Member Avatar for pigbenis027

Recently, my computer stopped being able to play audio and media files.
It was all OK before today.
None of my music from itunes will play
When I try to play the music from WMP i get
"Windows Media Player cannot play the file because there is a problem with your sound device. There might not be a sound device installed on your computer, it might be in use by another program, or it might not be functioning properly."
So then I checked Device Manager and it didn't see any problems with my sound card.

And with Videos.
Some of my videos play Smoothly but there is no sound. (They used to all work fine)
Some other videos run choppy and there is no sound.

The only thing I really did between when the files worked and didn't was uninstall Real Alternative.

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by pigbenis027

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Useful context and a practical checklist based on the thread: noted the only change before audio stopped was removing Real Alternative, and asked how it was fixed. Uninstalling codec packs or codec wrappers can inadvertently unregister audio decoders or DirectShow filters, which makes some players fall back incorrectly (no sound) or struggle (choppy playback). System Restore undoes registry/driver changes and often fixes that, but the steps below let you troubleshoot and repair without a full restore.

  1. Verify Windows playback device and volumes. Right-click the speaker icon -> Playback devices (Vista/7/8) -> ensure the correct device is enabled and set as Default, and that channels are not muted.
  2. Restart audio services. Open services.msc and restart Windows Audio (and on Vista/7/8 also Windows Audio Endpoint Builder).
  3. Update or reinstall the audio driver from the motherboard/soundcard maker. In Device Manager remove the device (do not delete drivers if you plan to reinstall) and scan for hardware changes.
  4. Check player/codec layers. Try a codec-independent player (VLC or MPC-HC) to confirm whether decoding is the problem. If that works, reinstall only the specific decoders you need (avoid broad, aggressive codec packs).
  5. Disable exclusive mode and enhancements: Playback device -> Properties -> Advanced -> uncheck "Allow applications to take exclusive control" and disable enhancements to rule out conflicts. Also check sample rate/bit depth for mismatches.
  6. Run diagnostics: Windows Troubleshooter and DirectX Diagnostic Tool (dxdiag) can help identify device or driver errors.

If audio returns after a restore, consider the steps above to find the root cause so future fixes are less disruptive. Keep drivers current and prefer players that bundle codecs if you want to avoid codec-install side effects.

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Member Avatar for DarkRubicant

I noticed you marked this as solved, mind telling us what you did to resolve this?

Member Avatar for pigbenis027

All I did was a system restore and it was all good.

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