Computer Sound Problem.......

[EnlightenedGrinch]

Have any of you ever had this problem--We have a fairly new (4 months old) Dell Computer running Internet Explorer 7.
About a week ago it stopped playing any sound from web sites, youtube videos, Photobucket videos, etc., etc..... Basically any web page.
The speakers still have the start-up sounds and Windows Media Player and Itunes still play songs, so it's not the speakers or the sound card (I guess).
A friend of mine told me to try loading Internet Explorer 8, but I haven' tried that.
I've done all the basic stuff--the speakers aren't muted, they are plugged in.
Through researching this I do see where other people are having the same exact problem.

Thanks for any advice.

[theedwin]

Hi Enlightened,

Well, if media player and I(ck)Tunes are still working, could it be the "flash" player? Maybe you need to reinstall it or update it. (could be your java as well).

Did this start happening recently? Did the computer update itself?

Also, I highly recommend Firefox!!!

E

[Frosty]

Sounds like a codec problem to me.

[Just Whisper]

Sounds like a codec problem to me.

Yeah, but there's nothing like a special Codec moment. LOL

[Sickie Ickie]

I too came to hate IE, and switched to the Fox.

[Just Whisper]

I love FireFox. It does so much. A perfect example...just reformatted and when I went back on the internet and downloaded Fox, I reinstalled Xmarks on this computer. It re-synced my bookmarks with my other computer and all my bookmarks were right here like before. You gotta love that.

[EnlightenedGrinch]

Thanks for the tips, all. Yea, I probably need to re-install something.
I'm not sure what "codec" is. Just like a lot of other computer stuff. LOL

[putrid]

Did you check all your volume controlls? You should have 5 or 6 of them all in one place. Also if there's still a way to check for software conflicts you might check there as well. It's a self diagnostic program in windows. Look for the computer hardware folder. Open it and scroll down the 'tree' and look for a red X. Open that file and follow the red X. If you see one you should get instructions on what to do.

Re-installing something isn't always a good idea. Windows programs put folders and files all over the hard drive like an octopus. Just deleting a program wont get rid of all these extra files. Re-installing the same program will cause duplicate ones and may cause software conflicts.

Sorry, I don't have a PC with Vista anymore so I'm going on memory.

[Sickie Ickie]

Also, some keyboards have a mute button on the yop of them. did ya press that accidentally?

[EnlightenedGrinch]

Thanks for the tips, Sickie and Putrid.
The mute button was one of the first things I checked. It wasn't that.

[putrid]

You might also check your preferences in your web browser program. You may have clicked onto a link that changed your defaults as to what media player to use.

[EnlightenedGrinch]

Woo-hoo!! I just got it fixed!
I found a Windows help forum where a lot of others were having the same problem. Some had fixed it using a "cmd/exe" entry and typing in a "sfc" scan that would identify corrupt files and fix them if it could.
I don't know what all that is, but I have sound from web sites now.:chappy:
Thanks for everyone's input!!

[putrid]

Totally cool EnlightenedGrinch. I'd keep that code saved in a word file just incase this happens again.