CD won't play anymore!

[mset]

Hello

I'm having a problem playing audio CDs on a Win 95 system. We have played Cds in the past on this system with no problem. The player on this system is very old - it's the one that came with Win95 - it's just called Microsoft CD Player. When we try to play a CD, the software opens up fine and the tracks come up fine (i.e. I an see all the traks on the CD in the track list) and the first track starts playing (i.e. the software starts to play it, but we hear nothing). - I can see the track time starting to scroll, but no sound. I have checked the speakers and we can get sound to come out of them. We did this by installing another player (MusicMatch) and using one of the tracks from it's built-in library - these play fine. I have checked the drivers and asked Windows to update them if necessary, but after consulting with the MSFT website, Windows tells me that the optimum drivers are already installed.

There are two CD drives on this machine - one a player and one a writer. I have tried choosing both units but I can't get any sound to generate. I am an annual donator to techguy forums - love the service and keep up the good work!! Thaks, Nik

 

[telecom69]

Hi there could you just confirm,have you tried to play a cd thro music match itself? is the speaker icon showing in the system tray? and this happens with all cd's?

 

[telecom69]

Hi again,you might also want to take a look at this site,it might help
http://www.audioforums.com/forums/Forum4/HTML/003768.html

 

[mset]

Thanks for the reply and very sorry for the delay in responding - I iwll be monitoring this site for the next 24 hours, so if you have further info or questions I will be answering much more quickly.

Ok - ready for this?

a) Yesterday, we could NOT get Musicmatch to 'see' the CD which was in the drive - i.e. no, it wouldn't play. When I read your email, I first checked the speaker icon ... I clicked on it and got a bunch of volume controls. I noticed that the volume control associated with "CD PLAYER' was down - not all the way, but low. So I bumped it up. Then I thought - maybe I should just try a CD again just in case that worked. I put a CD in, and Musicmatch came up as the default player, but this time... MUSICMATCH HAS SEEN MY CD!! The exact # of tracks on the CD have shown up in the 'playlist window' and track 1 has started playing!! The trouble is, still no sound!! This is very weird - I tried to get MM to play this CD 10 times yesterday with no luck. I can't imagine why manipulating the volume controls from the speaker icon has caused Musicmatch to 'see' my CD all of a sudden - or could it??

b) Yes, this is happening will all CDs

c)Yes, the speaker icon is present - clicking on it gives two options - OPEN VOLUME CONTROLS and ADJUST AUDIO PROPERTIES

Any further help you could give will be very much appreciated. Thanks from Toronto. I am off to check the link you gave and also to see if I can now get the Windows CD player to come on (Start - Programs - Accessories - Entertainment - CD Player)

 

[mset]

just top let you know I checked the thread you cited, and all the parameters mentioned there are ok on my system - no red x beside any items, and in multimedia, preferred device is DX-SG Wave Playback. Under Multimedia - CD audio Tab, there is a volume control, which is up. Also, there is a selector which asks which drive you want Windows to use to play music. I have tried both D and E drives, which represent the CD player and the CD burner which was installed later. The CD player HAS WORKED since the CD burner was installed. Hope this helps, Nik

 

[telecom69]

Hi nik,next step take a look here ..
http://www.experts-exchange.com/CXO/Hardware/Q_10390196.html

 

[telecom69]

Back again ,try this also,.....Go to control panel, double click add remove programs, click windows setup, click
>once on multimedia and then click details. Uncheck CD player and click apply. Close
>the control panel and restart the computer and go back and check CD player to reinstall
>it. If it asks for the install disk type c:\windows\options\cabs and then click ok.

 

[mset]

First of all, I really appreciate the specific links you are providing - obviously you had to find these links for me then post them.

I feel that I owe you a detailed description of the steps I have taken today, so here goes.

I read thorugh the thread you cited - the 'accepted answer' indicated that I should test the headphone output on the CD drive itself. I did, and it is working. Then it suggested that I check that the drive is still connected to the sound card. So I popped the computer open. And guess what..

At first, my Dad had only one CD drive on this machine - then he wanted to burn his own CDs so another drive was added - a 40x burner. Here is how they are wired - the old CD player is connected to the new burner, and the BURNER is the drive that is connected to to the sound card by a cable. When I saw this, I thought - Eureka!! - this is it. Sadly...

We tried to play a CD in the burner and still no sound. The Musicmatch software is still seeing the CD and indicating that it is being played - track numbers and titles come up no problem. I then went into Control Panel - Multimedia - then clicked on the CD Music tab. Here I can choose which drive is the default drive for CD music. Before the problems began, the setting was for the 'D' drive to be active for CD music - I am presuming that this was from the time before there were two drives on the machine. I went ahead and tried to select the 'E' drive as the default, thinking that this would activate the signal from the CD burner. Alas, no luck.

I should say - my Dad tells me that one of the drives (he can't really say which) was DEFINITELY working as a cd player AFTER the CD Burner was installed. He says he routinely burned a cd then ejected it and stuck it in again to make sure that the burn had occured properly. Could the Sound Card on this machine have burned out? If so, why am I able to get Musicmatch to play the canned music that it comes with? i.e. the Musicmatch Demo?
Also, when I tried to run the WIN95 INSTALL cd (Mistakenly, see below) a voice came loud and clear asking me if wanted to do this or that. So I am definitely getting output from the 1/8 inch jack that is attached to the soundcard - and the speakers are definitely plugged in correctly and functioning.

Here is what happened when I tried to uninstall and reinstall the little Windows CD player utility. When I asked for a re-install, windows did in fact prompt me for a disk. I tried to type in the path that you suggested, but the following message came up - "Set-up could not find a file on the specified path'...etc. etc. I am telling you this strictly FYI - I am not at all worried about getting this particular little utillity back - I am sure that MusicMatch will work fine for our purposes, once we get the audio problem sorted out. We don't have the WIn98 disk, unfortunately - we only have a Win95 disk. This computer runs Win98. When I was prompted for a dik, it asked for 'Windows 98 Second Edition'.

As I said, the Windows has told me that the drivers are updated and appropriate. It seems to be a YAMAHA driver - it says that the 'preferred audio playback device' is a 'DS-XG WAve Playback'

I really do appreciate your efforts and I will be pleased to continue to try any ideas you may have. Thanks, Nik

 

[telecom69]

Thats some story Nik,youve covered about everything I can think of short of double clicking on the speaker icon in the system tray,and checking nothing is muted in there,Im wondering like you whether it is the sound card? anyway give the volume control a DOUBLE click and you probably know you will be shown a control panel,check that out,after that Nik Im out of ideas Im afraid,you have done everything I would have done,was hoping someone else with specialised knowledge would have posted something,but no luck so far,hope it works out for you Nik, I shall keep monitoring this ....good luck ...Bob

Just an afterthought Nik,there are 3 blue buttons to the top right of Music Match just above the playlist,I suppose you have the appropriate one pressed when playing?......

 

[mset]

Hi Bob

Yes, it's looking more and more like I wil have to get this machine onto a service desk and have someone start from scratch on it. I really do appreciate all the time you have taken here - I learnt a lot just by following your instructions and suggestions. I will try posting another message on this thread in about a week just to get it to the top of the queue, in case someone just happens to be looking in who has any further suggestions. BTW, yes, I have clicked on the CD button in MM. All the best from Toronto. Nikku

 

[telecom69]

Hi Nik, this should go to the top every time I reply to you,I too will keep looking for you,here is another site you might like to check out
http://www.globetechnology.com/servlet/ArticleNews/tech/RTGAM/20021108/gtss4/Technology/techBN/