XP Won't Play Ringtone in Phone Software

Hi All,

It's been quite some time since I visited this forum. Glad to see you're still here!

I've been struggling with this issue for several weeks now and hope you can help me as you are practically my last resort.

Here's the problem: I use a phone based software called PBNext made by DelTel. Phone calls are supposed to ring into my computer. In the software's option tab you can assign a ringtone or sound to play when you receive an incoming call. Although this feature used to work at one time, I can no longer get it to work. The interesting thing is that I have two Dell desktop computers. One is a Precision Workstation 370 and the other is a Dimension 2400. I have experienced this problem on both computers.

Here is what I have done so far to troubleshoot the problem. Perhaps you can tell me if there is anything I can check or adjust in addition to what I have already done.

1. I checked to see if Norton Internet Security or the Norton Firewall was interfering by disabling the entire system. The problem still persisted so I ruled that out.

2. I am using a Westell Versalink 327W wireless modem that is connected directly to my Precision computer. The other computer uses a Netgear wireless adapter to communicate with the Westell router. I got this router from Bellsouth so I called them and they checked my configuration and assured me that the router was in no way interfering with the software.

3. I called the software manufacturer. They have done some recent updates to the software but said the only change with regards to sounds was that midi files no longer work. They told me that as long the sound file was either mp3 or wav format it should work properly in Windows XP regardless of file size or any other parameters. They use this same software in their headquarters office with various ringtones and claim they have no problem with this feature working in XP.

4. I uninstalled the PBNext software by going to Add/Remove programs, then manually deleting the program folder. I then ran Registry Mechanic to clean up any stray or corrupt registry entries. After that I turned the computer off, rebooted and downloaded the latest software from the PBNext website. As far as I know, that's about the cleanest install you can get. STILL had the same problem!

5. I called Dell and they ran some diagnostics on my sound card. This showed that there are no hardware problems. They did try to update the driver but the driver file would not execute for some reason. Other than that, they said the computer components that they tested are working fine.

6. These sound files work just fine when I play them using various media players but they don't work with the software when a call is coming in. Windows XP simply plays the default sound (which is like a quick ding you hear when an error has occurred or an action has been completed like downloading a file).

I am really at a loss and need for this feature to work as I am going to start using the PBNext software quite heavily in my business starting next week. I haven't really used it much in awhile but will need it to function properly in the next few days.

ANY ASSISTANCE at this point would be tremendously appreciated!

I look forward to your reply and if you need more information from me, please let me know.

Thank You!