Audio files don't play but other sounds do...

I'm running windows 7 ultimate on an acer aspire 3050.

System sounds play fine, sound from my internet browser plays fine, but any audio file I try to play doesn't work, any video I play has no audio.
I've tried playing different files with different players (Windows media player, media player classic, divx player, quicktime player, vlc player)
Audio and video files start up in WMP and then an error pops up "windows media player encountered a problem" all other players will play the file but no sound is produced.

I need help here, I've tried everything from system restore, reinstalling the players, downloading new audio files to test, to reinstalling my audio driver.

I'm out of ideas here

Hi Designation

Right Click your volume control icon in the system tray>Select Playback Devices>Post a snip (pic) of your Audio Devices

At first I thought it was the codecs too...
I did have a codec pack installed, (windows media essentials I think) I installed shark007's but it's the same thing, no audio.
here's a pic of my audio devices:


Oh and I do have the drivers installed...and reinstalled...

Designation7 said:

At first I thought it was the codecs too...
I did have a codec pack installed, (windows media essentials I think) I installed shark007's but it's the same thing, no audio.
here's a pic of my audio devices:
Oh and I do have the drivers installed...and reinstalled...

First, what is selected under the Communications Tab, for now select "Do Nothing"

Second,
Click once on the Default Device (speakers) and take a look under both the properties and configure button.

Turn all enhancements off for now. Disable All Sound Effects...
Make sure all settings under properties look good.
Under the Configure button, make sure the setting matches your system. (stereo?)

Ap

p.s. also... change Default to Digital Output, then change it back. (Don't know why this affects some users, but it does).

Going to enhancements and disabling all sound effects did the trick.
Now all my audio works great!

Thank you Aphelion.

Thanks to everyone else too, this is the first time I've used this forum and it helped a lot.