Yet another "No Sound" problem

August 9, 2008

I’m sorry, I’m almost certain you guys have got to be tired of hearing this:

I’m using a Gateway 5028 with AMD Athlon 64 Processor and running the

Media Center Windows XP version 2002 with service pack 3.

After not scanning my computer for over a month (I hope I never do that

again!) my computer picked up lots of viral infections. Without thinking, I

had my antivirus program get rid of them even though it warned that doing so

might make the computer unstable because of the files infected. Almost

immediately my computer began acting up (programs not responding, etc.) so I

did a system restore with backup. During the process I got a RUN DLL error

message: "Error loading streamci. The specific module could not be found".

Hitting the OK button on the error message caused the same message to appear

several times (sometimes with streamci.dll instead of just streamci.) before

going away and I was able to finish the restore. However, everything worked

except the sound. Going into the Device Manager and looking under Sound,

Video, and Game Controllers showed the yellow circle with the exclamation

point on everything except the Realtek AC’97 Audio (the Legacy Audio & Video

Codecs and about three other listings I can’t remember had the mark).

Opening the Properties window for the devices with exclamation point:

The General Tab had the message: "Drivers for the device may be corrupted or

missing". And there was an error code (I think Code 39). But the Properties

Tab showed that various MS driver files were working properly. For the

Properties window for the Realtek driver: The General Tab said the device was

working properly. The Properties Tab said the driver was enabled but not

functioning properly. Going into Settings for any of the categories on the

Properties Tab gave this message: "Cannot load the Realtek AC’97 Audio

driver. The driver file may be missing. Try installing the driver again or

contact your system administrator". Unfortunately, uninstalling and

reinstalling didn’t work.

My next step was to do a full system restore, but I got the same results

I just mentioned. So I went into the troubleshooter and all it had to offer

was that the exclamation point indicated a possible hardware conflict and

that I might try reallocating computer resources so that no two devices had

to share, but the computer was already in that state as far as I could see.

The other things it suggested was that I check for program updates, roll back

the driver, uninstall and reinstall the drivers, and check manufacturer

websites.

There were no updates and no versions to roll back to, not even on the

Gateway website. Uninstalling the stuff with the exclamation point just made

them go away permanently as the computer couldn’t/wouldn’t detect those

devices, just the Realtek was detected and reinstalled.

Lurking around a few other websites, including this one, turned up the

idea that maybe I needed to update the chipset drivers, but when I tried, I

got this message: "Microsoft .Net Framework -- An unhandled exception has

occurred in your application. If you click Continue, the application will

ignore this error and attempt to continue. If you click Quick, the

application will be shut down immediately. ‘-1’ is not a valid value for

‘maximum’. ‘maximum’ must be greater than or equal to zero". And so, I can’t

download a new chipset driver or processor driver.

Also, when checking out hidden devices in the Device Manager, under

Non-plug and play drivers, the serial chip device has the exclamation point.

The General Tab has: "This device is not present, is not working properly, or

does not have all its drivers installed (Code 24)". The Driver Tab: Current

Status -- Stopped. When I try to start it, I get this: "The system

encountered the following error while attempting to start the service: The

service cannot be started, either because it is disabled or because it has no

enabled devices associated with it".

Sorry this posting is so long, I just thought the more info on the

situation, the easier it would be to answer (That and it seems other ‘no

sound’ postings seemed to have different causes).

August 9, 2008

RE: Yet another "No Sound" problem

Uninstalling & reinstalling the software or the hardware...Try removing the

software from add/remove,then reopen device mgr,R.click the sound hardware

1 @ a time,select "uninstall" do for all w/o restarting pc.Once

thru,restart pc,

back in xp,reinstall the software.

"Gray Brown" wrote:

> I’m sorry, I’m almost certain you guys have got to be tired of hearing this:

> I’m using a Gateway 5028 with AMD Athlon 64 Processor and running the

> Media Center Windows XP version 2002 with service pack 3.

> After not scanning my computer for over a month (I hope I never do that

> again!) my computer picked up lots of viral infections. Without thinking, I

> had my antivirus program get rid of them even though it warned that doing so

> might make the computer unstable because of the files infected. Almost

> immediately my computer began acting up (programs not responding, etc.) so I

> did a system restore with backup. During the process I got a RUN DLL error

> message: "Error loading streamci. The specific module could not be found".

