Certain Windows sounds stopped working!

[YourNumbr1Fan]

69706

I have no earthly idea what has caused this, but sometime today, while I was away from my pc, a few of my system-sounds just quit working! Restore Up, Restore Down, Minimize, and Maximize.

They were working fine earlier. I left my house to go pick up my wife from somewhere, left the computer on with the monitor shut off, came back.....and this.

I've tested those sounds (I'm using one of MrGrim's HUD Machine themes) from the Sounds menu, they are working. They test loud and clear. But, they won't work when I actually maximize, minimize, or restore an open window! I've also tried the default Windows sounds; same thing there, the same sounds don't work. All the other sounds do, except those.

Anybody had this happen before? :worried:

[Stephanie]

Hi JMB can you go into Test to see if you get any sound, also do you have the latest Flash player ?

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[YourNumbr1Fan]

Hi JMB can you go into Test to see if you get any sound, also do you have the latest Flash player ?

69707

Thanks for responding, Stephanie. Like I said in my original post, I have tested the sounds and they do work. They test a.o.k. But those certain sounds (minimize, maximize, restore up, restore down) don't work when I'm actually minimizing, maximizing, or restoring up or down open windows or programs. It's really weird. The same thing happens with default themes/sound schemes. I've updated my sound drivers, rolled them back....done just about everything I know to do. It's a small issue, but mystifying and annoying!

(and yes, I have the latest Flash Player....but I don't think Flash has anything to do with Windows sound schemes.)

[Stephanie]

Have you just updated Windows ? Installed a new program ? had a BSOD ? have you tried System Restore ? or do you make a full back up of your OS ?

[YourNumbr1Fan]

Have you just updated Windows ? Installed a new program ? had a BSOD ? have you tried System Restore ? or do you make a full back up of your OS ?

I haven't had to update since Patch Tuesday last, which was what last week or before?...and things have been fine since, until today. No new software installed. No BSODs. I don't use Windows' System Restore, I use Acronis True Image. I do have a TIB (True Image Backup) of this setup, and will probably restore it....But I still am mystified about why this has happened. And, who knows, the problem may be there after I restore from Acronis. I read about this same issue happening to someone else, and even re-formatting didn't solve it. I've searched all over Google, found a couple of posts from people who have been struck with the same problem, but none of them ever found out why it happened, and most never found a fix. Even System Restores and sfc/scannow didn't help them.

[Stephanie]

Just an idea and it wont hurt to give it a run

Download and run RKill if the problem is a type of malware RKill will stop it .. but wont get rid of it for that download Malwarebytes (freeware) and if it finds something then good if not no harm done :girl:

RKill - http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/rkill/

Malwarebytes - (click for Home) - https://www.malwarebytes.org/products/

Note: leave RKill open then run Malwarebytes

[Mr GRiM]

Is your System Sounds volume turned up, or have you maybe plugged in a set of USB headphones?

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[2635599]

two more things you can try. first put the default theme on, restart, put the theme you were using back on second if the other doesn't work. go into device manager and remover your sound card and restart.

[Ray061630]

Hello,
you have to change the icons of mmres.dll or imagespl.dll or other about the sound?
I had the problem with mmres.dll and I handed the original and the new of his played

[YourNumbr1Fan]

Just an idea and it wont hurt to give it a run

Download and run RKill if the problem is a type of malware RKill will stop it .. but wont get rid of it for that download Malwarebytes (freeware) and if it finds something then good if not no harm done :girl:

RKill - http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/rkill/

Malwarebytes - (click for Home) - https://www.malwarebytes.org/products/

Note: leave RKill open then run Malwarebytes

I really don't think it's malware or a virus, but I'll do some scans. By the way, I restored from a True Image backup, like I said I might do earlier, and the problem is still there. I even tried creating a new user-account (on the chance that my current one got corrupted), logged-in to it, the issue persisted in that account also. Looks like I'm in for a re-format when I get the time to do it.....Gawd, I hate the thought. Takes hours and hours and hours for me with Windows 7 (like 200 updates, re-installing my programs, re-customizing, etc.). :crying: I could just live with it, I suppose, because it seems such a small issue...but I can't. I'm too much a perfectionist, too curious about what might be wrong with my system, too paranoid about letting it go and something else major happening as a result, something that might be related; I mean, this issue could be a precursor to some yet-to-come CRASH. I keep all my important files on a separate hard drive, though, so I'm not too worried that I'll lose anything. But I still don't want to crash-and-burn as a result of me ignoring signs of impending doom. :worried:


Is your System Sounds volume turned up, or have you maybe plugged in a set of USB headphones?

69708

Yes, my system sounds are on, all of them, and whether-or-not I use headphones or speakers it's only certain sounds (min, max, restore up, restore down) that aren't working. If I had one of the items in my 'mixer' menu muted, all of the corresponding sounds would be muted, not just those few. But no, they're all full-volume, Mark. ATM I'm using headphones (but not usb type) and listening to a feed through a gadget:

69710


two more things you can try. first put the default theme on, restart, put the theme you were using back on second if the other doesn't work. go into device manager and remover your sound card and restart.

