Sounds?

I ave Windows XP Home. There are 2 sounds I do not hear. One is the boot up to the desk top. You know, when the boot up is complete you hear the sounds of it completed.

The second sound I am missing is the "mail notification" sounds. You know, the sound that comes in using outlook express when mail arrives. All other sounds on the PC are working. Gaming, browsing web pages, watching a DVD, listening to a music cd. In outlook express 6.0, I have all the proper options checked (play sound when mail arrives) I went into sounds and tested the default sound for mail, and that works.

Just does not work on my PC??

BWolf

 

strange that in control panel under sounds is your sound scheme listed as windows default and not custom
sometimes when you use themes etc they dont play all the sounds just a thought

 

Have you tried any other sound for mail?

 

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;en-us;262256&

Worth a shot.

 

Sonnds

Yes, and still no sound!

BWolf

 

When you say you went into sounds do you mean the windows media folder or did you actually go to where you activate what sounds you want windows to play????

This might help

Try this

1 click on start
2. click on control panel
3. click on sound and devices
4. click on the sound tab
4. on the program events scroll down and make sure you have the mail notification option activated

do the same for the other one

 

ANOTHER KITTY gone!

 

[queen]Another one bites the dust![/queen]



.

 

Sounds

Did that...........didnt work??

BWolf

 

I got an idea. Try my suggestion

 

Sounds

It was worth a shot, but I dont think it applies to Outlook Express? Plus, you have to go into the registry and edit. See below........

Delete the null value in the registry. To do so:

1. Start Registry Editor (Regedt32.exe).
2. Click HKEY_CURRENT_USER.
3. Check for a value in the right pane that looks like this: <No Name> :REG_SZ:
   
4. If this value is present, click the value, and then press DELETE.
5. Quit Registry Editor.

You do not need to restart the computer to make the change take effect.

The information in this article applies to:

• Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
• Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server
• Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional

BWolf

 

I don't see how your missing startup sound applies to Outlook Express either...

But, your call.


If you aren't willing to try, I am not willing to suggest. Troubleshooting on the internet is a two way street.

I would never send an article your way that would harm you, or your machine.

Furthermore, XP and 2K are almost identical once you get through the GUI and into the guts.

If it doesn't work, it doesn't work. But I see no reason why not to try, because regardless of OS, a null value is an invalid entry.

Back up the key to be safe.

Happy reghacking, if you so decide

 

I don't have sounds in OE.. Outlook has sound

 

Just in case I wasn't clear as to why I dropped off the KB article:

The KB article pertains to broken Sound Events.

The problem in this thread is no startup sound and no mail notification sound.

Both of which fall under the category of:

Sound Events

The article does indeed call for registry editting.

Backing up the key should keep you safe.

Additonally, System Restore will also back up your registry.

If things all went wrong, and pigs grew wings, you still have 2 more options:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;en-us;307545&

Also:

HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT is a backup of HKEY_CURRENT_USER

Now its a default copy, but a useable copy that we can export from, nonetheless.

I gotcha covered friend, I think I've covered the angles.

Give it a shot, it won't kill ya.

And if it doesn't work, then well, hey, thats one more thing that we have narrowed down.

 

Sounds

When I look at HKEY_CURRENT_USER, I do have the Reg_SZ in there, but with no data? The name is "Default" and again, no data, just the Type/Reg_SZ. In all of the other folders, there is data, but most say "value not set"

If I copy the original Reg_SZ to another folder on the desktop, then delete it from the Reg, do you think it will be safe?

BWolf

 

Here is a correct entry in the scrennshot:

If your doesn't say (value not set) it is a null entry.

Yep, right click Hkey Current User and choose export to back it up.

I think you will be pleasantly surprised to know that when you delete the (Default) key, it will change from a blank data feield to (value not set).

 

I assume your looks like the second screenshot, which is a corrupt entry.

 

So did it work nor not?

 

Sounds

Well.............guess what.........it worked!!!

Both sounds back........and all seems ok so far. I backed up the file to desktop. Will keep it there for a day or so then I will delete it.

Great job on staying with me here Adrynalyne. This is something I have been writing about for a few months to various forums and no one was able to figure it out. You did.It was not the mose important thing to fix, but it was one of those things that I had to figure out, just because!

Thank you,

BWolf

 

Glad to help

I actually half expected the resistance you gave me on this fix, because of all the fixes I have seen before, this one in particular, makes the least amount of sense, IMO.

Even looking here, http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;250404

While this shows HKEY_CURRENT_USER and the uses of the subkeys, you would suspect that the problem would be in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\AppEvents, not in HKEY_CURRENT_USER.

Some problems in HKEY_CURRENT_USER can actually be fixed with a new user account. But, if the main key has an invalid entry in it, I didn't think it would help, even though Sound Events are definately on a per-user basis.

Anyway, to make a long story short, I mentioned this article because once, just once in the 2+ years I've been working with XP (and countless techs and customers), I ran into this problem, so I figured I would mention this article.


Sometimes, persistence pays off

 

This wasn't a common problem, the kitten lives another day

Edit:

Its not an Outlook specific issue, its a Sound Event issue. It will affect more than Outlook or OE.