Computer won't make sound.

Lately, my laptop, old thing that it is, has been encountering some "Win 32" error or something like that at startup, and telling me it needs to close. It has been doing this for about 3 days. Today, it is being selective about what noises my cpu makes. Error messages and stuff still make the "DUN" noise and it still makes noises at startup and shutdown, but things like Youtube videos and that little clicking noise it makes when you navigate from one page to another on the internet are completely silent.

Did you check your volume options in the bottom right corner? You also might need to go into BIOS and configure your sound, I don't know if you have a sound card or use onboard from your motherboard or what, but that might be it. Your BIOS battery might be dying and it reset you to defaults.

If you're getting "Win32 errors" then your computer is fucked. Save whatever data you can to a backup device and reinstall your OS.

By sounds you hear when it starts up, do you mean sounds like beeping or the Windows start-up, or just the mechanical running noises?

Edit: Nevermind, I got ninja'd by people who know more than me.

edited 23rd Jan '11 12:39:32 PM by TotemicHero

Volume setting is fine. I am clueless when it comes to computer hardware/software, and didn't understand a word of the rest of it.

Why? Should I provide a picture of the actual message?

I can hear the little start-up "tune" and the beeps. The things that aren't making sound are things like youtube videos and the clicking sound it makes when the computer navigates from one internet page to another.

edited 23rd Jan '11 12:41:53 PM by Anomalocaris20

Alright, most other things are making noise. It's anything internet-related that's silent. Internet Explorer seems to be messed up in general by this. The bar at the very top looks odd and the toolbar sometimes becomes pitch-black.

Here is a picture of the top bars of Internet explorer. The green coloration is normal for my computer. Note that the edges of the green bar are no longer "soft". Also note that the top-right buttons are grey and plain looking, different from normal. Also note the lack of any tab keeping. I had to shrink it and cut it in half, but here it is:

edited 23rd Jan '11 3:58:14 PM by Anomalocaris20

Which OS is it, and do you have the install disk?

OS means Operating System? I don't know which it is. I'm completely inept when it comes to working a computer, to be honest.

I have encountered a new development; It isn't an internet thing. I tried to see if Spider Solitaire would make noise, and it doesn't. The weird internet toolbar thing is fixed. The only sounds my computer makes are error message sounds, and for some reason clicking on things in the Control Panel makes the clicking noise.

Ahh! Glorious sound! I think I've fixed it. System restore hadn't worked. Nor had clearing all temporary internet files... or so I thought! I decided to restart my computer post-file-clearing, and now I have sound! Let's see if this holds...

Right click on "my computer" and select "properties"

It's Microsoft Windows XP

But that doesn't matter because it works!

It came back. The message is "Generic Host Process for Win32 Services has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience."

I simply ignored the message instead of clicking on Okay, and the sound is fine. I noticed that my personal message box aggravated it for some reason... Could this have something to do with it?

You could try this, but sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

I got rid of it again. This time I cleared out my PM box, too, just to be safe. I might try that if it shows its ugly head again.

It comes back pretty often. The Microsoft thing didn't fix it as far as I know. I might need to system restore to a while ago, since what I thought was sufficient didn't rid me of it.

Okay, dude, next time you have a problem, don't ask for advice if you're not going to listen to it.

Sorry. I thought it was gone, and it came back. I tried the fix and it didn't work. Sometimes it makes sound, but the bars at the top are still messed up. Less of a major problem and more of an inconvenience now.

My computer had this same problem a while back. I found out it was spyware and I had to reformat. Are you able to access Windows Update? If you can, then it's probably not spyware.

How do I access that? I've had a suspicion this was a virus or something...

Just go to the Microsoft website. It should be easy to find. Or Start —> Windows Update. If you can't get to it, there will be an error message. That specific code probably will not show up if you look for it in Support.

I can access the site. Should I click the Express button to test/fix this?

Go ahead, I guess. Do you have an antivirus program, by the way?

Yes. Norton. But things can slip by it, I'm sure. In fact, there have been 5 dormant viri on my computer for years that it won't delete, for some reason. Every time it scans they show up, but it can't get rid of them. But they've been around for far longer than this predicament. I will try the update now.

Norton? I wouldn't trust a program known to try to delete itself. While you're on the Microsoft site, download Security Essentials. Another sign of spyware is if they report an error while trying to update.