I've tried those suggestions, too, bud. Good advice. But. No joy.


Hello,
you have to change the icons of mmres.dll or imagespl.dll or other about the sound?
I had the problem with mmres.dll and I handed the original and the new of his played

Icons?? Thanks for the input, although icons aren't the issue bud. But no, I haven't fooled with them.

[2635599]

JMB (http://virtualcustoms.net/member.php/289123-JMB) after i made my post i remember i've run into this on 7 2 or 3 times in the last 6 month i was running it. i never could figure it out, however just as suddenly as i lost some of the system sounds after a few reboots / logoffs they were back.

[YourNumbr1Fan]

JMB (http://virtualcustoms.net/member.php/289123-JMB) after i made my post i remember i've run into this on 7 2 or 3 times in the last 6 month i was running it. i never could figure it out, however just as suddenly as i lost some of the system sounds after a few reboots / logoffs they were back.

THAT'S good news!! ---- So, I just need to wait it out, sounds EXCELLENT to me! Thanks so much, mate, that's what I'll do then. It does seem to be something that's rare, but does happen, as I've read in some of the tech-y forums. Probably not a precursor to "doom" as I thought earlier.

So, wait it out I shall. :Peace:

Thanks very much to all of you, my friends, for responding to my distress-call with all the good advice. You all are awesome!!! 69711

-I just thought of something I did do not long before it happened....the same day actually. It may or may-not have a thing to do with it, though:

I deleted all the files from C:\Windows\System32\Tasks. I did it because I had this instance of taskeng.exe popping up at boot, due to an installer for some program I didn't allow to finish, one I deleted also from my Temp folder in C:\Users\Jim\AppData\Local\Temp. I couldn't find the exact task in Tasks, so deleted everything there. Maybe I deleted something that effected the sounds? It did get rid of the taskeng.exe error, but I guess I shouldn't have deleted ALL tasks. My system however has added new tasks to the folder, though, items that are normally there, since then. Which I expected.

[Mr GRiM]

If you have a lot of programs installed and don't want to go through the process of reinstalling everything and possibly loosing something you accidentally forgot to back up then consider doing a repair install, I personally did this once a year on Windows 7 and I find it just as good as a fresh install, you will need to go through all the windows updates again as well as activation so make sure you back up your activation tokens.

If you want a guide to doing a repair install then go here: http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/26095-repair-install-windows-8-a.html

Instructions on backing up activation tokens go here: http://winaero.com/blog/how-to-backup-and-restore-activation-for-windows-8-1-windows-8-windows-7-and-windows-vista/

I will be honest and say I have not yet done one of these for Windows 8 but for the sake of it I will be doing one as well to see how smooth the process is.

[YourNumbr1Fan]

69712


Well, guess what? Figured it out, issue solved!



I used 7zip to open (open archive) a Win 7 .iso that I have on a backup drive, opened the install.wim file, opened Windows/System32/Tasks, and copied the 'Microsoft' and 'WPD' folders to my desktop, then moved those into my Tasks folder, over-writing the same files in it....and PRESTO! All my sounds are working 100% now!!! YAAAAYYYYYY! :happy: The 'Microsoft' folder in Tasks has 42 sub-folders in it, and I'd be willing to bet many of those contain some specific config files. I'll be more cautious in the future.

So, that's apparently what caused the issue to begin with, me having deleted those 2 files (see reply above to TheNudeDude) to begin with. Then, when I restored my backup from Acronis (see reply to Stephanie) I restored a backup made after I deleted those Tasks files, one that had the same issue. D'oh! Who would have imagined it. It's always a good thing to have an .iso, or install-disk, and 7zip handy for manual repairs.


Note to self: "Be more careful, EggHead!" lmao Now that everything's fixed, gotta make a new Acronis backup.


:loving:THANKS AGAIN, GUYS AND LADY, FOR ALL YOUR SUGGESTIONS! :loving:


If you have a lot of programs installed and don't want to go through the process of reinstalling everything and possibly loosing something you accidentally forgot to back up then consider doing a repair install, I personally did this once a year on Windows 7 and I find it just as good as a fresh install, you will need to go through all the windows updates again as well as activation so make sure you back up your activation tokens.

If you want a guide to doing a repair install then go here: http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/26095-repair-install-windows-8-a.html

Instructions on backing up activation tokens go here: http://winaero.com/blog/how-to-backup-and-restore-activation-for-windows-8-1-windows-8-windows-7-and-windows-vista/

I will be honest and say I have not yet done one of these for Windows 8 but for the sake of it I will be doing one as well to see how smooth the process is.

Thankfully, I won't need to restore. But thanks, bud, especially for the link about how to backup activation-tokens! That's very useful. I believe I've come across that knowledge once before, but had forgotten about it. :peace:

[2635599]

i actually recommend that if you're going to try a refresh do a proper reinstall. a repair install takes longer and you don't get the opportunity to do a proper wipe of you drive.

GRiM (http://virtualcustoms.net/member.php/1-Mr-GRiM) on a friends system we tested out the various backup / restore schemes on 8.1 and each does exactly as they should. for being windows i was really expecting problems.