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Win XP Pro. I'm guessing that myself since the hardware keeps getting recognized as I switch the sound cards. The drivers install fine. The devices list themselves under audio properties for playback and recording. It just totally baffles me. Windows media player is playing music like it should be working. But no sound is coming out. I am guessing there is some part of windows internally that is goobered concerning power output to the speakers. Windows Audio service is set to automatic and it's started. I just don't know. I don't think I have the original disc anymore so I can't do a repair install of windows. I am hoping I find some way of resolving this issue.

I tried another set of speakers. No sound came out of those either.

I recently did some housecleaning with my pc and now the audio isn't working. I had shut off some services, not windows audio service. I also used adaware programs, of which only a few low threat items were listed. Overall the system is pretty clean. But for some reason the audio stopped working. I have updated the creative soundblaster live drivers just in case. I patched them as well. Still nothing so I uninstalled the audio. I then reinstalled it and also moved it into different pci slots. Windows picks it up each time and everything seems to work fine. If I run Windows Media Player, it acts like it's playing the music. If I run system sounds through audio in the control panel, they act like they play fine. But still no sound coming from the speakers. I switched the audio card with another. It also installed fine but still no sound. I then tested the speakers on another system and they had sound on that system. I just don't know what could have gone wrong. I went back and reenabled all services just in case there was a dependency for Windows Audio that was keeping it from working. I just don't understand how the light on the speaker that shows its getting audio from another system works fine, but hooking it up to this one the green light doesn't come on. It's like the signal isn't being transmitted out from Windows even though the audio programs are saying it is. I have patched the system and updated all the drivers for all the hardware. It's a Dell 8100. Everything was working fine. There is one unknown device but I believe it to be part of the help and support feature that DELL had for this series of systems. But that was always present before. I don't know if there is something internal to how windows handles audio that needs to be reinstalled. I really don't want to reinstall windows. =( Thanks in advance. I also checked audio properties in the taskbar to make sure that for audio playback that the audio card is the selected device. I also checked to make sure that the audio is not muted. When the speakers are connected to another system, as soon as the other systems turn on, the green power light for the speakers turn on. These speakers are powered by an adapter that plugs into the wall, they aren't powered by usb. But when those speakers are plugged into this pc's audio card, the green light does not come on at power on or even when fully into windows. Its like the pci slots aren't getting power or something? But if that was so, wouldn't the audio cards not be read by the system? So, I don't know, so confused.

Thank you both so much.

I want to use the cmd to copy file to a folder on the desktop but I don't know the path to it. In XP it was C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Desktop It doesn't appear to be that way in Vista. Thanks in advance.

Thanks for all the input. @Rick, I am amazed at how successful you have been saving a pc without having to restore it. It does seem that a full reinstall can be quite time consuming because of the updates and possibly extra software that has to be added: antivirus, spyware, customer specific, etc. Then there's the matter updating that and then possibly doing some more tweaking. But doesn't removing virus, etc. infestations take a lot more time? I guess in some cases, we can let some software do the work. But what about those cases when the software can't. For example, there's a system that has explore®(sp?) errors, dll errors, file missing or corrupt errors; won't that be time consuming, or more so? What do you do when you run into errors on the system? Thanks so much for going into so much depth with the replies, I appreciate them very much.

According to this article http://www.kevinscrate.com/blog/2007/10/20...er-a-reinstall/ there was a way to hold onto your activation credentials that were held in two files so that if you had to install xp all over again, you could move the two files back into place and be activated again without all the hassle. I was wondering if the same thing was possible with Vista?

Thank you for the screenshot. I have looked at the explanation for each. I didn't pick up on which setting controls the notification icon. Would you mind listing that particular policy? Thanks so much in advance, I had turned off UAC a while back and didn't realize that this solution existed. Cheers

I see that memory diagnostics are available at boot time. Not sure if Vista has to be installed. I get to it by hitting F8, then ESC, then TAB. I was wondering if there were other tools that can be run from the disc either at boot or just by sticking it into a pc. I've seen live linux distros offer some interesting tools by booting up from cd. What else can Vista do? Thanks for the info.

I ran into some info on the 3D Flipping feature. Microsoft Vista says it's available in the Ultimate Edition of Vista. I tried the Win+Tab keys to get it to pop up but I am not getting this feature, instead I am seeing the old XP style Tab View of running applications(mini-menu). Also, I read that the Snipping Tool is also available with the Business Edition. I can not find anymore info on these tools even using the search. Of which I read that typing in something in the start button search will lead you to most tools, like the memory diagnostic, just type memory and up it pops up. Thanks in advance for any info concerning these two issues. P.S. Just remembered, I did set performance to the best performance option. Could this be the reason?

This forum is absolutely amazing. The knowledge you guys have is just awesome. Thanks so much for the link to something I never heard of before. Excellent program. Also, thanks so much for explaining about the extended and logical partitions. I didn't realize how to use them. I was trying to create two extended of which went over the limit of 4. But once I read your post and realized I could create one extended and multiple logical drives, That solved my situation. Thanks a million to the both of you.

