Vista/No Sound/Failed to play test tone

Question

i have recently upgraded to vista and found out that i have no sound. the driver (vista version) for my on board sound card seems fine but when i try to play a song on windows Media Player, i get a msg of  "Windows Media Player encountered a problem while playing the file. For additional assistance, click Web Help."  and i also get a "Failed to play test tone" msg when i try to test my speakers. i thought it was because of vista dosent support my crappy on board sound card so i got a new one.

 

i have just installed a Creative Audigy SE and have downloaded the driver for windows vista. again, in device manager, everything seems fine, the driver is fine, the device is working. but i still get the "Windows Media Player encountered a problem while playing the file. For additional assistance, click Web Help." when i try to play a song, as well as the "failed to play test tone" msg when i click on the Test button. please help me, i am tired of using a computer with no sound.

Answer 1

I would suggest posting the full URL that you are taken to when clicking on the "Web Help" button to the Windows Media Player forum. That URL contains the specific error code and will help troubleshoot the issue.  Here's a link to the forum: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/community/newsgroups/WindowsMedia/default.mspx?dg=microsoft.public.windowsmedia.player&lang=en&cr=US

 

Also, can you provide the following details:

1) What type of music file are you trying to play?  (WMA, MP3, etc)

2) If WMA fails to play, can you play MP3's (and vice versa) ?

3) Are the songs you're trying to play WM DRM protected?  If so, can you play clear content?

4) Are you able to play the sample songs that come with Vista?

5) Can you play any video files?

Answer 2

thanks Matt.

i cannot play anything in windows media player, i just installed vista like 3 weeks ago, so the only song files i have on this are the sample songs from vista, and none of them plays.

i can play video files in realplayer, but there is no sound.

the error msg i get is C00D11B1 when i click web help. thanks.

 

here is the link for the error msg: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/player/webhelp/default.aspx?&mpver=11.0.6000.6324&id=C00D11B1&contextid=216&originalid=887C003A

Answer 3

Thanks for the error details.  I have a few more questions:

1. Can you provide the audio driver version that you have installed? (you can run dxdiag.exe to quickly find this information)
2. Do you get the same error when using the Sounds control panel to test your device?   (Open the Sounds control panel, right click on the device, and then select Test)
3. Can you generate a log file following the steps listed below:
   • Using regedit, go to HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\WMI\AutoLogger\Audio and change the “Start” value from 0 to 1.
   • Reboot the machine
   • Try to play an audio file.
   • Post a link to the generated log file which you can find in: %WINDIR%\system32\LogFiles\Audio
   • Change the value in the registry back to 0.

Answer 4

Matt,

 

1. The driver version is 5.12.0001.2001 (English).

2. Yes I get the same "failed to play test tone" error msg.

3. I cannot find the "HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\WMI\AutoLogger\Audio" that you have mensioned.

when I run regedit, I only see five files which are HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, HKEY_CURRENT_USER, HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, HKEY_USERS, HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG. Which one should I click on to? Thank you so much for your help.

Answer 5

By HKLM I meant HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE.  I'm too used to using the abbreviation =)

 

BTW, are there any updates available on Windows Update for your device?

Answer 6

oh thanks, i found it. after changing the value to 0 and rebooting my pc + playing an audio file using the Windows Media Player ,

i find a file called "AudioSrv.Evm.001" iam not sure what kind of program i should use to open it, or how to post it up here if i cant even read whats inside. please tell me what i should do now.

there was a Windows Update after for the Creative Audigy SE and i did installed it. thanks again.

 

 

by the way, after changing the value from 0 to 1, when i try to play an audio file, the messege i get now is

"Windows Media Player cannot play the file because there is a problem with your sound device. There might not be a sound device installed on your computer, it might be in use by another program, or it might not be functioning properly." but the problem is, i do find the device in my Device Manager and it says that both of the device and the driver are working.

Answer 7

Ok, and the driver version: 5.12.0001.2001 (English) was the one from Windows Update, which is not working, correct?

