sound.txt Sound problems troubleshooting ================== How to verify if the sound is working properly in the Media Player in Windows 95/98/ME: Click on Start, Run. Put in just "mplayer" in the line, and click OK. This should take you into Media Player. At the top of Media Player, click on Device, then click on Sound. (If "Sound" is not one of the choices, then Windows doesn't know how to handle wav files, and it means that you need to reinstall your sound drivers.) Choose one of the longer wave files, such as "The Microsoft Sound" or one of the Jungle sounds, then click OK. This will return you to the Media Player screen. The Play button is in the lower left corner. Click it once. You should see the playbar move across from left to right and you should hear the sound; this means Media Player is working properly and the system sound settings are OK. If the bar moved but you did not hear anything: click on Device, then Volume Control. Move all of the Balance controls (small sliders) to the middle. Move all Volume controls (vertical sliders) to halfway up. Check ON any checkboxes labeled "Select"; check OFF (no checkmark) any checkboxes labeled "Mute". Then close the Volume Control screen, and try the Play button on the Media Player again. If you still do not hear anything, check your speaker connections, power, and volume controls to make sure they're properly set. If you still can't get any sound, you may need to contact your computer dealer or manufacturer for assistance. ================== Animation but no sound on Dell systems with Yamaha DXSG card. This is not the Yamaha but a custom card for Dell. Change AUDIO Playback preferred device to "Game compatible device" from WAVE Device . ======================== Sound problems in many titles: Garbled sound, missing sound in some areas. Typical system: Hp Pavilion, Win98, 63 MB RAM, 56% free, Intel video, Crystal sound card, built Nov 1999 or later. Sound problems: none of the previously known fixes seem to work with this setup, especially with Preschool99. Sound garbled, or comes and goes, or no sound at all. No driver update found at HP. Updating DirectX doesn't fix it either. Change midi from Crystal wavesynth to Roland MPU401. Fixes it every time. E-Machines and Crystal sound cards. Same problems as the ones on the HP, except that the fixes do not work on the eMachine. There is a site that has posted drivers that resolve numerous audio problems with the CS4281 audio chipset and KA programs. http://www.geocities.com/driverfile/ Most of these problems are occurring on E-machines that use that audio chipset. Please refer customers that are having sound problems with our programs to this site. These drivers are unsupported by Cirrus/Crystal and E-machines, but they work. Please verify that the caller has the CS4281 audio device listed in device manager before referring them to this site. ========================= Windows 98, Dell, TBS Montego, and having some sort of sound related problem. Try the following: Subject: Dell Computers with Turtle Beach Montego Sound Cards Apparently, we have a fix for the sound problems we are having with Dell computers using Montego sound cards. Click on Start. Click on Run. In the open field type, MSCONFIG and click OK. Click on the Startup tab. Uncheck "Encompass ENC Monitor." Click on OK. Restart the computer and re-run the program. ======================== Dino3D on Macintosh - sound problem Increased his CDROM cache size to the max (wasn't sure of the number); that solved the sound problem. ========================= Used to work OK, now the sound skips. Dino Adv 3D v4. Midi set for Creative Midi Instrument Mapper, changed it to Creative AWE synth. Set AWE64 for full duplex. Restarted. Tried it. Now it's working OK. ========================= Midi/Wave Volume banner displays across the screen on Compaq Computers Problem: Midi or Wave Volume banner displays across the screen Solution: On the main screen in the lower right hand corner is a small icon "Compaq Easy Access Buttons." It may be located just to the right of a red 'Q'. If you click this icon, and then click on the words "Configure Easy Access Buttons" Under the file tab General, you can click a box to "enable/disable on screen display." This will eliminate the MIDI VOLUME or WAVE VOLUME banners popping up on the screen. This is for HP Pavilions only: For programs such as JumpStarts in which the volume banners appear on-screen (wave and/or midi) randomly: Go to Control Panel Double-click Keyboard Click the Keyboard Manager tab Uncheck Enable for On-Screen Display Click Done or OK ========================== Fisher Price Pet Shop - sound repeats Summary: SOUND REPEATS WHEN CLICKING ANY ANIMAL. Sound repeats when clicking any animal. Then keeps repeating. PC is 1 year old. Reset to High color. All is OK. (Yes, sometimes changing the video setting is the proper fix.) ======================== Garbled sound in any program. Sounds like it's underwater. The game sounds as if the program is underwater. You may have INTEL RSX 3D installed on your computer. It is a sound enhancement program that interferes with the sound performance of some movies on our games. (Happens with all programs that use Smacker Movies, a certain video format.) Click Start Go to Settings and click Control Panel Double click the Add/Remove Programs In Add/Remove Programs click on the entry that says INTEL