sound card problems. please help/look.

okay so i have a problem with my computer. For what ever reason, the computer doesn't read my on-board sound card, and i don't know of a way to detect it using XP if for what ever reason it glitched up and just blanked out of the manager.

Does anyone know of any way to try to jump start it or do i just have to get another card to stick in the slots?

It usually comes up with this message (if this helps any): 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.

OK, this will be a step by step process to work out what's wrong with your sound card.

Step 1: Open Device Manager and post a screenshot of what it says under Sound, Video and Game Controllers. Are there any yellow exclamation points or red crosses?

Question: When did it stop working? Was there any symtom when it stopped - crackling, static etc? Did you update any drivers for it?

okay well its not really my computer so i'll have to get the screen shots uploaded later today, but over the phone, there apparently arn't any sound card controllers. as in the audio/video codecs all seem to be in working order; no exclamation points or anything. all the drivers seem to be up to date. simply put the power supply was changed and then thats when it stopped working. i would imagine this is more than likely the source of the problem, but before we would go out and buy a new card, i was wondering if there was any way to jump start it, knowing how flaked up windows can get sometimes.

If no sound cards are showing up, it's possible the driver's aren't installed. Have you got the user to try the Add Hardware wizard?

If it's an add in sound card, and not built into the MB you can try removing it, boot the pc without it, then shutdown and restart with it back in to see if windows wil auto detect it and reinstall the drivers. Plug and pray.

He mentions that the sound card is on board, builtin to the motherboard.

yeah its built into the mother board. But thanks Oz, i'll try the Add Hardware option. If not that then yeah i don't know what to do. I got the user to look in the "device manager" to see if anything else was funny, but everything was as stated above.

Usually when Media Player cannot play something, be it a sound or video file, you can right-click on the file while in the "Now Playing" section when it is red, and it will present you with the option to see why it won't play. The link will take you to Microsoft's site with some error number and an explanation of why it can't play it. See if she can do this to get us more information. What type of file is it she's trying to play?

He know's why it won't play - there's no working audio device installed!
Geez, read the whole thread before you post people.

yeah its built into the mother board. But thanks Oz, i'll try the Add Hardware option. If not that then yeah i don't know what to do. I got the user to look in the "device manager" to see if anything else was funny, but everything was as stated above.

Sorry didn't notice it was onboard in the origional post. You can still "uninstall" it by going to device manager, right clicking on the sound card and clicking on uninstall. Then reboot and see if it re-installs automaticaly, and if it doesn't try the "add hardware" option after uninstalling it.