Troubleshooting Portable System Sound Difficulties in Windows^® 95

Possible causes:

• The external volume control is turned down.
• The volume is turned down or muted in the mixer utility.
• The music or sound file is corrupt.
• Not all the necessary multimedia drivers are installed.
• There is a conflict between the sound card and another device in the system.
• The sound card is not set up correctly within the application.
• The sound card is disabled in CMOS.

Basic sound troubleshooting:

Check the speaker - This may be caused by the internal speakers on the portable malfunctioning. If available, try a set of stereo headphones or set of speakers in the speaker outlet jack, or line out jack of the portable to listen for sound. When you plug in external headphones or speakers, this disables the internal speakers. Check the Userís Guide that came with the portable system for the correct jack and speaker type to plug into the computer.

Enable sound and the external volume level control - If the speaker is disabled in CMOS or the Main Menu Setup, no sound is heard in any application. Refer to the portable systemís Userís Guide for instructions on entering CMOS and enabling sound. The Userís Guide also contains information about external volume control, if your portable contains that feature. If the portable is capable of controlling external volume, adjust accordingly.

Check the volume level - If the volume level for the sound is turned down or muted, no sound is heard in Windows 95 or other applications. Make sure the volume on the speakers, or internally on the system, is turned up about half way during troubleshooting. To check the volume settings within Windows 95, click the Start button in the lower left hand corner of the screen. Click the word Accessories, then click Multimedia. Click Volume Control to open it.

If Volume Control is not listed beside the Multimedia menu, click the Start button in the lower left hand corner of the screen. Click the word Settings, then click Control Panel. In the Control Panel window, double click the Add/Remove Programs icon. Across the top of this window are three tabs: Install/Uninstall, Windows Setup, and Startup Disk. Click the Windows Setup tab. At the top is a Components: window. Scroll through this list to find Multimedia. Click to highlight Multimedia. In the lower right side of the Description: section, click the Details button. The Multimedia window appears. Scroll to the bottom of the Components: window. Click to highlight Volume Control and make sure there is a check in the box to the right. Click the OK button at the bottom of this window. Click the OK button at the bottom of the Windows Setup window to close it. If you are prompted for a disk, insert the Windows 95 CD disc in the drive and click OK. Follow the above instructions to open the Volume Control.

The Volume Control window is displayed on the screen. Across the screen are five individual volume controls: Volume Control, Mic/Line, CD/Aux, Wave, and Synthesizer. Make sure all these levels are at least half way up and none of the Mute or the Mute All selections are checked.

If all the Volume Controls are not on the screen, click the word Options in the upper right hand corner of this window. Click the word Properties on this menu. In the Show the following volume controls: section at the bottom of the screen, make sure there is a check beside Volume Control, Mic/ Line, CD/Aux, Wave, and Synthesizer. Once any changes are made, click the OK button at the bottom of the screen to return to the Volume Control window. Follow the above instructions to check the volume settings in Windows 95.

Resolving sound difficulties:

This section assumes all volume levels in Windows 95 and the speakers are working correctly. Make sure the speakers are working and the external volume is turned up at least half way.

No sound exiting or entering Windows 95 - Windows 95, by default, plays *.WAV files when you enter and exit the program. If these files are corrupt or changed, you may not hear any sounds exiting or entering Windows 95. To check these settings, click the Start button in the lower left hand corner of the screen. Click the word Settings, then double click the Control Panel to open it. Double click the Sound icon to open the Sound Properties window. Use the scroll bar on the right hand side to view the contents of the Events: window. There should be speaker icons beside different events such as Exit Windows and Start Windows. The speaker indicates a sound is associated with this activity. To hear the associated *.WAV sound, click the event to highlight it. In the Sound area of this window the Name: of the file is displayed on the left hand side.

If there are no speaker icons beside the window's events, at the bottom of the Sound Properties window, locate the Scheme: box. Click the down arrow beside the window. Highlight Windows Default. If a message appears asking you to save the current scheme, click the No button. Note: If you know you created a custom sound scheme, click the Yes button to save the scheme. There should be sound icons beside all the default window's settings.

On the right hand side of the screen, the Preview: window displays the icon for the sound. The two buttons to the right of the Preview screen allow you to hear the sound. Click the button pointing to the right to play the file. Click the button with the square in it to stop the sound. Click the OK button at the bottom of the screen to close this window. Click the X in the upper right hand corner of the Control Panel window to close it. Click the Start button in the lower left hand corner of the screen. Click the Shut Down option on this window. The Shut Down Windows screen appears. Click the Restart the computer? option. You should hear sounds entering Windows 95.