RSX. Click the ADD/Remove button Restart the computer and try the program again. This worked in JS Spanish too, which is Director based and uses Quicktime. Soundcard was SB Audio PCI 64D, but removing Intel RSX fixed the sound problem anyway. Also works in JSLGABC, JSLGPhonics. Also note: any sound problem, such as the sound just disappearing, could be due to this Intel RSX thing. Smacker Movies and Intel RSX 3Dr Loss of Sound or Distorted Underwater Sound on Jumpstart Products Using Smacker Video. Solution: INTEL RSX 3Dr Conflicts With Smacker Videor. Click on Start. Click on Settings. Click on Control panel. Click on Add/Remove Programs. Find Intel RSX 3Dr. Click on Intel RSX 3dr. Click on Add/Remove. Follow the prompts. Reboot and run the program. If Intel RSX 3Dr is not on the list it may have been installed as part of another program. Mgi Video Wave 1, 2, or 3. Mgi Photo Wave. To verify and remedy follow the next procedure. Click on Start. Click on Find. Click on Files or Folders. In name, type rsx.dll. In Look in Select Local Hard Drives or (C:) Check the box for include subfolders. Click Find Now. If the file is found proceed to the next step. If the file is not found Intel RSX 3Dr is not installed. If the file is found click with the right mouse button on the name and select rename from the menu with the left mouse button. Rename the file to Rsx.xxx. Close the window Click on Start. Click on Shut Down. Select Restart. Click OK. After the system restarts run the program. ============================ Sound not in game. This customer on her own disabled in Device Manager, "Thinkpad Digital Signal Processor". Sound was returned. =========================== This web page lists all the devices such as video or soundcards that have been tested or not tested on win 95, win 98, Win NT. http://www.microsoft.com/hwtest/hcl/ ============================ Customer gets error message INSUFFICIENT HARDWARE RESOURCES TO ENABLE WAVETABLE EFFECTS in JS Typing. Can still play program when clicking OK but error message comes up repeatedly. Customer has Turtle Beach Montego II sound card. Selecting Game Compatible seems to solve the problem. =========================== IQ Internet Qsound 3D Enhancer I have disabled this for garbled sound on both JSPhonics and JS1st2000. It fixed the problem both times. Something to keep in mind. I don't think it is related to the Intel RSX3D. The enhancer is in the Background Programs. It can also be disabled on the tool bar. In close programs it is listed as IQ & IQ16. =========================== JumpStart Spanish Sound is all sped up, like a old-style tape recorder on fast-forward. The JumpStart Spanish needs a version of Quicktime generally called "Quicktime 32-bit." The Quicktime 4 that you have is completely different from it. It is entirely possible to have three different "flavors" of Quicktime on your system at the same time, used by different programs; you would see them all listed in the Control Panel. These would be the 16-bit Quicktime, the 32-bit Quicktime, and the Quicktime 3 (or 4 now) which you already have. To install the Quicktime 32-bit from the JumpStart Spanish CDROM, click on Start, Run, and put in "d:\Support\Winsys\QT32.exe" (where "d:" is your CDROM drive letter) and click OK. Be sure to have it check for existing versions and delete them; it will probably find two copies, and it will not affect your Quicktime 4 at all by removing them. Then it will put in the Quicktime 32-bit, and then your JumpStart Spanish should run properly. ============================ JS1st, no sound Loses sound as soon as dog starts to talk. Has a "Csound Solo PCI" card installed on the system and the original Crystal Fusion card on his Packard Bell system with Win98. Midi set for Roland Sound Canvas; changed it to Crystal FM synth. His volume controls do not recognize the Solo card. It has the short songs it plays during program start and right after signing in, midi works too, but the scenes where the dog speaks are silent. Looks like conflicting drivers, especially with 2 different sound devices on this system. Disabled all the Crystal drivers; that fixed it. ============================ JS1st - sound pauses in classroom CDROM cache size adjustment. Happens with some other JS programs too. Summary: SOUND CUTS IN AND OUT DURING CLASSROOM INTRO Sound cuts in and out as Frankie's entering classroom. CDROM cache size set for small, no readahead. Changed it to 2X drive, 2 notches from full (626K size); restarted. Fixed it. ============================== JS3rd Summary: LOSES SOUND AT THE END OF THE CLASSROOM AFTER HE HAS THE TRANSQUIZER. Changed Yamaha SXG50 to FM SYNTH in Midi single instrument box. =========================== Has JS4thDeluxe. They say they installed and ran it; got choppy sound; so they exited, and then: it continued with the Quicktime installation! (So they were NOT done with installation yet.) It's asking for Quicktime stream connection speed: told her to choose 14.4 (because she can't answer anything I ask her) and then closed it. Finished the rest of the install. Tried program. It's working just fine. ============================= No sound in Windows 98 Try playing some sound files in Media Player to see if the sound is properly configured in Windows 98. To do this, click on Start, Programs, Accessories, Entertainment, Media Player. On the Media Player, click on