For some reason my audio isn't working at all.
Let me start off by saying I've never installed any hardware onto my computer (such as a soundcard). I've never altered the original hardware in any way or form. And this problem arose almost out of nowhere.
When I try to play any music file on windows media, I get an error message saying "Windows Media Player cannot play the file because there is a problem with your sound device. There might not be a sound device installed on your computer, it might be in use by another program, or it might not be functioning properly."
When I try to start up a game, I either get an error message or no message at all.
Normally one would assume my speakers or soundc ard are busted. I don't think that's the case. This is where things get freaky.
As soon as I start up my computer, about 1 or two minutes into using the computer, I can play music files normally. If I close the file then open it (or a different file ) again 5 minutes later, I get an error message (see above). However, I can leave the music file open for as long as I want and it will continue playing finely. If I tried to open another file, or the same one again, then I would get the error message. (Basically, I would an error message if I was trying to play a music file while another was open and playing perfectly fine!)
So I guess, my sound works for like 1 or 2 minutes into startup, then complete breaks up and dies about 3 or 5 minutes later.
More freaky stuff:
Even when the sound is dead, I can still hear system sounds, such as the click you get from selecting an icon. But my music files, or games, still don't work.
Yeah. I've tried troubleshooting and so on. Everything seems to be installed. The devices seem to be working finely. So what's up?
Help would be greatly appreciated!
Ps.
This doesn't really affect me, but my taskbar is acting odd as well. It's fine at the startup, looks like the taskbar I've been using since I got this computer 4 years ago. Then about 10 minutes into usage, it changes into this wierd, odd looking, windows 95 like taskbar with an ugly text.
Any ideas?