Problems Playing MIDI Files - ColorBook 2 computers with a serial number of 950400013 or before are not capable of playing MIDI files. If you are having difficulties playing MIDI files, make sure the file that you are attempting to play is not corrupt. Try playing one of the Windows 95 MIDI files. These MIDI files are located in the C:\WINDOWS\MEDIA folders. The icons for MIDI files have notes beside the file name. Windows 95 uses the extension *.RMI to identify MIDI files, while Windows 3.x uses the extension *.MID to identify these files.

If no MIDI files play, the drivers for the MIDI Sequencer are corrupt or not installed. To reinstall these drivers, click the Start button in the lower right hand corner of the screen. Click the word Settings, then double click the Control Panel to open it. Double click the Add New Hardware icon to open it. The Add New Hardware Wizard window appears. Click the Next button to continue. The next screen prompts you to let Windows 95 detect the new hardware. Click the mouse on No, then click the Next button at the bottom of the screen to continue. In the Hardware types: box in the center of the window, use the scroll bar on the right hand side to locate Sound, video and game controllers. Click once on this to highlight it, then click the Next button at the bottom of the screen. In the Manufacturers: box on the left hand side of the window, use the scroll bar to highlight Microsoft MCI. In the Models: box on the right hand side of the window, highlight MIDI Sequencer Device (Media Control). Click the Next button to continue. On the final window, click the Finish button. If prompted for the Window 95 CD, insert it in the CD-ROM drive and click the OK button. The System Settings Change windows appears on the screen prompting you to restart the computer. Click the Yes button to restart the computer. You should now be able to play MIDI sounds.

Problems Playing Audio CDs - If the audio CD you are trying to play is incorrectly formatted or scratched, you will not be able to play the CD or hear any sound from the CD. Make sure the CD is the correct format. Wipe the CD disc with a clean, dry, lint-free cloth. If the CD disc is badly scratched, it will not play correctly. Try a different audio CD to verify that the problem is not with only one CD disc.

If the CD-ROM drive is not recognized or the proper drivers are not installed, audio CDs will not play correctly and may not play at all. To make sure the CD-ROM drive is recognized in Windows 95, right click the My Computer icon in the upper right hand corner of the screen. Click the word Open on the menu that appears. The My Computer window appears on the screen. There should be an icon present for the floppy drive(s), hard drive(s), Control Panel, Printers, and the CD-ROM drive. If there is no icon present for the CD-ROM drive, you will need to let Windows 95 install the drive. Consult the Userís Guide that came with the Portable system for installation instructions. If the CD-ROM drive icon is present, click the X in the upper right hand corner of the window to return to the Windows 95 desktop.

To check the settings for music CDs in Windows 95, click the Start button in the lower left hand corner of the screen. Click the word Settings, then double click the Control Panel to open it. Double click the Multimedia icon to open the Multimedia Properties window. Across the top of the screen are five tabs: Audio, Video, MIDI, CD Music, and Advanced. Click the CD Music tab to open it. Make sure the CD-ROM drive: is set to D: and the Headphone: setting slide bar is set to High. Click the OK button at the bottom of the window. If the CD Player is active, close and restart it for the changes to take effect.

If the CD Music tab is not present, click the Start button in the lower left hand corner of the screen. Click the word Settings, then double click the Control Panel to open it. Double click the Add/Remove Programs icon to open it. Across the top of this window are three tabs: Install/Uninstall, Windows Setup, and Startup Disk. Click the Windows Setup tab to open the screen. Use the scroll bar on the right hand side of the Components: window to find Multimedia. Click once on Multimedia to highlight it. Click on the Details button on the lower right hand side of the screen. The Multimedia window appears. Use the scroll bar to locate CD Player and make sure there is a check beside it. Click OK on this screen. Click OK at the bottom of the Add/Remove Programs Properties window. If prompted for the Windows 95 CD-ROM, insert the Windows 95 CD in the CD-ROM drive and click OK to continue. Follow the above steps to check the CD Music settings again.

No sound in specific applications - If the lack of sound is in only one particular application, make sure that the correct sound card type is selected. Make sure the application is correctly locating the sound card. With the Gateway Solo system, and the Gateway Solo 2100 system, check the CMOS for applicable I/O port addresses, MIDI address, and IRQ settings. On the ColorBook2 computer, the settings are I/O 220, IRQ 5, DMA 3, and cannot be changed.

Newly added hardware - If you recently added a new hardware device to the system such as a modem, scanner, etc., check to see if the new device is conflicting with the sound card. To check these settings, right click on My Computer from the pulldown menu choose Properties. The System Properties screen appears with four tabs across the top: General, Device Manager, Hardware Profiles, and Performance. Click on the Device Manager tab, under Sound, video and game controllers, check for hardware conflicts with the sound card and verify the system has a sound chip recognized without a red X. Remove the newly added device to see if the sound functions properly. If the sound starts working correctly, contact the manufacturer for assistance configuring the device.

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