File, Open. Then double click on a sound file, such as Chimes, The Microsoft Sound, or one of the Jungle sounds if you have installed them. This should bring you back to Media Player. Click on the Play button in Media Player (which is located in the lower left corner). You should see the bar go across the window from left to right and you should hear the sound on your speakers. If you get any error messages, your sound card may not be properly configured for playing sounds in Windows 98. You may need to adjust your mixer settings. On the Media Player, click on Device, Volume Controls. You should see a screen with several slider-bars on it. Look for the ones that move vertically, these control the volume levels. Adjust all of them to about the same level, about 3/4 of the way to the top. The "Wave" one controls voices and sound effects, and the "Synth" or "Midi" controls background music. Make sure they are set equal to each other. The one on the far left is titled "Volume." This is a master level control. Set it the same as the others. Then close the box. Try your program again. If the volume settings in the mixer keep getting changed back, you may need to upgrade your sound drivers to the latest version from the manufacturer. You may need to modify the ka.ini file as follows. Click on Start, Run. Type in KA.INI and click OK. Add a line which says "WDQ=Low" to the end of the section that applies to the program in question. For example: [2G] ProductHDRoot=C:\KA\2G ProductCDRoot=D: GoldVer=1.0 Memory=Full CDDrv=D: CDVol=JUMPSTART_2 TuneFileExtension=WSB IcoDest=Knowledge Adventure The "WDQ=Low" would usually be on the line right after the "IcoDest=" line for the program. Save and exit out of the file and then try to run the program. ============================= I found this new problem with customers having a new Compaq with the Sound Blaster 128. It's the exact same symtoms as the "INTEL RSX 3D" gives - (Underwater sound) but Intel RSX 3D is not installed. Compaq is giving new software out with their PCs and it's causing the problem. You can't do any harm since the Customer has the CD to reinstall it again if they need to. Leave the decision up to them. Uninstalled "MGI video wave 3" from the "Add/Remove programs" in the control panel. According to Brian, if they have MGI Video Wave 2 (or 3), then find and rename the rsx.dll file to something like rsx._dl, then restart. This will fix the problem, they don't have to remove anything, and it won't cause any errors for anything else. =========================== JSPhonics, Via Soundcard - loses sound in some areas Loses sound in some areas, comes back when they get back to camp office. MM audio playback set for Via audio wave; no alternate. No other MM audio devices present. Checked for Intel RSX; not present. Lowered sound accel from Full to Basic. Restarted. Tried program; works ======================= JS Spanish - sound clicking (like a woodpecker) HP, Win98, Ensoniq audio PCI. Turned out to be Quicktime32. Deleted it completely, also deleted qt*.* and *.qtc, restarted, reinstalled JSSpan and QT32. Works. =========================== JumpStart Toddlers Deluxe (JSToddlers2001) Sound OK until you reach the intro song (in the garden), it is all slowed down and low pitched and the animation is crawling too. The sound after that point is also slowed down. Ran OK the very first time it was installed. Next time they ran it, it was all slow like this. Yamaha DSXG sound card. Restarted Win98, cleaned CD. Deleted program dir; deleted reg entry. Emptied recycle bin. Reinstalled the program. Tried it; still doing it. Checked MM settings; audio playback set for DSXG Wave Playback, no alt choices. Midi set for DSXG synth, only other choice is DSXG MPU401 out. MM audio has Yamaha DSXG audio; no other devices listed. Yamaha DSXG Direct sound secondary buffers enabled; disabled them. (Did not need to reboot.) Tried program; works. =============================== JumpStart Preschool 99 - sound garbled Uninstall the program as follows: Go to the Control Panel, choose "Add/Remove Programs", click on JumpStart Preschool, and then click "Add/Remove." Once the program is uninstalled, you still need to delete some files it left behind. Click on Start, Programs, MS-DOS prompt. You should see a prompt that says "C:\WINDOWS>". Type "DEL KA.INI" and press Enter. Type "CD\KA" and press Enter. The prompt should change to "C:\KA>". Type "DELTREE PRSCHL99" and press Enter. You will be asked to confirm that you want to delete the PRSCHL99 directory etc. Type "Y" and press Enter. When it finishes, type "EXIT" and press Enter. Now run the Scandisk program. Click on Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Scandisk. Choose Standard Scan, and make sure that "Automatically fix errors found" has a checkmark. Then click on the start button on that screen to begin. When it finishes, click on Close twice. Reinstall the program and try it. Start, Settings, Control Panel. Double click on Multimedia. Click on the Audio tab. Look under Playback, and try "game compatible device" for the preferred device. Also, place a checkmark in the box for "use preferred devices only." Click OK and close everything. Restart Windows to make sure this change takes effect, and then try the program again. On some systems, there are additional audio drivers for specific applications. These drivers are sometimes identified