Possible sound 'permissions' problem?

[Steve the Sax]

This one has me foxed.

Recently did a fresh install of W7 pro 64 on a new Dell desktop, and all went well.
After installing a number of updates over a period of time I noticed that I'd lost my system beep...specifically the caps lock warning.
I also noticed I'd lost a number of 'incidental' app sounds...such as an audible warning to accompany a 'delete this file?' message. All the other sounds seem fine (at least the ones I'm aware of). All the sounds work in the Control Panel sound applet.

And then last month I downloaded and installed a batch of Windows security updates, rebooted - and lo and behold, all the incidental sounds came back...until I rebooted again.
Did exactly the same thing this morning - downloaded the updates, rebooted and got my sounds back until I rebooted again.

I then found that Photoshop (CS3) was throwing up an error when saving files, telling me the files were locked. I'd been running it in admin mode, but found it worked in standard mode (and didn't throw up a UAC warning)....and when it switched it back to admin mode it saved the files just fine. It continued to save them just fine when I switched it back to standard mode.

This has got me thinking that the sound and the Photoshop issues are related in some way, specifically to permissions...but above and beyond that it's way out of my usual 'tweak the registry' comfort zone.

Anyone got any ideas, pointers, words of comfort?

Cheers,

Steve

 

[DealerMan]

Steve, I'm certainly no expert, but I can't figure out a link between Photoshop and your sound issues. I'm thinking a sound driver reinstall might be worth a shot. Try it and let us know what happens.

Keep us posted, Good Luck!

 

[Steve the Sax]

The Photoshop thing turned out to be something else. Somehow the permissions on an entire partition had been changed. I still have no idea how that happened.

As for the sound issue, it remains. Had another security update recently, same results - installed the update, reboot, sounds come back. Reboot again, gone.
Have tried reinstalling the sound driver - no effect.

 

[DealerMan]

Steve, are you running with on-board sound, or a dedicated audio card? If dedicated, is your BIOS disabled for on-board? Have a look to be sure. Just to be safe, you might try re-seating the card as well. Also, are you just using standard wired speakers, no bluetooth?

 

[Steve the Sax]

It's on-board sound (Realtek), bios is set for on-board audio - and the speakers are standard wired.

Just installed a security update today, and as usual I have my 'delete' sound back as well as the caps locksound (system beep) on reboot...but, as before, it's likely to disappear on the next reboot.

I've cleared the event logs in the hope that something might pop up that'll provide a pointer.

 

[glnz]

Steve - same problem here. Did you ever find a solution?

 

[Steve the Sax]

I'm afraid not. It's still exactly the same - the beep comes back after a security update, then disappears on subsequent reboots.
As I couldn't fix it I decided to bang a few nails in by way of installing a little program called Keyboard Indicator. It's not entirely 'polished' but it does a fine job of making a little noise when the caps lock, num lock and scroll lock keys are pressed.


Keyboard Indicator - RoiDayan.com