"problem with sound device"

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Guest

My speakers play system sounds. I used to be able to listen to cds and online
radio. Now, whenever I try to listen to an online radio station or any sound
or music file I get this error message from Windows Media Player:
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 I do the troubleshooter, but everything involved with a sound device is
grayed out.
For example, in the Device Manager I right clicked the sound device, clicked
Properties and the Device Usage down at the bottom is grayed out so I can't
alter it. The Device Status says: This device is working properly.

In the Control Panel, under Sounds and Audio Devices, and under the Audio
tab everything is grayed out, but you can see that it says No Playback
Devices, No Recording Devices, No MIDI Playback Devices, but I can hear when
the computer beeps at me.
I know that the sound device came with the mother board and I know that it
worked fine before. The only thing that might have changed since then are
some automatic updates.

Why could I listen to music before and not now, and how do I fix it?
 
The soundcard drivers have either become corrupted and/or somehow
have been deleted. You can reinstall the drivers from your Utility disks
which came with your PC, check for a Soundcard driver disk or maybe
one called SoundBlaster. First, I would try a System Restore to see if
that would fix the problem.
Start>All Programs>Accessories>System Tools>System Restore
You can go back up to 90 days.
 
I have marked distortion with sound for about an hour until computer warms up
I guess.

Audio driver was re-downloaded.

Mother board was changed.

System restore was accomplished.

Now it still breaks up consistently for about first hour of operation then
seems OK.

Any ideas?

It doesn't matter what media player I use or if it is speakers or
headphones.
 
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