as "voice modem driver", "modem wave device" or "serial wave device" with brand names like "Rockwell" or "USR." The only application that uses these drivers is a "telephone message center" which turns your computer into a telephone answering machine. These drivers are not used for regular modem communications or for fax programs, but they can cause occasional sound conflicts with the primary audio driver. Try the following procedure to disable any of these drivers. Click on the START button. Click on SETTINGS. Click on the CONTROL PANEL icon. Double click on the MULTIMEDIA icon. Click on the ADVANCED tab. Click on the "+" to the left of AUDIO DEVICES. Click on the VOICE MODEM DRIVER. Click on PROPERTIES. Put a check in "Do not use audio features on this device." Put a check in "Do not map through this device." Click on the OK button. You may need to do this on more than one such device. Afterward, you'll need to restart Windows for this to take effect. If you have a Yamaha sound card, try this: In Control Panel, double click the Yamaha DxSg icon. Click the Direct Sound Tab. Under Secondary Buffer, select Disable All and click OK. Try the program again. If none of the above seem to help, then it may be a problem with your sound drivers and DirectX. Download and install the latest version of the sound driver and the video driver from the manufacturers' web sites. This is not necessarily the same site as the computer brand; although they may have drivers, the actual manufacturers will have the very latest versions. After you update the video and sound drivers, then go to "http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/" and download DirectX 7.0a Home Version (or the latest one they have), and install it following their directions. Then try your program again. ========================== Problem: Loud, hissing sound in the train ride portion of Jumpstart Preschool 99 on a computer using a Crystal sound card. Solution: Change the playback to Game Compatable Device in the Multimedia Properties. ======================== Sound distorted, broken up. Maestro sound drivers. Checked for Intel rsx, removed it. Restarted. Tried it; still happening. Checked to see if rsx.dll is there; not found. Midi set for Maestro wavetable synth; changed it to Maestro external midi port. MM audio set for game compatible. Disabled voicemodem device. Restarted. Tried it; works. ============================= Summary: INSTRUCTION AT 00474A16 REFERENCED MEMORY AT FFFFFFFF Midi set for internal OPL2/OPL3 FM synth; other choices were external midi and wavesynth. Set up all 16 channels as FM synth. 'Code Offset XXXX (8900,25646) in Start.nfx. 'The Parameters of the Errorful Call Below are Param=1' or 'Midi Driver Error Processing Menu/Mid/Mm000_.wsb' on a Windows95 machine Solution: This error is generated when the midi mapper has either an invalid configuration or no configuration at all. Try the following procedures to adjust the midi mapper: 1. Click on Start. 2. Click on Settings. 3. Click on Control Panel. 4. Double-click on Multimedia. 5. Click on the Midi tab. 6. In the Single Instrument box, select any configuration that has FM, Synth, or Voyetra in the Instrument Name and click OK. Then try to re-run the program. NOTE: If there are no selections to choose from, then you may need to contact the sound card manufacturer to either update or re-install the sound card drivers. 7. If the program still gives the error, repeat steps 1-5 and then click on Custom Configuration. 8. Click on the Configure button. 9. Highlight all 16 channels and click on the Change button. 10. Click the down arrow on Instrument Name, and select an instrument that has FM, Synth, or Voyetra, and click OK. 11. Click on the Save As button and give the configuration a name that corresponds with the program that you are having problems with. 12. Click OK to save the file. 13. Click OK to close out of Midi Configuration. 14. Click OK to close out of Multimedia Properties. (And close the Control Panel too.) 15. Re-run the program. ============================== Neomagic Magicwave 3DX sound. This is on a Compaq laptop; advised him of the general situation regarding them. Added WDQ=Low to ka.ini. Tried it; same thing. Checked MM settings; audio set for Magicmedia, no other choices. Midi set for Magicwave softsynth; changed it to Magicwave FM. Disabled "Audio for" device; restarted. Tried it; still happening. Closed all bg tasks. Tried it again; still doing it. Added CloseSoundDriver=Yes to ka.ini. Tried it again; works. =========================== Summary: NO SOUND IN JS1ST OR JS4TH GRADES - ALL ELSE WORKS. Use MSCONFIG and UNCHECK "AUREAL A3D Interactive Audio INIT" in the STARTUP menu and reboot. ========================= Problem: No sound in RB6-9 Possible Solution: customer's sound card is a CMI8338/c3dxpci audio device Customer had windows wave sound after doing sound test 123 in sounds control panel. After reinstalling game still no sound so went to midi tab in multimedia and there were 3 choices there with two of the choices using synthesis method.Changed the synthesis method from cm8338 opl2/opl3 synthesis which does not produce sound in the RB6-9 game to c-media soft midi synthesis. It worked in this case. ========================== Some notes on RB 2nd Grade...... This is a revamp of Spelling Blaster 6-9. If customers report any of the following problems (and