Recently when I reboot my Dell Inspiron 9400 Notebook running Windpws XP Professional Version 2002 Service Pack 3, the start sound is distorted when played. I updated the sound card driver to the current version and reboot the computer and the start sound played fine the first two times then reverted to the distorted sound. I played the sound file from it's location C:\Windows\Media and it plays fine. All other media files play fine. Any suggestions as to why it might be distorted at startup? Thanks, pdoughboy_1.
Thanks for the suggestion Abydos, I checked the Primary IDE settings and it is set to DMA. I also turned off any unnecessary start up programs in msconfig and that didn't help either. Any other suggestions? Thanks again.
pdoughboy
i had this problem a couple of weeks ago..so the soln is:-
open regedit and go to HKEY current user and in the right pane should read "(default) REG_SZ (value not set)"
if not then delete the value and Winxp will create a new one. then your sound will be back "
it worked for me..
I wouldn't recommend fiddling with the reg.editor because of this.
And certainly not without making backup before attempting that.
What sound-card do you have in your machine?
If its a onboard sound-card, updating your chip-set
drivers may do the trick
It may have (also) something to do with the amount of
drivers you are loading at boot. Try consider limit your
start-up programs which have sound-modules or any
sound related features. Nice bonus here, is faster boot
time as well
Dinesh Ku. Dora:
open regedit and go to HKEY current user and in the right pane should read "(default) REG_SZ (value not set)"
if not then delete the value and Winxp will create a new one. then your sound will be back "
What source are you getting this from?
His sound isn't gone, it just stutters and
is distorted when playing the windows
logon sound.
Hi, I tried Dinesh Ku. Dora's suggestion before I received Abydos' last post. The value in HKEY Current User "(default) REG_SZ (value not set)" was already there. I changed the value to (123) thinking when I restart the computer it would be incorrect, then deleted (removed the value, set it to (value not set) again. At this time I have no default Windows sounds, no start up or shut down sound, no sound when emptying the trash, etc. Sound still works for all other media but now all Windows default sounds don't play. Settings in Control Panel/Sounds are Windows default although "No Sounds" was set before I changed it back. So now my goal is to get default sounds back, then move on to the distorted sound again. Any help is appreciated. Good point about the back up of the registry Abydos, should have known better.
Yes, backup is essential when dealing with something
as the regeditor. Either use windows own method, which
have the downside that it can't backup the security hive
and various other things as well. Or, as I always recommend,
use Erunt / How to backup
Now, to correct your problem with Reg_SZ , the correct string
should look like this:
(Default) REG_SZ (value not set)
Next, go to your control panel and check if the sound settings under sounds and sound
units is set correct. (May be worded different as I have a Danish version of XP )
Abydos,
I have the same problem as pdoughboy. Can you help?
Start up sound is distorted ; also sound from news feeds from my ISP Comcast.net.
However if I play a movie from the DVD drive there is no distortion.
I have updated sound driver to no avail.
I'm using a Sony Vaio running XP Pro.
The primary IDE channel advanced setting shows two devices.
Device 0 transfer mode is DMA if available; shows current transfer mode as PIO with no mode of changing it.
Device 1 reads transfer mode DMA if available; current transfer mode Not Applicable.
Thanks.
gorban
Abydos,
I have the same problem as pdoughboy. Can you help?
Hi gorban
Sure I can help, and if not online, someone else will.
But.
Its better you start your own thread. That way no one gets confused about
the advices given, and to whom they may be directed at. Your solution
might be somewhat different compared to what pdoughboy_1 needs.
Just the fact, that yours is a laptop(It is a laptop right?), can make a difference.
Hello Gorban. There are two articles that are relevant to your issue. I would recommend you to read them both and try the troubleshooting instructions suggested and see if they resolve their problem or not.
)
