re: Problems in WIN 98SE
Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 12:04 am
Windows 98 Annoyances Discussion Forum
Posted by Ed
(741 messages posted)
In case it helps, the file CWPROPS.CPL is a control panel applet for a SoundFusion
sound system, so its absence is merely an aspect of your sound problem.
What you have is essentially just a sound fault.
Here are some suggestions for curing a lack of sound. Try them one by one, in
the order listed, moving on to the next ONLY if the earlier ones haven't solved
the problem.
These represent the most common problems, in my experience. No doubt there are others.
This represents the result of 9 years of my troubleshooting sound faults in Win 9x
computers.
Note: A lack of sound is never a fatal problem, because it can always be cured -
in the last resort - by buying and installing an add-on PCI Sound Card (one that
is sold with Windows 98 drivers!), which will come with all the necessary replacement
software.
1. REVERT TO A REGISTRY BACKUP (if you have one)
Boot to DOS (restart in DOS mode, or use a bootable floppy disk from http://www.bootdisk.com) and type the following at the C:\ prompt
-
SCANREG /RESTORE
Note the space before the forward slash in this command.
Follow the on-screen instructions, and try to restore the *oldest* backup of the
registry (they're listed by date) as that's the one with the best chance of being
from before the problem arose.
By default Windows keeps 5 backup copies of the Windows Registry in C:\Windows\SYSBCKUP
as .CAB files, one per day, so that (theoretically) you can go back to before the
problem arose. (I always keep a copy of at least one known working backup .CAB file
on my Desktop, that I can copy it back into C:\Windows\SYSBCKUP in an emergency).
When the on-screen message tells you that the registry has been successfully restored,
restart the computer normally.
2. RE-INSTALL THE DRIVERS
If the above hasn't solved the problem, try reinstalling the sound drivers from the
original audio software CDs.
3. DELETE THE SOUNDCARD IN DEVICE MANAGER
If the above hasn't solved the problem, try having Windows re-detect the software
drivers, by deleting the soundcard in Device Manager. Go to:
Start > Settings > Control Panel > System > Device Manager
and highlight the device, then click Remove. Then reboot the computer. Point the
Plug-and-PLay wizard to the location of the drivers on the original software disk
(A: disk or CD) if the wizard can't find them on the hard disk.
Or try pointing the wizard to these locations (try each in turn):
C:\Windows
C:\Windows\INF
C:\Windows\System
C:\Windows\System\IOSUBSYS
C:\Windows\System32\Drivers
4. A MISSING SOUND FILE
Symptom: An error message that "The file 'sndvol32.cnt' was not found" (or some other
file belonging to the audio sub-system).
Solution:
Restore the missing file (i.e. each missing file, one at a time), by copying it from
a Windows installation CD or from one of the compresed .CAB (cabinet) files in C:\WINDOWS\OPTIONS\CAB
The standard unzip program WinZip.exe will open a .CAB file so that you can view
its contents and manually extract a file from it.
5. AN ERROR IN THE BIOS
Solution:
(1) In the BIOS (reboot, and press DEL during the powering-up sequence) change the
setting 'pnp OS controlled' (or similar setting) to NO, to let the BIOS set the devices
instead of the operating system.
(2) Change the 'reset config' option (or similar) in the BIOS to "enabled", to let
the BIOS look again at the device configuration.
(3) Reboot.
NB: This lets the BIOS control the devices (including sound devices) on boot-up,
instead of the Windows plug-and-play wizard, but ONLY on systems which have this
option in the BIOS program.
6. AN ERROR IN SYSTEM.INI
Solution 1:
In the [boot] section of SYSTEM.INI check that the following 2 lines are correct
as follows:
drivers=mmsystem.dll power.drv
sound.drv=mmsound.drv
Solution 2:
Obtain a standard SYSTEM.INI file (without 3rd party drivers) from http://support.microsoft.com/kb/140441/EN-US/
Solution 3:
(1) In the [boot] section of SYSTEM.INI, add the following line:
sound.drv=mmsound.drv
(2) Reboot to SAFE MODE (press F5 during power-up), then go to:
Start > Settings > Control Panel > System > Device Manager
and delete every entry under "SOUND, VIDEO and GAME CONTROLLERS"
(3) Reboot. (Provided you have the correct drivers on your hard disk,
this reboot will rebuild the "Sound, Video and Game Controllers"
section back to normal, if the above sound.drv line is in
SYSTEM.INI)
NB: SYSTEM.INI is located at C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM.INI
NB: To edit SYSTEM.INI go to START > RUN and type SYSEDIT then click on "Okay".