probably others I didn't find yet): How come there's no install? I put it in and it just wanted to go into the program. or Garbled sound during the animated intro scenes and elsewhere. They might already have SB6-9 installed (or still have remnants of it around). You need to uninstall that first, if you still can after putting this one in; it might very well have screwed up SB6-9 in the process. This means you'll have to manually delete the old registry keys and directory for SB6-9, and then delete the reg keys that this one somehow put in even though it didn't ask to install it. Then, put this CD back in, it will go through normal installation etc, and then it seems to be OK with the sound etc. The registry keys this one uses are: HKLM/Soft/Davidson/RB2 HKLM/Soft/Davidson/rb2puzzle The default program directory is: C:\Program Files\Blaster\RB2ndGr Uses DirectX 6.1. This can be manually installed from d:\DirectX6\dx61eng.exe. Uses Quicktime3. This can be manually installed from d:\qtwfiles\setup.exe. =========================== RB6-9 - no sound - Cmedia sound card She says that she saw a Softmidi error message come up when she tried the main program before. Tested Mplayer; works. Checked midi; set for Cmedia Softmidi; changed it to OPL2/OPL3 FM. Tried program; works. =========================== No sound in Math for the Real World looks like it was a midi related issue. Here's the procedure. 1. Click on Start. 2. Click on Settings. 3. Click on Control Panel. 4. Double-click on Multimedia. 5. Click on the Midi tab. 6. In the Single Instrument box, select any configuration that has FM, Synth, or Voyetra in the Instrument Name and click OK. Then try to re-run the program. NOTE: If there are no selections to choose from, then you may need to contact the sound card manufacturer to either update or re-install the sound card drivers. 7. If the program still gives the error, repeat steps 1-5 and then click on Custom Configuration. 8. Click on the Configure button. 9. Highlight all 16 channels and click on the Change button. 10. Select an instrument that has FM, Synth, or Voyetra in the Instrument Name and click OK. 11. Click on the Save As button and give the configuration a name that corresponds with the program that you are having problems with. 12. Click OK to save the file. 13. Click OK to close out of Midi Configuration. 14. Click OK to close out of Multimedia Properties. (And close the Control Panel too.) 15. Re-run the program. ============================ How to disable RealPlayer from autoloading into the system tray. RealPlayer G2. Look for the small icon inside the taskbar. Right click on it, then choose "Disable SmartStart." Ignore the dire warnings about how it'll make it start slower. RealPlayer 7. Go into the RealPlayer, then View, Preferences. Go to Start Center and click on the Settings button. Uncheck "Enable StartCenter" and click OK to everything, then exit from RealPlayer. How do I uninstall REALPLAYER 4.01 components to do a clean install on Windows 95? In some cases, the Windows 95 REALPLAYER 4.01 installation does not remove all possible previously installed RealAudio files. The incomplete uninstall can occur because there are several third party manufacturers who bundle earlier versions of RealAudio with their products. The earlier versions can cause unexpected problems with the new player. When these problems occur, it is necessary to manually uninstall all RealAudio and REALPLAYER files then reinstall. There are three steps to the clean deletion and reinstall. Step one is to remove all RealAudio and RealPlayer files and directories. Step two is to remove the Progressive Networks registry entries. Step three is to reinstall. Details are below. STEP ONE The Player installation creates directories and copies files to the hard drive when it is run. These directories should be removed when you are finished deleting the copied files: In C:\RAPLAYER (or the directory specified during the installation): RAPLAYER.EXE README.HTM NOTES.HTM START.RAM RA.GIF BOOKMARK.SAV THANKYOU.RA In C:\REAL\PLAYPLUS RVPLAYER README.HTM NOTES.HTM START.RAM GRAPHIC.GIF BOOKMARK.SAV THANKYOU.RM PLAYRLIC.TXT In C:\WINDOWS directory: RAUNINST.EXE In C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory: RA3214_4.DLL RA3228_8.DLL RA32DNET.DLL DECDNET.DLL PNEN3230.DLL PNUI3230.DLL RAOCX32.DLL (if you installed the RealAudio ActiveX Controls for Internet Explorer) RAPLAYER.EXE CLRVIDDC.DLL RA32CLV1.DLL RA32SIPR.DLL RA32RV10.DLL RARV1032.DLL PNCRT.DLL PNEN3240.DLL PNUI3240.DLL RAOCX32.DLL In C:\WINDOWS\HELP directory: RAPLAYER.HLP RVPLAYER.HLP If you installed the RealAudio Plug-In, then in the plug-in directory of your browser: NPRA32.DLL RACLASS.ZIP STEP TWO: Deleting the Progressive Networks registry entry. REGEDIT is a delicate area of your operating system. You should only attempt to make changes to the Registry if you feel comfortable with your technical skills. We recommend contacting Microsoft's Windows 95 Technical Support if you are uncomfortable making changes to the Registry. Licensed owners of Windows 95 can contact Microsoft directly or contact your computer vendor for support if Windows 95 was present on your system at time of purchase. Before attempting to make changes to the Registry, back up your Registry files (System.dat and User.dat). You can also export your Registry to your desktop by selecting: Start, Run, open regedit. Select Registry from the menu and Import Registry File to your desktop. This is done so that a copy is available in the event that you make incorrect changes to your Registry and wish to use your previous version. The deletion we describe below is fairly simple, but again, please be careful when making this change. The process of deleting the Progressive Networks entry is to run the Registry editor, find the entry, and delete it. The following steps explain this in detail: Run REGEDIT.EXE 1. Bring up the Start Menu. 2. Select the Run menu item. 3. In the Open field, type regedit. 