Urgent help needed!

[beenee]

In a moment of frustration I uninstalled some sound driver on my laptop! I know this because after I did this my sound files did not play. This driver was installed by the store I bought my computer from so I can not find it on download.com. I dont remember deleting anything so the setup program should still be on my computer, but I searched for it and nothing came up. What should I do???

[gilf]

Laptops don't tend to be these throw together things you get with desk tops, so I would guess it has some sort of brand name. Almost all companies will provide a set of drivers for their models so go to the manufacturers website and look for the download section there.

[j2buttonsw]

Go to device manager, reinstall the sound card driver and point it at the inf directory for the driver.

[beenee]

Thanks you two. j2buttonsw where can I find my device manager?

[j2buttonsw]

In Win2000/XP, right click MyComputer > manage > device manager is listed on the left. If you have uninstalled the sound card driver or there is a problem with it you will see either a question mark (unknown device) or a yellow exclamation mark or red cross to say the device has a problem. In Windows 98 right click My Computer > properties > device manager. Your windows\inf folder is hidden by default so to show it right click My Computer > explore > tools > folder options > view > ensure "show hidden files and folders" is selected (I can't remember where this is in Windows 98, I think it is in the view menu when you explore). To update the driver, double click the device in device manager > driver > update driver > go through the wizard and specify the C:\windows\inf folder(C:\winnt\inf for Windows 2000) when you "search for a suitable driver". Since the driver has already been installed once, all the relevant info is in here (and also in the C:\windows\system and system32 folders). If the device manager looks OK (there are no question, exclamation or red cross marks) then it is not the sound card driver.

[beenee]

j2buttonsw thanks so much for taking the time out to answer in such detail. I did everything you suggested, went into device manager, found my inf folder etc, but there was just no listing for a 'sound' driver or anything even remotely related to a sound card and no drivers that seemed to be dysfunctional.

If it helps diagnose the problem, this is the message I get when I try to play a sound file: "MMSYSTEM002 A device ID has been used that is out of range for your system."

Is there any alternative available on the net that can fix the problem? I forgot to mention that I bought this laptop from abroad and it has passed it's warranty date so there's no one I can take it to. Thank you once again!

[j2buttonsw]

What operating system are you running? Who is the laptop manufacturer? In 2000/XP you will still have entries for sound in the device manager even if you don't have a sound card. You may have disabled the sound in the BIOS which will require you to enter the BIOS setup prior to windows booting (usually by pressing F1/F2/delete or a combination) then re-enabling it. Searching the web for that error shows that other people have fixed that error by remapping the preferred multimedia device: start > settings > control panel > multimedia (or equivalent) make sure the preferred devices are your onboard sound (though, of course, you will get this error if you don't have a sound card installed). I'm guessing you run 98 and have disabled the sound in the BIOS.

[beenee]

Yes I'm on Windows 98. Ok, I went into multimedia and found no drivers for " audio devices", "MIDI devices and instruments", "Mixer devices" and "Line Input devices" (No + signs infront of them).

If a disabled BIOS is the problem, can you take me through on how to re-enable it?

[beenee]

UPDATE: I managed to find my audio driver floppy and reinstalled the driver that I previously had! Now the device is listed for all the sound functions. However: When trying to play a sound file, the same error message shows. What is going on??

[beenee]

I FIXED IT!!! :0) Messed around with it a bit - and now I'm listening to my mp3s again! Thanks for all your help j2buttonsw!