> Hitting the OK button on the error message caused the same message to appear

> several times (sometimes with streamci.dll instead of just streamci.) before

> going away and I was able to finish the restore. However, everything worked

> except the sound. Going into the Device Manager and looking under Sound,

> Video, and Game Controllers showed the yellow circle with the exclamation

> point on everything except the Realtek AC’97 Audio (the Legacy Audio & Video

> Codecs and about three other listings I can’t remember had the mark).

> Opening the Properties window for the devices with exclamation point:

> The General Tab had the message: "Drivers for the device may be corrupted or

> missing". And there was an error code (I think Code 39). But the Properties

> Tab showed that various MS driver files were working properly. For the

> Properties window for the Realtek driver: The General Tab said the device was

> working properly. The Properties Tab said the driver was enabled but not

> functioning properly. Going into Settings for any of the categories on the

> Properties Tab gave this message: "Cannot load the Realtek AC’97 Audio

> driver. The driver file may be missing. Try installing the driver again or

> contact your system administrator". Unfortunately, uninstalling and

> reinstalling didn’t work.

> My next step was to do a full system restore, but I got the same results

> I just mentioned. So I went into the troubleshooter and all it had to offer

> was that the exclamation point indicated a possible hardware conflict and

> that I might try reallocating computer resources so that no two devices had

> to share, but the computer was already in that state as far as I could see.

> The other things it suggested was that I check for program updates, roll back

> the driver, uninstall and reinstall the drivers, and check manufacturer

> websites.

> There were no updates and no versions to roll back to, not even on the

> Gateway website. Uninstalling the stuff with the exclamation point just made

> them go away permanently as the computer couldn’t/wouldn’t detect those

> devices, just the Realtek was detected and reinstalled.

> Lurking around a few other websites, including this one, turned up the

> idea that maybe I needed to update the chipset drivers, but when I tried, I

> got this message: "Microsoft .Net Framework -- An unhandled exception has

> occurred in your application. If you click Continue, the application will

> ignore this error and attempt to continue. If you click Quick, the

> application will be shut down immediately. ‘-1’ is not a valid value for

> ‘maximum’. ‘maximum’ must be greater than or equal to zero". And so, I can’t

> download a new chipset driver or processor driver.

> Also, when checking out hidden devices in the Device Manager, under

> Non-plug and play drivers, the serial chip device has the exclamation point.

> The General Tab has: "This device is not present, is not working properly, or

> does not have all its drivers installed (Code 24)". The Driver Tab: Current

> Status -- Stopped. When I try to start it, I get this: "The system

> encountered the following error while attempting to start the service: The

> service cannot be started, either because it is disabled or because it has no

> enabled devices associated with it".

> Sorry this posting is so long, I just thought the more info on the

> situation, the easier it would be to answer (That and it seems other ‘no

> sound’ postings seemed to have different causes).

>

August 10, 2008

RE: Yet another "No Sound" problem

I'm sorry, but that isn't working. When the computer restarted, it found an

audio device but couldn't/wouldn't identify who's device it was. In the

device manager, there were question marks: next to the heading, Sound, Video,

and Game Controllers; and one underneath it where a device would usually be

listed. I tried installing the drivers from the recovery disk that came with

the computer, but the installation wizard claimed it couldn't find any. Going

to the Gateway site, they had the Realtek AC'97 Audio Driver for my computer,

so I tried that. But in the middle of installation I get: "RUNDLL/Error

loading streamci/The specific module could not be found." And so installation

(but no the computer) is frozen at that point. In the Device Manager, the

question marks are gone and the Realtek Device is the only device listed for

Sound, Video, and Game Controllers. In the General Tab of the Properties

window the device is listed as enabled and working properly. However, when I

go into the Properties Tab and go into the properties for the multimedia

devices listed, it says the driver is enabled but not functioning properly.

Going into settings from that Tab gives: "Driver Error/Cannot load the

Realtek AC'97 Audio Driver. The driver file may be missing. Try installing

the driver again, or contact your system administrator."

"Andrew E." wrote:

> Uninstalling & reinstalling the software or the hardware...Try removing the

> software from add/remove,then reopen device mgr,R.click the sound hardware

> 1 @ a time,select "uninstall" do for all w/o restarting pc.Once

> thru,restart pc,

> back in xp,reinstall the software.

>

> "Gray Brown" wrote:

>

> > I’m sorry, I’m almost certain you guys have got to be tired of hearing this:

> > I’m using a Gateway 5028 with AMD Athlon 64 Processor and running the

> > Media Center Windows XP version 2002 with service pack 3.