4. Click on the OK button Delete the Progressive Networks section of the Registry: 1. Right click on the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT entry. 2. Click on the Expand menu item in the right click menu. 3. Double click on the Software folder. 4. Select the Progressive Networks folder by single clicking on it, or arrowing down to it. 5. Press the delete key. 6. In the Confirm Delete Dialog box, click on the Yes button. 7. Close the Registry Editor. The Progressive Networks entry in the Registry is now deleted. STEP THREE Reinstall the latest RealPlayer/RealPlayer Plus 4.01. The installation file which was previously downloaded can be rerun. Double click on the file to begin the installation. If you do not have the installation file, then please visit the appropriate URL to download the Player. To download the free RealPlayer 4.01, visit http://www.real.com/products/player/index.html To download the RealPlayer Plus 4.01, visit http://pluszone.real.com/archives.html Use your current Player Plus serial number for the install. ========================== The old Reveal Sound cards were actually made by Aztech. Here's a document I found on line and a link where you can send Reveal product owners for web based support only. Some of our more computer-savvy customers can use or a place where customers that are not in the "know" can refer their techs. http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Horizon/4158/ ================================= JS Kindergarten (classic). Gets in classroom; Hops says "Click on my ears for a surprise." Fatal exception 0d in vxd vwstream. Midi set for Riptide wavestream synth; changed it to Yamaha OPL2/OPL3 synth. (I noted the similarity of that error to what the midi had been.) Restarted. Tried program. Works. ========================== JS2nd - repeating/looping sound on Riptide card Problem: repeating and skipping sound Settings prior to troubleshooting were - riptide playback, riptide wavestream / for midi. Set to game comp. , and yamaha opl2 synth.- was fine afterwards. In Device manager under Sound and Video controllers. Double click on the "Riptide Master riptide PCI audio". Click on "Direct Sound". Checked "LIMIT the number of buffers to the number of channels" =========================== I don't know if you guys are aware of this fix yet but here it is for all RIPTIDE HP problems. He called me back and said it fixed it. Its a HP 1 year old. CD is new. TRIED but didn't work: Changed midi to Yamaha OPL2/OPL3 and same problem. Solution: Go to this site and type in RIPTIDE and click on GO to get the current drivers to download and install. http://search.hp.com/ A caller called back and let me in on this fix. The audio in her Jumpstart programs worked fine until she ran the Riptide update to fix some connectivity problems she was having with the card. Apparently the driver update fixes issues with the modem functionality of the card and hinders the audio performance. Have the caller download the driver update for the card from HP's web site. After they have installed the update have them remove just the audio drivers under Sound Video and Game Controllers. They then need to reinstall the Audio drivers from the HP Application Recovery CD. They will need to go to the driver section and select Audio only. This fix will allow both of the cards features to function properly. ========================= Thought you might like to know about this: A guy had a HDD crash, got a new pre-formatted HDD from his computer company, now all games work but Sabrina has no sound. Went into the Sabrina disk to look for sound files. Found AIFF files. They were not associated with Quicktime, double clicked one and re-associated them with QT. Had to reboot before it would take effect. ============================ SB AWE64 - 3G no dig sound, IPF in 3G.EXE at 023F:0048B9A6 Can hear music but no voices. Tested Mplayer; adjusted mixer; now has sound there. Tried program. I could hear music start, then it came up with an error: 3G caused IPF in 3g.exe at 023f:0048b9a6. Restarted Win95 and cleaned CD. Tried it again; no sound again. She saw a green Wave Volume thing pop up briefly. Midi set for Creative Stereo Music synth. Changed it to AWE64 midi synth. While changing it, that popup volume thing appeared again for a second. Tried program again; working OK now. ============================= Apparently Syracuse Langauge Self Study Spanish has problems with the Dell using a Crystal Sound Card. Now under normal circumstances, there are no updates for this sound card. I recieved a call from a gentleman today regarding a sound problem with the aforementioned program, and system. He got sound in the program once, and every time he tried it afterwards would recieve none. I ended up doing a pretty