Sound has stopped working for 2 out of 3 users

[ben_j_davis]

I am really stumped. On my home computer (running XP) I have three user profiles - Mine (admin) and two for my house mates (restricted). Yesterday for no apparent reason, sound became disabled on one of the profiles. I.e. I could play music with my profile, but not on the house mates. The issue has now apparently spread to the other restricted profile.

I've checked all the usual things, but it's not possible for them to change any of the settings or install anything due to the nature of the set-up.

The problem first appeared after using DSS software which can with his Dictaphone (http://www.olympus.co.uk/consumer/2581_ds-2300.htm) to split a file, there was an error, the PC was hard restarted and the sound disappeared. Whether this actually caused the error is debatable, as in order to allow him to continue working I simply transferred the Dictaphone files to another profile desktop. The problem has migrated with the files.

I've never come across this issue before and I have no clue how to fix it other than re-installing the Dictaphone software. I can't see it being a virus, by why would a previously working bit of software start disabling the sound?

There are no error messages, there is definitely something going on as the graphic visualizer is working as normal, just nothing coming out of the speakers.

I've got a basic X-fi card.

Any ideas?


Cheers,
Ben

 

[El_Watcher]

Just wondering whether the dictaphone software has set the default audio device as the dictophone rather than the sound card. Thus any sounds are output to the dictophone software, rather than the speakers.
Have a look in the Sounds And Audio Devices section of Control Panel, and see if the Audio tab still lists your sound card as the default device or not.

 

[swinnie]

As El_Watcher has said, it is more than likely going to be a default sound device issue, but I am curious to know why it has only done this to two user accounts (if it has done it at all).

 

[ben_j_davis]

I think that was the problem. The audio for some reason had defaulted to the on-board sound chip. I changed the setting back to X-Fi, but nothing made a difference until I restarted the computer.

Thanks a lot for good advice, much appreciated.