> > After not scanning my computer for over a month (I hope I never do that

> > again!) my computer picked up lots of viral infections. Without thinking, I

> > had my antivirus program get rid of them even though it warned that doing so

> > might make the computer unstable because of the files infected. Almost

> > immediately my computer began acting up (programs not responding, etc.) so I

> > did a system restore with backup. During the process I got a RUN DLL error

> > message: "Error loading streamci. The specific module could not be found".

> > Hitting the OK button on the error message caused the same message to appear

> > several times (sometimes with streamci.dll instead of just streamci.) before

> > going away and I was able to finish the restore. However, everything worked

> > except the sound. Going into the Device Manager and looking under Sound,

> > Video, and Game Controllers showed the yellow circle with the exclamation

> > point on everything except the Realtek AC’97 Audio (the Legacy Audio & Video

> > Codecs and about three other listings I can’t remember had the mark).

> > Opening the Properties window for the devices with exclamation point:

> > The General Tab had the message: "Drivers for the device may be corrupted or

> > missing". And there was an error code (I think Code 39). But the Properties

> > Tab showed that various MS driver files were working properly. For the

> > Properties window for the Realtek driver: The General Tab said the device was

> > working properly. The Properties Tab said the driver was enabled but not

> > functioning properly. Going into Settings for any of the categories on the

> > Properties Tab gave this message: "Cannot load the Realtek AC’97 Audio

> > driver. The driver file may be missing. Try installing the driver again or

> > contact your system administrator". Unfortunately, uninstalling and

> > reinstalling didn’t work.

> > My next step was to do a full system restore, but I got the same results

> > I just mentioned. So I went into the troubleshooter and all it had to offer

> > was that the exclamation point indicated a possible hardware conflict and

> > that I might try reallocating computer resources so that no two devices had

> > to share, but the computer was already in that state as far as I could see.

> > The other things it suggested was that I check for program updates, roll back

> > the driver, uninstall and reinstall the drivers, and check manufacturer

> > websites.

> > There were no updates and no versions to roll back to, not even on the

> > Gateway website. Uninstalling the stuff with the exclamation point just made

> > them go away permanently as the computer couldn’t/wouldn’t detect those

> > devices, just the Realtek was detected and reinstalled.

> > Lurking around a few other websites, including this one, turned up the

> > idea that maybe I needed to update the chipset drivers, but when I tried, I

> > got this message: "Microsoft .Net Framework -- An unhandled exception has

> > occurred in your application. If you click Continue, the application will

> > ignore this error and attempt to continue. If you click Quick, the

> > application will be shut down immediately. ‘-1’ is not a valid value for

> > ‘maximum’. ‘maximum’ must be greater than or equal to zero". And so, I can’t

> > download a new chipset driver or processor driver.

> > Also, when checking out hidden devices in the Device Manager, under

> > Non-plug and play drivers, the serial chip device has the exclamation point.

> > The General Tab has: "This device is not present, is not working properly, or

> > does not have all its drivers installed (Code 24)". The Driver Tab: Current

> > Status -- Stopped. When I try to start it, I get this: "The system

> > encountered the following error while attempting to start the service: The

> > service cannot be started, either because it is disabled or because it has no

> > enabled devices associated with it".

> > Sorry this posting is so long, I just thought the more info on the

> > situation, the easier it would be to answer (That and it seems other ‘no

> > sound’ postings seemed to have different causes).

> >

August 23, 2008

RE: Yet another "No Sound" problem

I found the solution by accident: What happened was that for some reason, the

file streamci.dll was not being loaded into the computer from my system

restore disk along with my audio driver, so I had to do it manually. I had to

place the file in 2 places on the C drive: The System 32 folder within the

WINDOWS folder and the i386 folder within the Driver Cache folder within the

WINDOWS folder. I then uninstalled the audio driver from the Device Manager

and from the list of programs in the Set Program Access and Defaults window.

I then reinstalled the audio driver and now I have sound again.

Two more things:

1. I'm an idiot for not realizing that when I got the error message: 'RUNDLL

/ error loading streamci. / the specific module could not be found', it meant

that there was a file called streamci.dll that the computer needed from the

restore disk, but couldn't find; and for taking nearly an entire month to

figure that out!

2. What could cause a computer not to be able to find and load

files/programs from a restore disk in the middle of a system restore?