exhuastive sound troubleshoot. This included checked his sound driver for an problem. Looking at all his settings in multimedia properties. Even uninstalling/reinstalling his multimedia items from his windows setup. I couldn't figure it out and told him I'd get back to him. I was going to assume the issue was with the cd when I called him back. But Dell has informed him that a driver did exist, on their web site. He downloaded and installed it. This fixed the issue he was having with the program. ========================== Apparently, Shockwave Remote can cause sound problems as well as video. I had a customer running WordBlaster in which there is a recorded speech playback feature (using a microphone) similar to the Syracuse Language programs. In this case, the speech playback was working fine up until recently. The audio mixer checked out fine and .wav sounds played fine also. Multimedia settings were okay. I checked background apps and discovered "remote". End-tasked it, ran the program and the customer was then able to get the recorded sound to playback. Just keep in mind, speech recognition no longer working, check for Shockwave Remote. ============================ Summary: SPEECH COULD NOT BE INITIALIZED FOR SPELL IT DELUXE. Macintosh Change the names of the hard drive to eliminate any spaces or special characters in the hard drive name. or Stop AT-EASE or Mac Manager and try it. To change the hard drive name: Click once on the name of the hard drive icon. Wait a few seconds until you can edit the hard drive(s) name, retype in the name without any blank spaces at the beginning or in the name. Take the Provoice items in the System/Preferences folder to the Trash and restart your system. =============================== Program: Smart start Hebrew on Win98 with Yamaha DSXG sound card Problem: No audio in the program. We can record and playback a sound in the program, but no other sound can be heard. All sounds check ok outside the program. Solution: Went through all the basic troubleshooting still no sound. So here is what did it. This problem will also occur when your system doesn't recognize the MSADPCM driver which is the audio driver that allows you to listen to compressed audio. This driver is probably already loaded onto your system, it just isn't being recognized. The following steps will install and enable the audio compression driver. Go into your systems Control Panel and double-click on the Add New Hardware icon. Click on the Next button, select No and click on Next again. Scroll down until you locate the hardware type titled Sound video and games controllers and double-click on it. Select the manufacturer titled Microsoft Audio Codecs and highlight the ADPCM CODEC model. Click the Next button and then click the FINISH button. You may be asked to restart your computer from this point. Please do this if asked ======================== This contains some notes on sound problems in various Knowledge Adventure products. The vast majority of it no longer applies since using WDQ=Low in ka.ini seems to fix most of them (for those using the Accomplish sound engine). Many other problems have gone extinct since most people are using updated drivers that fixed these problems long since. Try WDQ=Low (for Accomplish programs) and updating the drivers first, if possible. That may be all you need to do. If that doesn't work, check the following. ESS card "in use" message in Win95: Shut down all bg tasks. Disable other multimedia audio drivers (voicemodems, etc). SB16 distortion/buzzing in DOS programs: Run "Diagnose" in DOS, and set High DMA to "use Low DMA setting." SB16 in Windows 95: Use Basic Configuration 0006 or 0007. Make sure it uses only one DMA channel. Use Basic Configuration 0004 for the SB16 PnP. Also, see if "Full Duplex" is set; if not, do so. Ensoniq: stuttering sound in Win95. Use Basic Configuration 4. Media Vision cards. Media Vision went out of business in 1994. The company that took over provided limited support for a while but they are also gone now. Same with Reveal sound card. Anyone stuck with one is SOL. They should just get a new card. Beware that their CDROM drive may be a proprietary one connected to the card so it may need to be replaced too. Since those are usually ancient 2X drives, it's probably worth it even if they get just an 8X to replace it. Media Vision: static: use Basic Configuration 1. Pro Audio Spectrum (PAS, PAS16, etc): make sure it uses DMA7. See our tech notes about DMA settings (may be hard to dig out, if they're still there). Magic S20 (made by Acer): poor or no sound. Check DMABUFFERSIZE=150 and where it is located in the system.ini file (it matters); this is in the Notes. For JumpStart Kindergarten Reading and for Knowledgeland, send them the Ace Engine Update. Mwave: Wave Out Prepare Header (might be all run together). Update the sound driver. The Mwave technology was licensed to other companies, so go to the manufacturer for the updated driver (usually IBM). On some very early model Mwave cards, there is no fix; there's a buffering problem causing that, which was fixed in the later cards. Mwave: long pauses on the sound during the program (5 seconds at a time). Disable other Multimedia devices (voicemodem etc). Diamond Edge 3D: static. Not compatible with many of our programs. Try disabling the Nvidia driver (if present) and leave the Opti 930. If the WDQ=Low