No sound on youtube, distorted sound in media player.Formatted and replaced soundcard

tw1z · 14 Oct 2007 at 13:48

So the other day I went onto youtube to watch a video and then it wasn't giving my any sound. So I checked my computer settings and all to see if I had muted sound on accident or something along those lines. I hadn't and I still wasn't getting sound. I checked other videos and yet, still no sound. Or, I either had sound but it was really, really quiet. Or, it started off normally but then cut off.

I tried playing music through Windows Media Player and it all sounded weird and distorted. IE, the singing was really quiet and the instruments were loud.

To fix this, I reinstalled my sound drivers, checked my codecs, reinstalled flash player and reinstalled my codecs. Yet, still there was no difference, the sound was still messd up. I thought it might be the speakers so I switched my speakers with my sisters (she has the same speakers that I do) and alas, it was no use.

Feeling a little lost I decided to reinstall Windows XP. I thought that by doing this my problems would all be solved. But it wasn't. The problem still remained.

Due to me using onboard sound I decided to purchase a sound card yesterday and I just installed it into my PC today, and formatted once more just for good measure.

However.. the problem STILL remains and I am kind of stuck. Does anyone know what I can do to fix this or have encountered this sort of problem themselves?

M3G4UK · 14 Oct 2007 at 13:56

Perhaps check the motherboard somehow? Are the sound boards by different brands?

tw1z · 14 Oct 2007 at 14:02

Well I was using onboard sound. I have the P5W DH Deluxe Mobo and the soundcard I am using right now is the Creatisve Sound Blaster Audigy SE.

As far as testing the motherboard, I'm not sure how to go about that.

M3G4UK · 14 Oct 2007 at 14:10

Hmm, I'd swap it out with a cheap alternative just to check it's not something like the motherboard chipset getting in the way - when I had my old AMD rig I built the motherboard had a fault chipset, so when the computer was asked to do anything with the video (AGP card) or sound (built in) it screwed up the PC, wrote garbage to the IDE channels and rebooted the machine - and damaged the windows installation beyond repair.

It could be the chipset is my trail of thought. Aside from that, I think all software routes are pretty much exhausted apart from finding older driver versions and perhaps trying them?

tw1z · 14 Oct 2007 at 14:15

Well I'll try and give it a go. Only problem is, is that I don't have an alternative motherboard to use right now. I was thinking it would be along the lines of that.. but I was seriously hoping it wouldn't be. I just find it totally strange how everything was working one day and then the next it had just messed up.

I could try the older driver versions though.

M3G4UK · 14 Oct 2007 at 14:18

tw1z said:
Well I'll try and give it a go. Only problem is, is that I don't have an alternative motherboard to use right now. I was thinking it would be along the lines of that.. but I was seriously hoping it wouldn't be. I just find it totally strange how everything was working one day and then the next it had just messed up.

I could try the older driver versions though.

Yeah, It all seems a bit odd. But multiple formats and such kinda almost rule out software errors. But definately try older drivers, something might be conflicting with something else - or there might be a driver on your system that won't work with a majority of sound drivers. Try leaving ALL other devices without drivers on a clean install of XP, and just install the sound drivers. If it doesn't happen at that point, there's some issues with a piece of your hardware.

tw1z · 14 Oct 2007 at 14:28

Alright, thanks a lot for your help! I'll give it a go and come back here if I have any further problems.. but I have a sad, sinking feeling that it's the motherboard.

M3G4UK · 14 Oct 2007 at 14:29

tw1z said:
Alright, thanks a lot for your help! I'll give it a go and come back here if I have any further problems.. but I have a sad, sinking feeling that it's the motherboard.

I know that feeling all too well. My fingers are crossed for you that its a software error