Windows 7 - Realtek Sound - Odd Issue

I just started having an odd issue that in my 20 some years working with computers have never encountered. The issue has to do with my realtek HD Audio. It started with games, that I wouldn't get any sound from. I went and did my normal trouble shooting and found nothing wrong. During the tests the sound worked fine. So I went and tried playing an MP3, and no sound happens. Music plays but no sound. I then tried skype. That worked fine and I heard sounds.

I've never experienced issues like this. Where one program has sound and another doesn't.

Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks

Have you tried uninstalling and re-installing the driver?

This is about as odd as the issue that I am having on a vista machine where the sound from the internet browser will just stop working periodically.

Have you also made sure these games/apps don't have their own sound output setting set wrong?

I find that sometimes if I'm watching something on my TV (sound set by default to play out via HDMI) and decide to go play World of Warcraft, the game will still be set to my USB Headset and will play out that, instead, even though the system default is via HDMI.

Great suggestion.

Along with that, check the "Mixer" settings on the Volume Control. They come and go depending on what an app is using. Might be you have one muted.