 

Can you email the AudioSrv.Evm.001 file to pvp at microsoft.com?

Answer 8

well, in the Device Manger, it says the driver is working. so iam not sure what the deal is.

sure i will email the file to [e-mail]

Answer 9

Dan,

 

I never received the email.  It may have been blocked.  Can you try sending the log file to [e-mail]  instead?

Answer 10

hey matt, i have just emailed the file to the above address. thanks a lot.

Answer 11

I have the same 'Failed to play test tone' error message. I even bought a new soundcard and I get the same error with it. I've got a log file, what can I view it with?

Answer 12

Doogal wrote:

I have the same 'Failed to play test tone' error message. I even bought a new soundcard and I get the same error with it. I've got a log file, what can I view it with?

I am getting the same problem. My sound worked all okay, then all of a sudden, I've lost all sound support.

I've noticed one thing tho. When I unmute my microphone, I can hear my self talking.. Initially, I thought the cat had chewed one of my cables, but after finding that I can hear my self thru my mic, I'm thinking otherwise.

Currently, I'm using a Creative X-Fi card, with the following drivers..

Code Snippet

Description: Speakers (Creative SB X-Fi)
Default Sound Playback: Yes
Default Voice Playback: Yes
Hardware ID: PCI\VEN_1102&DEV_0005&SUBSYS_00211102&REV_00
Manufacturer ID: 1
Product ID: 100
Type: WDM
Driver Name: ctaud2k.sys
Driver Version: 6.00.0001.1272 (English)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
WHQL Logo'd: n/a
Date and Size: 3/5/2007 18:02:54, 862904 bytes

I get the same errors as everyone else here with the "Failed to play test tone", and the error Windows Media Player comes up with.

Video files do not seem to work for me either under WMP. Just comes up with

"Windows Media Player cannot access the file. The file might be in use, you might not have access to the computer where the file is stored, or your proxy settings might not be correct."

Web Help = http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/player/webhelp/default.aspx?&mpver=11.0.6000.6324&id=C00D11D2&contextid=216&originalid=80070005

Mind you, the file is local (On my C drive).

I have reinstalled drivers twice now, removed the card and put it back in, checked all bios settings, made sure volumes were all up, and tried different files... (i.e WMA, MP3, AVI, MPEG).. All resulting to the same thing.

I've also tried different players. The one that comes with Nero, BSPlayer, etc. They all seem as if they're playing, but nothing comes out of my headphones.

If anyone would like the file "AudioSrv.Evm.001", which I generated thru the registry, I'll be more than happy to send it off to them.

I miss my sound.

Answer 13

Same situation here as well.  Has there been any resolution?

 

I should note that my sound worked as of Friday.  I had rebooted the machine Monday morning and had no sound.  I assume the on-board driver took a dive so went and purchased a SB Audigy SE card, downloaded the latest drivers and still nothing.

Answer 14

I've still no sound. Nothing from my on-board soundcard or the soundcard I purchased (also a SB Audigy SE so perhaps your problem is the same?). I'm not sure who I should be hassling about it, don't know if it's a problem with my Dell PC or with Vista in general. I was hoping being able to read the log file might help work out what the problem is but I still don't know what to view it with.

Answer 15

Guys. I've found the solution, and it isn't pretty..

Format...

I ended up getting annoyed, and simply formatting my machine. I went thru anything and everything I could think of with trying to resolve the issue. To the point of even removing the drivers manually and reinstalling them, trying older drivers, etc. Nothing works..

Unfortunately, you can't repair Vista, like you could 2000/XP.. I believe in this case, a repair would of fixed the problem

Doogal. Use Notepad buddy. That's what I used to view the file. It's just full of code tho.. Not much "English" in there.

Answer 16

Well, when I have a spare day or two I'll do a fresh install.

Answer 17

I have the same problem after I upgraded to Vista...