doesn't work and updated drivers don't work, tell them to get a good sound card from a reputable industry standard brand like Creative Labs. VCOS card on AT&T Globalyst systems: not compatible with many of our programs. Tell them to get a good card. (There used to be a note about this. It's been gone a long time now.) Quest for Camelot: sound distorted - reinstall Quicktime from CD. JumpStart Spanish: sound all sped up - reinstall Quicktime from CD. JumpStart Baby: no sound? Make sure it's in 256 colors (yes, I've run into that!) Midi may not be properly configured if you are having problems in the following programs. Internal error is a common message, or you may get other messages are midi related. JS1st: pizza game and lunchroom serving line don't work right. JSPreschool: problems in the turtle game; not necessarily any error, just that things don't work right. JSPreschool: in the classroom and the cat says "I'm so glad we're in Preschool together"... bang. JSPreKinder: in the carrot patch. JSKinderReading: in the ice hockey and pinata areas. =============================== Western town (and some other game, not ours). Sound Blaster 64 D PCI card. Crackling sound. New drivers, no. Changed Sample Rate in QT, no. Reinstalled QT, no. Lowered AUDIO acceleration (Multimedia Icon, General tab, Advanced Properties, Preformance tab, lower Hardware Acceleration to the ¬ mark. Solved crackling sound. =============================== Summary: NO SOUND IN SOME AREAS ON SOME SOFTWARE Has sound in some areas and not others. Similar problems in some other programs, but perfectly fine in most other JumpStarts, Blaster and FP series. She says she's been to our website and tried everything there related to sound problems. (Prior sound problems she called about before were resolved, it was a hardware problem.) The current problem software is: KG98, JSSpanish, FPCastle98. Loses sound by the time the KA logo appears; but after exiting program the system event sounds are still OK. Restarted Win95. Tried Mplayer; wav works fine. System has drivers for Sound Blaster PCI 64 (not the AWE64) and Windows Sound System; no conflicts. MM Playback device is Sound Blaster PCI. Midi set for SB PCI Internal Synth. Audio Devices: Cmedia Wave Mixer Aux; SB PCI 64; duplex/SB16 wave; kavsnd.drv; PCTel serial wave. Disabled that PCTel one and restarted. Closed all bg tasks. Tried KG98. Still no sound in there. Added WDQ=Low to ka.ini (it was not already in there). Tried it again; same. Computer is 1.5 years old. She says she doesn't have a Sound Blaster card, it's an Ensoniq; but when she had tried to update the drivers for it, it downloaded them from the SB website. Disabled all of those other MM audio devices except SB PCI 64; changed it to 256 colors; restarted. Tried KG98 program; WORKING. Tried the JSSpanish; it's working fine (including translations); tried Castle98; working. ============================= Sound Repeating in Sound Blaster cards, but Full Duplex already on. I can hear the sound repeating however (she cannot detect any problem, but I don't expect her to know otherwise). Checked AWE64 settings, full duplex already checked. Added WDQ=Low to ka.ini. Changed midi from Wavesynth to AWE 64 midi synth. Restarted Win98. Still has looping/repeating sound. Went back to device manager, Sound/Video/Game contr, Wavesynth device, selected 'disable in this hardware profile'; restarted system; finally worked. =============================== A friendly reminder that a SOUNDBLASTER PRO is NOT a 16 bit sound card. Further, Creative Lab's DOES NOT support SBPRO for Windows 95 or 98. PLEASE DO NOT ASK CUSTOMER'S TO UPDATE THEIR SBPRO, UNLESS IT IS UPGRADING TO A SB16. ================================ Teletubbies sound slows down and drops in pitch! ESS soundcard, total clone system. Says she has DirectX7. Summary: SOUND PROBLEMS, MOMENTARILY SLOWS DOWN & DROPS PITCH She also has a sound problem that the wav is muted every time machine is booted, she has to go to volume control and unmute it before doing anything. Computer 10 months old. ESS sound card. Advised her to see if there are updated drivers for it. She says she just (this week) installed DirectX7 from Microsoft; advised her to reinstall that after updating the sound drivers. ** Note: she says she knows of several people who says it's doing the same thing on their systems. Hopefully this is not something new. *** [never heard of it since.] ============================= All: I have been informed of a possible fix for the problems we have been having with the Turtle Beach Montage sound card. this has been confirmed with 3 customers, but I want to know if this will truly work in most cases. Please try the following when you encounter problems with this card: 1. Go to Multimedia in the Control Panel 2. Select the Audio tab 3. In the 'Preferred device' list select 'game compatible' 4. Put a check in the 'Use preferred devices only' box 5. Apply these settings 6. Restart system 7. Try program again If this does not work: 1. Remove the check from 'Use preferred devices only' box 2. Apply settings 3. Close all windows and try again ========================== Yamaha DSXG - sound problems Particularly in JSPreschool99. Go to Yamaha DSXG icon in control panel. Choose Direct Sound tab. Go to Secondary Buffers and choose Disable All. Click OK. (No restart needed, usually.) =================================