7. AN ERROR IN WIN.INI
Windows sound drivers are sometimes loaded by the Win.ini file, in the "load=" line
in the [windows] section.
If you have an old copy of WIN.INI check it to see if a sound driver is loaded by
that line. If so, check that the active copy of WIN.INI has the same line.
Loading the audio driver in Win.ini is all that is required to force Windows to recognise
it.
NB: WIN.INI is located at C:\WINDOWS\WIN.INI
NB: To edit WIN.INI go to START > RUN and type SYSEDIT then click on "Okay".
8. A DEVICE DRIVER CONFLICT
Symptom:
An exclamation mark or question mark is displayed against the device
in Device Manager (Start > Settings > Control Panel > System).
Solution 1:
Restart the computer, then go to the start-up menu (by pressing F8 during the powering-up
sequence) and there select the option "Step-by-step confirmation". Start each device,
when offered it, EXCEPT the faulty device (i.e. say NO to that device only).
NB: This is only a work-around, as it must be done every time the computer is started.
Solution 2:
(1) Reboot into Safe Mode (press F5 during power-up)
(2) Remove Multimedia from Windows Setup:
- Go to: Start > Settings > Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs
- Choose the Windows Setup tab
- In the list of installed components, uncheck "Multimedia"
and click "Apply"; once the files are uninstalled click "OK"
(3) Remove and reinstall the sound drivers:
- Right-click on "My Computer" and choose "properties"
- Choose the "Device Manger" tab
- Click on the plus sign beside "Sound, Video and Game Controllers"
and remove all items under this category (select the item and
click "Remove")
Note: You have to click the plus sign beside "Sound, Video and
Game Controllers" again each time to re-open the category
- Once all items have been removed and "Sound, Video and Game
Controllers" no longer appears in the list, click "Close"
(4) Reboot. As Windows reboots it will redetect the sound card and
reinstall the drivers and multimedia components (NB: You may
need your driver disks and Windows installation disks; and
you will almost certainly need to apply the next step, below, too!)
9. NO AUDIO DRIVERS INSTALLED
Symptoms:
(1) An error message (including "no audio drivers installed") is
displayed when trying to play a sound file in Winamp; or
(2) The error message "MMSYSTEM032 error: The specified format
cannot be translated or supported" is displayed when trying
to play a format of audio file (e.g. WAV or MP3 format).
Solution 1:
A. Go to the website of the manufacturer of the Chipset used on the motherboard,
and download the driver files for that specific chipset.
NB: For this, obtain the make and model of the motherboard (as below)
and download a manual for the motherboard from the website of
its manufacturer, which will give the m/board's specification
(including the type of chipset used on it).
NB: This information is sometimes available in the Device Manager
(where the chipset is described as, for example, "Intel xxxxxxx Controller"):
Start > Settings > Control Panel > System > Device Manager
NB: If it is an Intel chipset, the website of Intel (for Intel audio chipsets for
Desktop PCs) is:
http://support.intel.com/support/motherboards/desktop/
B. Go to the website of the Motherboard manufacturer, and download the driver files
for the type of controller chip that's installed on the motherboard.
NB: For this, you need to know the make and model number of the motherboard. Open
the computer's case, and read the model number printed on the motherboard.
Solution 2:
Right-click on, and install, all the INF files in C:\WINDOWS\INF
Solution 3:
Install the WDM (Windows Driver Model), to install - or reinstall - the WDM generic
sound drivers.
NB: The fault can be due to booting into Safe Mode and removing the sound drivers
from device manager, because they showed up as "ghost" devices (e.g. while trying
to overcome other device driver problems).
General Note on Rebooting:
If rebooting a system that uses a Sound Card instead of on-board audio, make sure
the Sound Card is plugged in before rebooting; otherwise the computer will not detect
it or configure its settings.
10. WDM (Windows Driver Model) Trick
If (but ONLY if) the above hasn't cured the fault, the problem may be that a device
which is necessary for the sound drivers to work properly is not installed (EVEN
if Device Manager says the sound device IS working properly!)