 

I thought that the problem was with the onboard audio and so I got my external USB audio card to use instead. Guess what? Same result... NO AUDIO! Same error message when attempting to play with the media player and the test tone also fails.  Installing and re-installing audio drivers does nothing to fix this.

 

This must be something wrong with Vista as it is highly unlikely that both of these audio cards have bad drivers. MS when are you going to realease a fix? We need help. I refuse to have to invest any more time by having to format my machine because of this problem.

 

What in the world is MS doing to fix this?!!!!

Answer 18

I found an article from Microsoft about this problem.

maybe it is a solution for our problem ???

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/930883

 

Answer 19

We're not really audio driver experts on this thread, so I'm going to have to apologize that we can't be more helpful here.  My usual standard advice is to monkey with the drivers, but it sounds like you've already done that to no avail.

 

This forum (http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/ShowForum.aspx?ForumID=351&SiteID=1) _might_ be able to help you. 

Answer 20

This forum probably isn't going to be so helpful with the no-sound issues.  My usual suggestions are to fiddle with drivers and so forth, but I think you're way beyond that.  You might want to try the pro audio forum (http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/ShowForum.aspx?ForumID=351&SiteID=1), even though that technically isn't the right place for audio support issues either...

Answer 21

heloo i qm ibrahim and i have got new sound card i have windos xp i gpt creative audigy SE and the sound is good but i have no mic waeing i am puting in the sofwer in full its saying windos dont pass the log test what can i du now

Answer 22

Hello all,

 

Working a case with a very helpful customer of ours I found that in his case the "Failed to play test tone" error turned out to be caused by something related to domain restrictions. The guy had his own domain. We did a clean install, step-by-step, to find the cause, creating restore points along the way. When sound finally failed it was only after the second reboot, after joining the domain. Restoring the system to before the joining of the domain solved the issue. Rejoining it caused the problem to return, again only after second reboot.

 

Leaving a domain is unfortunately not enough to remove all group policies, imposed by a domain. So this is not an adequate test to see if the problem was caused by domain issues in your case. Only way to determine this is to go back to a state where the system had never joined the domain, so the registry is free of all domain implemented changes. This might mean doing a clean installation of Windows Vista.

 

Last note, this problem did to occur on a PC running XP on the same domain account. This could off course also be due to differences in the system configuration. However, the problem on the Vista PC occurred with both the onboard Realtek HD Audio device and a Creative X-Fi card. I also found some similar cases on the internet which seemingly concerned the same problem, but concerned completely differen systems, even notebooks. System configuration is seemingly irrelevant. (Mind. I do not know if these systems were part of a domain!).

 

As Consumer Support does not include domain systems I did not find out what the exact problem with the domain configuration was. He will possibly call the Professional Support dept. and keep me posted. If I have news I'll post it here.

 

Hope this is helpful to any of you.

 

Kind regards,

 

Emile Frieser

Microsoft Product Support - The Netherlands

 

 

Answer 23

Is there any more info on this issue. This thread is the only one I have been able to find using any search engine regarding the domain vrs sound issue. I have the exact same problem. If I join our domain, I lose all audio. All devices report as running correctly but there is nojoy. We have security policies (paper and gpo) that dictate domain membership for all computers. This really blows me away.

Answer 24

hi

 I am having same issue, vista home premium on thinkpad t61 came installed stopped playing sound just after couple days without any warning. Drives say no problem, have the latest update is installed. when i try to play any media file i get the media cannot be accessed error and from webhelp it apperantly is a access issue - 80070005 (or it seems to be)

could this be 'cos of user does not have proper access rights one something in the system32 dir ?!

and ofcourse it would not even play the test sound files too.

Its been totally frustrating and any help is very much appreciated. And in some forums (expert-exhange i guess) there was even a talk about windows DRM and etc. no clue if thats the case, since not even audio cd or the sample sound (including win login) would not play here.

