"Corrupted .WAV file" or missing compression scheme

[RICHINMINN]

System:
MSI 6340M motherboard
AMD Duron CPU (650 MHz)
128 MB SDRAM
20 GB WD HD

The above system worked fine for over a year, but then the sound stopped functioning. If I would go into Control Panel and try to play any of the sounds that were assigned to specific events (Windows startup, etc.) a message was displayed stating that "the .WAV file may be corrupted, or an audio compression scheme may not be installed on the system" (or something to that effect). I tried reinstalling WinME over the existing setup (not wanting to reformat the HD), but that didn't fix anything.

I replaced the motherboard with an old Biostar M7VKB that I had sitting on a shelf, and everything worked fine! The sounds worked fine, at startup, shutdown, and the like, as well as when played from within Control Panel. Within a couple of hours, though, the sound stopped working, and I got the "corrupted .WAV" message again.

I installed a spare hard drive that has a full installation of WinME on it, and everything worked fine.

Reinstalling the original hard drive resulted in no sound again.

I reinstalled the original MSI motherboard and reinstalled the audio drivers, and the sound worked fine again. But again, within a couple of hours, the sound stopped working once more.

What's up? The hardware is working fine, because at any time I can switch to the second WinME hard drive, and the sounds work just fine. Is it possible that a software package is taking control of the audio output? (I'm not sure exactly what software is on the system. This is a friend's PC, and I'm not in front of it right now.)

Do I need to reformat the hard drive and start from scratch?

Help!!!

Rich (in Minn)

 

[rwise2112]

Did you install any software at all before the problem started. I remember, quite a while ago, that a version of Norton Antivirus would cause this some times. I've also seen it with Bitware Fax.

Norton's explaination, was a timing conflict in loading device drivers. They actually has a .REG file which when run was supposed to take care of the problem.

It's possible that some other program you installed may be causing a similar problem.

 

[RICHINMINN]

The error message displayed when trying to play a .WAV file is as follows:

"Windows cannot play the C:\WINDOWS\MEDIA\CHORD.WAV file. The file may be damaged or may use an unrecognized compression format. To resolve this problem, replace the file or use Add/Remove Programs in Control Panel to install audio compression."

 

[rwise2112]

I know it sounds unlikely, but yes, that was the exact error generated when previewing sounds in the Control Panel, with either Norton or Bitware Fax installed. For that reason, I suspect some recently installed software has caused the issue.

You can try reinstalling the audio codecs. This has to be done through Add New Hardware, manually installing devices, and choosing Microsoft Audio Codecs as the Manufacturer to see the list of which ones are available.

 

[xkjdhdg]

When you go into the control panel did you check that the scheme box was blank.
You can set this to no sound which would give you the problem you are having. The High setting can also be muted. Check the setting for the volume on the midi player these are the master volume settings. Check the devices under the deivce tab to see if all of your codecs are loaded.