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Win98 Gold: Possible WAV Codec Issue


i430VX

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Hello all. I have a Compaq Presario 1260 that suddenly stopped playing system wave sound (sounds in mplayer, or the windows event sounds). I'm not sure why.
In windows sound recorder and mplayer i get this:
"MCI Error: MMSYSTEM326 No wave device that can play files in the current format is installed."
And manually playing a sound file in the control panel "sounds" thingy:
"Windows cannot play the "<sound file name here>" file. It may be damaged or may not be a valid sound file. Replace the file and try again."
WAV sounds play fine in Windows Media Player, winamp, etc, and basically any other aspect of sound on this computer is working.
The sound chip is a ESS AudioDrive (ES1869)

I've tried installing the k-lite codecs, uninstalling and reinstalling the system codecs, removing the audio driver and letting windows install it again.

Help would be appreciated. Thank you.

Edited by i430VX
specified the sound chip
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The k-lite crap provides DirectShow codecs, you need the .ACM codecs that come with Windows.

They are listed in the [drivers] and [drivers32] sections of System.ini

 

Also, the .WAV format is a container, the audio inside could be encoded as PCM, MP3, or various other formats. Check with one of the default .wav files, the one you are trying to play could be in unsupported format.

 

Check these:

r1vFuxO.png

 

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Sound Recorder uses MSACM32.ACM & WINMM.DLL and in System.ini also look for

sound.drv=mmsound.drv

wave mapper=*.drv

drivers=mmsystem.dll

wave=mmsystem.dll

all files should be originals and easy to go back in time with scanregw /restore for system.ini

Edited by Goodmaneuver
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1 hour ago, RainyShadow said:

The k-lite crap provides DirectShow codecs, you need the .ACM codecs that come with Windows.

They are listed in the [drivers] and [drivers32] sections of System.ini

I've attached my system.ini. I'm not exactly sure which ones i need in it.

Quote

Also, the .WAV format is a container, the audio inside could be encoded as PCM, MP3, or various other formats. Check with one of the default .wav files, the one you are trying to play could be in unsupported format.

PCM. FWIW, these are the default windows wav sound files.

Quote

Check these:

codec.jpg.df87e72dfd45bd9d896cd13f262b34ae.jpg

 

16 minutes ago, Goodmaneuver said:

Sound Recorder uses MSACM32.ACM & WINMM.DLL and in System.ini also sound.drv=mmsound.drv.

I do not see sound.drv=mmsound.drv in system.ini, but its attached if you want to look at it.

 

SYSTEM.INI

Edited by i430VX
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Try registering Quartz, it is not used in Sound Recorder but it is the sound renderer in WinME and settings may be out or not compatible if used wrong Quartz the sounds wont work. You did restart the machine I assume. How for back can scanreg /restore take you. The files mentioned can be replaced in safe mode out of the Options install cabs. Also in the System.ini Boot section mine has winmm16.dll in the drivers line after power.drv, include a space.

Edited by Goodmaneuver
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I registered quartz, whether or not it was already, i do not know. didnt change anything. I have restarted. scanreg /restore can take me back 5 days, i suppose i will try it. what files am i replacing? added that to the drivers line. still nothing.

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In Windows directory there is scanreg.ini you can widen the count to higher than 4. In the SysBckUp remove any BAD named files, they are usually bigger too and note the date of them. You may need to go back before this date if there is any bad. Files I would try replacing are MSACM32 and WINMM. Try profiling SndRec32.exe in Dependency Walker and open a WAV file to see what happens.

Edited by Goodmaneuver
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Check the properties for Wave Audio Device [Media Control] and Microsoft PCM Converter, make sure they are enabled.

There should also be a mixer somewhere in this dialog.

 

For the codecs you cay try to uncheck "Audio Compression", apply, restart if needed, then install it again. Allow to replace files if it asks to.

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Try testing Sound in DXdiag.exe. You should hear sounds for all tests and there are a few. I have had some work and others not. Fix was the audio driver files though. When restoring registry by running scanregw /restore, there is a backup made of the registry that is the current one. There problem this makes is the oldest one drops out of the backup.

Edited by Goodmaneuver
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Hi i430VX. When something goes glitchy in Windows 98 and you can't remember installing or changing anything it's likely registry corruption. If SCANREG /RESTORE command fails, you have more than a sound issue. Default C:\WINDOWS\SCANREG.INI settings back up and optimize the registry at every boot, not every day, with max backup copies of five.

Recommend either increasing max backup copies to 10 or more or regularly making a quick backup of your C:\WINDOWS\SYSBCKUP\RB00*.CAB files, especially when the system is running well, on other media into a date-stamped directory. Note the backup count is the number of boots, not days. So the issue may be that before a problem is discovered, or while troubleshooting, the system has already re-booted several times, negating a good registry backup.

Edited by Wunderbar98
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  • 1 month later...

Thank you all for your suggestions, but after being too busy with other projects to mess with it for a while, I turned the laptop on today and system sounds just...worked. I've booted this thing a couple of times since i last tried to fix purely with the intention of getting data off of it, and there wasnt sound then, and i didnt try anything then. Somehow, it started working purely by its own doings. When problems just disappear as randomly as they appeared, its never a good sign. But hopefully, the issue doesn't return. :whistle:

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