Also how do i check these domain/policy related things on my m/c?

thanks in advance
Ravee

Answer 25

I've had no sound 4 over a month...downloaded a registry cleaner and i think it cleaned a little 2 well...had no sound since...NO DRIVERS(code 28)...PLS PLS PLS Help

Answer 26

I have this same problem, and it occured immediately after installing aim6. I usually use trillian, but stupidly installed aim so we could use the video function. I can't play any videos that I recorded myself.  Even after I uninstalled aim 6, I still can't use watch any videos on my pc.

Anyone find a solution to this other than a reformat and reinstall? I really don't have the patience or time to do that any time soon, so hopefully this is sorted out. Anyone else use the new version AOL instant messanger?

Answer 27

None, I beleive we all reinstalled to correct this matter.

Answer 28

The exact same thing happened after I did an install of aim 6. I have spent hours trying to get my sound back, and all the driver tweaking in the world has not made a difference. Whenever I try to do a test, I get a Failed to play tone message. This is one of the most frusterating parts of vista ever.

Answer 29

Hey man, your best best is to do a system restore to before you installed aim6 and start using trillian. I tried so many things to recover from the issue that AIM caused. The only working solution for me was to restore back to a few days earlier.

Try the system restore, and if it works, just stay away from AIM forever. Trillian will allow you to use your same name and contact list, so it will be transparent to your friends, but it will work 1000% better. aim tries waaay to hard to tie into ever bit of your system instead of just being the IM program it was created to be. They will never learn though.

Answer 30

I had the exact same problem and here is the fix.  You're not going to believe it!

 

1 Go to control panel

2. Double-Click on the Sound Icon

3. Single-click the Speakers to highlight them

4. Click on Properties (bottom right corner)

5. Go to the Enhancements Tab and Click on it

6. Now click "Disable All Sound Effects"

7. Click OK and you should be good to go!

 

Good luck!

Answer 31

I don't know how you figured that out, but THANKS! That solved my problem.

Answer 32

Folks on this forum can mostly help with developing media applications using Media Foundation. These audio issues should be reported at http://support.microsoft.com/ instead of this forum. The Microsoft support team might already have answers and should be able to help further on issues with audio hardware on Vista.

Answer 33

I have XP,I  donot have vista.

Answer 34

Folks on this forum can mostly help with developing media applications using Media Foundation. These audio issues should be reported at http://support.microsoft.com/ instead of this forum. The Microsoft support team might already have answers and should be able to help further on issues with audio hardware.

 

Answer 35

the solution is at the end of this thread:

http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=2155198&SiteID=1

 

basically, vista is...

Answer 36

I tried this and it didn't work. But while in the tabs i went to the advanced tab and changed the option form 24bit 48000 hz to 16bit 48000hz and it worked.

Not sure if this will help anyone else.

Answer 37

 

HOLY *** seriously i thought you were joking but it friggin worked!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! its always the dumbest little things that work i dont get it but ok it works! thank yoU!~!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i can now listen to freebird!

Answer 38

WOW! I'm in IT and I could not figure out this issue. Ive had problems with for about two weeks, reinstalled drivers and all that. I use a USB audio headset and purchased speakers. After the Windows update on the 9th, my sound died. I finally got my USB headset to work about 4 days ago with a reinstall of the drivers but when I switched to my speakers I could not get them to work. I've talked for countless hours to people from microsoft and HP and everyone was clueless. I CANT BELIEVE THAT YOUR WAY TO FIX THEM ACTUALLY WORKED AND NOW MY SPEAKERS WORK AGAIN!!! THANKS!!! WOW!!!

HOW DID YOU KNOW THAT?!!!

Answer 39

Microsoft Support team has nothing. Vista is well....to be nice...a terrible OS! Gary is my hero!

