"...

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