Boot to SAFE mode. Then open the Device Manager and remove all Multimedia Sound and
Video devices. Also remove any other device that didn't load correctly during the
last normal boot (e.g. that has an exclamation mark against it in Device Manager).
Look specifically for a device called the "Plug and Play Software Device Enumerator".
This is the device which is usually missing, but
having more than one instance of it can also cause problems. Remove it (or ALL of
them), if present.
Reboot the computer. Be sure to choose CANCEL when you are prompted to locate the
drivers for the "PCI Multimedia Audio Device". (This is the actual sound device,
but you must install the "Plug and Play Software Device Enumerator" before installing
it, so choose CANCEL.)
But load all other devices (if any) that the boot-time wizard wants to reinstall.
Then reboot. Keep rebooting until the only device found on bootup is the "PCI Multimedia
Audio Device" (but, as before, choose CANCEL when offered it, every time: don't install
it yet).
Then go to START > SETTINGS > CONTROL PANEL and open the "Add/Remove hardware" wizard.
With it, manually add the device called "Plug and Play Software Device Enumerator",
which you'll find in the Microsoft group (in Windows 98 it should be the only one
listed there). Install it. Then, even though not prompted to, reboot (to let the
driver load correctly and fresh).
On this reboot, you can now (finally!) install the driver files for the "PC Multimedia
Audio Device" when prompted. Your original Windows CD would be helpful here: in my
case I'd always been loading the WDM (Windows Driver Model) version of the audio
drivers, but I found that the non-WDM version was the one that worked, so look for
that driver and load it (identifiable from the fact that it WON'T have "(WDM)" listed
as part of the "pretty name" of the driver).
As soon as the sound driver loads, you should hear sound. If not, reboot once it's
completed loading.
Ed
On Thursday, December 24, 2009 at 11:03 am, Dave A. wrote:
>These are my problems:
>
>1. Crystal Fusion Sound is lost from new motherboard installed at the shop last
year
>in December. I downloaded something from Cirrus web site and when I tried installing,
>it gave this error: "The NTKERN.VXD device loader(s) for this device could not load
>the device driver. (Code 2)". When I clicked on Update, I got this: "Windows was
>unable to locate a driver for this device." That comes even with the CD-ROM in
the
>bay or if Windows looks in the default location of C:\Program Files. How can a
virus
>affect the CD-ROM disk itself?
>
>2. I can't fully re-install WIN 98SE from CD-ROM disk because of many, many files
>missing that Windows says it can't find (to proceed).
>
>3. Currently, on boot up, a small dialogue box appears on the desktop that says:
>"Error loading CWPROPS.CPL. The system cannot find the file specified." I eX the
>box away and the computer operates normally.
>
>4. When I try adding those missing files from Add/Remove Programs/Windows Setup,
>and the WIN 98SE is in the CD-ROM bay, I get more error messages saying (a certain)
>file is missing. There are dozens of files Windows can't find on the CD-ROM disk.
>
>Luckily, no damage was done to all the other programs that are operating normally,
>including surfing the Net. But what happened?
>
>Also, my Cookie Jar disappeared and I can't re-install it because clicking on the
>.exe file that I saved gives this error message: "Run-time error 429. ActiveX component
>can't creat object."
>
>There is another absolutely mysterious fault from all these errors that I can't
figure
>out. In My Documents, I have over 600 .doc files and 104 folders with more .doc
>files. But only one .doc file doesn't open properly, it's frozen. I'm a writer.
> That frozen file is a 380 page novel. I have a few more novels of that length
that
>open normally that I can edit, etc. Fortunately, I found that I can use that corrputed
>file if I open it in Preview.
>
>So, with all these errors, I'm just wondering if a virus infected the hard drive
>or if the motherboard is defective. I want to figure this thing out before I take
>the computer to an expensive repair shop.
>
>Any information from you good people would be a Christmas gift for me. So thanks
>for reading this. Best wishes for the Season.
>
- Written in response to:
- Problems in WIN 98SE (Dave A.: Thursday, December 24, 2009 at 11:03 am)
There are presently no replies to this message.
|
|
All messages in this thread [show all]
 |  | | | | | | | | | |  | ps.... (C K: Sun, Dec 27, 2009, 11:05 am) |
|  | re: Problems in WIN 98SE (Ed: Wed, Jan 6, 2010, 12:04 am) |
| |
| |
| |
Return to the Windows 98 Discussion Forum
|
|