Answer 40

I managed to fix my sound, after a year! I've put the details of the fix on my blog, it might help somebody out

 

http://doogalbellend.blogspot.com/2007/12/solving-vista-to-play-test-tone-sound.html

 

Answer 41

I'm running Vista with onboard Realtek and a Creative SB XI-Fi. If i'm quick enough i can get audio working right after a restart. As soon as the audio stops it wont come back on. So if i want to use skype, or my slingbox, i have to restart, run it and leave it running as long as i want to use it. Really annoying, and the hotfix doesnt work either, it addresses a different issue of multiple instances of the same property in a dropdown box. I cant even pull down the dropdown box. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/930883

Answer 42

I have the same problem that started only recently. None of the fixes that are here worked for me. An extra point here is that my sound works when the logoin screen is shown. It is when I log in that the sound is shut down somehow. I did collect the log file (AudioSrv.Evm.001). Is there anyone I can send it to to read, and help me figure out what the problem is???

Answer 43

I lost hours and hours on this. Tried everything. This is the only thing that worked. Thank you so much.

Answer 44

I also have this problem and need help.

I am unble to get sound from my laptop. Never had this problem in the past. Sound icon dislays a mute status. I am unable to unmute despite several attempts to locate the unmute botton.Volume mixer can not be displayed to adjust the sound.  When I right click on the sound icon, I get the following: volume sound mixer (which does not give me access), playback devices, recording devices,sound. The last three indicate "no audio output device installed. I tried updating device drivers on the sound and message indicates update successful.

Answer 45

I signed up just to reply that this was the best solution.  Thanks!!

Answer 46

 

this really helps

thanks dude

Answer 47

garyd11 wrote:

I had the exact same problem and here is the fix.  You're not going to believe it!   1 Go to control panel 2. Double-Click on the Sound Icon 3. Single-click the Speakers to highlight them 4. Click on Properties (bottom right corner) 5. Go to the Enhancements Tab and Click on it 6. Now click "Disable All Sound Effects" 7. Click OK and you should be good to go!   Good luck!

 

this is the solution to my problem

Answer 48

garyd11 wrote:

I had the exact same problem and here is the fix.  You're not going to believe it!   1 Go to control panel 2. Double-Click on the Sound Icon 3. Single-click the Speakers to highlight them 4. Click on Properties (bottom right corner) 5. Go to the Enhancements Tab and Click on it 6. Now click "Disable All Sound Effects" 7. Click OK and you should be good to go!   Good luck!

I had to join this forum just to thank this guy, because this solution actually works. I have no idea how you figured it out, but you are amazing! Thank you so much *____*;;

Answer 49

I was having the same issue.  I tried the above solution, and that didn't work either.  I searched all over the place for an answer.  I was about ready to give up when I stumbled across a thread that said to delete a registry key to fix the issue.  I'm usually pretty hesitant to screw around in the registry, but my next option was a restore to my previous backup. (Ugh!)  So I tried it.  It worked for me!  I am happily jammin' to my tunes!  If all else fails, try this.  Delete this key from your registry: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Ole\DefaultAccessPermission

 

Let me know how this works for you.  If it helps, spread the word.  A lot of people are experiancing this problem.

 

Lurmis

Answer 50

Lurmis wrote:

I was having the same issue.  I tried the above solution, and that didn't work either.  I searched all over the place for an answer.  I was about ready to give up when I stumbled across a thread that said to delete a registry key to fix the issue.  I'm usually pretty hesitant to screw around in the registry, but my next option was a restore to my previous backup. (Ugh!)  So I tried it.  It worked for me!  I am happily jammin' to my tunes!  If all else fails, try this.  Delete this key from your registry: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Ole\DefaultAccessPermission   Let me know how this works for you.  If it helps, spread the word.  A lot of people are experiancing this problem.   Lurmis

Yeah, that solution doesn't work for me now. I've tried what you suggested and I find no "DefaultAccessPermission" file, I see a "DefaultLaunchPermission", but that's it.
I'm about to reinstall drivers now to see if that works.. but someone please help me ._.;;

Answer 51

This finally worked.  I was looking for help from Microsoft support, HP support, Realtek support.  Nobody is able to help.  I have downloaded and deleted many drivers, for two weeks i am doing all the stupidity the support not knowledgeable people asked me to do.  Finally I got your post. It WORKED!  THANK YOU!