I am trying to create 5 partitions on one of my drives but for some reason I can only get 4 set up. After 4, the last empty part of the drive won't give me the option of making it a partition. If I try to make the 4th primary or if I make it extended, I can't use that last 10 gb's as another partition. Only if I combine the 4th and 5th part into just a 4th partition will it work out. But I really want this 5th partition. Windows tells me that I can only have 4 primary which is why I tried to go the route of making the 4th and 5th extended - then logical. Not working, all I get is details option on that last drive and no create a partition option. Thanks in advance.

Thanks guys. I will give the last a try. I didnt find some of those mentioned. So far with the max page history maxed at 5 and the max mem used changes haven't made much of a difference after a day of being open. I am going to try cache set to disabled as mentioned and see how that works out. Thanks again.

Thanks for replying. eventid.net is a nice link. THank you

Newly added computer to the network doesn't see other computers unless it's changed to the same workgroup. I thought it didn't really matter what worgroup a pc is setup for because they could all still access each other and that that practice doesn't protect a workgroup from another on the same network. If that's the case, I am wondering what could be causing a newly added pc to the network to not see the other workgroups until I change the workgroup it belongs to. Thanks in advance.

Thanks for the replies. What procedures do you use, what's the logical breakdown of troubleshooting a problem? A user calls me over to look at a system that they are having problems with. 1) Inquire about the problem 2) Observe the problem 3) Observe the user 4) Overview the system 5) Document the system and all issues 6) ? 7) ? 8) Begin .... ??? Thanks all.

Wow, thank you soo much. How in the world did you find that? I absolutely love this forum. The people here have to be the best in the world. Kudos!

If I am following this right, the RVM integration package is supposed to integrate all the service pack updates after SP2 into the XP CD(ISO) so that an install will include all the hotfixes for xp right from the cd. I was trying to follow the instructions at: http://www.ryanvm.net/msfn/manual.html I thought I would need to use my XP cd to take the i386 files from but instead it seems to point at a directory on my local computer and it's already installed o.s.(winxp). But I am afraid that doing that would possibly add corruption to my newly integrated cd. I have had this install for almost a year and it's prolly buggy. Can someone please point me to a clearer explanation or explain this further to me. Thanks so much in advance. P.S. I could swear that a while back I had seen where you could have all the updates pooled together and create an install cd that will install the hotfixes for you from that cd. Useful for when you install xpsp2 but don't have an internet connection or time to wait for the updates. If anyone remembers or knows what that was, could I also be pointed in that direction too? Thanks again.

I can't find a line that says chkdsk or see what could represent the action. Even in safe mode if I use the command prompt, I'll get the message that the volume is in use and it asks me if I want to do it at reboot. No biggee as long as I can figure out this log file view. Thanks all.

In XP, as far as I know, the system has to restart in order to allow chkdsk to work on the drive. Well, it takes a while and I miss the messages at the end of the test. I have no idea whether it corrected anything or whether everything turned up fine. How can I have it wait for me to view the results? Or where can I find the results at? Is there a way to run chkdsk in XP without rebooting? What happens if I attempt this in safe mode?

I meant that you can set the amount of max memory for firefox to use, that it will not use more. And as answered, I guess, it will use the hdd instead of mem if it gets that high. After changing some settings, like the maximum page history to 5, it seems ok. I'll keep an eye on it tomorrow after it's been open for a full day.

Where do I find this session saver setting? EDIT: I found it under tools> main> how to start Thank you I see at an article: But I am wondering what will happen when it hits the high end of the memory? What if it maxes out, will firefox crash? What would the MB be if I wanted to allocate 500MB of Ram to Firefox?

One thing I do is open a lot of tabs and an extra firefox window or two to keep these categories of tabs seperated. I know I can save all the tabs to a group, but I don't like closing my firefox windows. The problem I am running into is that if my firefox window is open for a day or more, my system really gets bogged down(firefox slows down when transitioning between tabs and opening new pages). I was wondering if there was a way to reset firefox so that I don't have to close the browser windows to do so. That's the way I've been doing it to free up the memory but I hate doing it. Thanks in advance.

Thanks for the replies all. It really changed my mindset on how I was picturing it. I guess like anything, for example cars; the door squeaks but most don't realize that means the hinges are getting torn up and some grease being applied just might keep ya from needing to replace the door in a year. But we're not interested in that, so we don't make ourselves aware of it. I guess computer problems are kinda the same way, the way most users view them; they don't want to be aware of problems, they just want to use it and have it do its job. Dealing with people is part of any service oriented position. I'll keep that in mind. There's been a couple of occasions where I've looked over a tech's shoulder and I've seen him input some command and a gui pops up and he gets a lot of info about the system through that. That's what I was guessing the mcse taught you about, how to find those gui's and how to use them. Probably the log files mentioned. Ok, I'm interested. What log files? How do you access them? What will they tell you? EDIT: After watching the video. When the tech says that he made a file can not be found error and said that it was an easy fix. How is that easy? What do you do when a file can't be found? If it's in windows, what's he gonna do, just go copy one and put it in? That works? Or what about if the error happens at dos? It's only gonna cost $60? How do you do that so easily? Or better yet, how is it done? Thanks again.

Thanks guys. rundll32.exe keymgr.dll,PRShowSaveWizardExW will that work in dos? I will prolly go the iso route. Thanks for the help.