surwin
asked on
Win 95 startup problem
I have recently reloaded Win 95, to help solve a network problem. After reinstalling
and running through the "Running Windows for the first time" the next boot gives me
the error message "Error loading mmsound.drv You must reload Windows."
I have done so 20 times each under different circumstances and always the same
error. I have taken out a expansion cards. Renamed the system and win.ini, deleted
mmsound.drv and copied a new one in. The only success was to copy Windows to a
new subdirectory. But with all the programs that I have loaded DOS and Win, that option
is not really a viable one. HELP!!! This problem is 3 weeks old and I am at my wit's
end.
and running through the "Running Windows for the first time" the next boot gives me
the error message "Error loading mmsound.drv You must reload Windows."
I have done so 20 times each under different circumstances and always the same
error. I have taken out a expansion cards. Renamed the system and win.ini, deleted
mmsound.drv and copied a new one in. The only success was to copy Windows to a
new subdirectory. But with all the programs that I have loaded DOS and Win, that option
is not really a viable one. HELP!!! This problem is 3 weeks old and I am at my wit's
end.
edit the registry and find any keys to the mmsound.drv and delete them then reload your sound drivers. If that doesn't fix the problem try this:
This will Alow your dos programs to still work but most of the windows ones will not:
in dos delete the windows registry like this:
c:\windows\attrib -r -s -h user.dat <enter>
c:\windows\attrib -r -s -h user.da0 <enter>
c:\windows\attrib -r -s -h system.dat <enter>
c:\windows\attrib -r -s -h system.da0 <enter>
then delete the user.dat,user.da0,system.d
This will Alow your dos programs to still work but most of the windows ones will not:
in dos delete the windows registry like this:
c:\windows\attrib -r -s -h user.dat <enter>
c:\windows\attrib -r -s -h user.da0 <enter>
c:\windows\attrib -r -s -h system.dat <enter>
c:\windows\attrib -r -s -h system.da0 <enter>
then delete the user.dat,user.da0,system.d
Have you tried setting the Bios to manual instead of plug and play?
Mike
Mike
Delete the sound device in system | devices and let 95 reinstall the
drivers. It would appear that you have different sound hardware.
lemme know
Bud
drivers. It would appear that you have different sound hardware.
lemme know
Bud
General MIDI Troubleshooting for Windows 95
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q138/3/14.asp
This article addresses general troubleshooting for MIDI problems in
Windows 95. If MIDI sounds do not play or error messages occur with
the MIDI configuration, use the information in this article to help
solve your problems.
MORE INFORMATION
To begin testing your MIDI performance, use Media Player as a
diagnostic tool.
Using Media Player
1. Click the Start button, point to Programs, point to
Accessories, point to Multimedia, and then click Media Player.
2. On the Device menu, click MIDI Sequencer.
NOTE: If MIDI Sequencer is not listed, the driver might not be
installed, or might be disabled. Refer to the section below to
determine if the driver has been installed correctly.
3. Double-click the file Canyon.mid, located in the Windows\Media
folder.
4. Click the Play button.
NOTE: The play button contains a triangle pointing to the
right. If no sounds are heard, see below.
Troubleshooting Steps
Work through the troubleshooting sections below to help correct
your MIDI problems. After each troubleshooting section, attempt to
play MIDI sounds. If the problem persists, move on to additional
MIDI troubleshooting tips.
Making Sure Sound Card is Properly Installed
1. Determine if the sound card can generate sounds. Windows 95
comes with sample sound files. If no sound can be played, the
sound card may not be installed correctly, or its drivers
might not be properly configured.
a. Run Media Player. Click Device.
b. Click Sound.
c. Double-click any .wav file.
NOTE: By default, Windows 95 does not display file extensions. For
information on how to view hidden file extensions, see Windows 95
online help.
d. Click the Play button.
NOTE: If vendor-supplied sound card drivers were furnished with
the sound card, contact the sound card manufacturer for technical
assistance.
2. Eliminate any sound card conflict with other hardware
installed on the system. Make sure no conflicts exist with:
- Base I/O Address
- IRQ
- DMA Channel Settings
To make sure hardware conflicts don't exist, do the following:
a. With your right mouse button, click the My Computer icon,
and then click Properties.
b. Click the Device Manager tab. Make sure View Devices By
Type is selected.
c. Double-click Sound, Video And Game Controllers.
NOTE: If you do not see Sound, Video And Game Controllers listed,
the Windows 3.x drivers may be loaded. Contact your sound card or
driver manufacturer for assistance.
d. Click the sound card driver, and then click Properties.
e. Click the Resources tab, and make sure no conflicts are
listed in
the Conflicting Device List.
NOTE: Any listed conflicts must be resolved. Use Windows 95 Help
to resolve hardware conflicts.
1) Run Windows 95 Help, and click the Index tab.
2) Type the word "conflicting" (without the quotation marks),
and the Help selection "Conflicting Hardware, Troubleshooting"
becomes the selected topic. 3) Click Display. 4) Follow the
Help instructions.
Sound File Appears to Play; No Sounds Are Heard
When sounds appear to play but no sounds are heard, the problem is
usually caused by one of the following:
* The speakers are not turned on or are incorrectly connected.
* The mixer control for MIDI is turned down.
* The MIDI Sequencer is not installed.
* The .idf file is corrupt or invalid.
Checking Speakers and Mixer Controls
1. Are any sounds heard when Windows starts? Do .wav files play
when using Media Player?
From the Media Player Device menu, click Sound, and then
attempt to play any file with a .wav extension.
NOTE: This test demonstrates properly installed speakers.
2. Check the Mixer settings.
For information on how to accomplish this task, see your sound
card user's guide for information about MIDI playback in
Windows. Most sound cards use individual controls for the
different types of sounds the card can play.
To check the Windows volume control, do the following:
a. Double-click the Speaker icon, located on the taskbar.
b. Make sure the volume is not turned down or set to Mute.
Verifying Installation of the MIDI Sequencer Driver
1. Click the Start button, point to Settings, and then click
Control Panel.
2. Double-click the Multimedia icon.
3. Click the Advanced tab. Double-click Media Control Devices.
Make sure the following are present:
- MIDI Sequencer Device (Media Control)
4. If the entry is listed, click it, and then click Properties.
5. Make sure the Use This Media Control Device option is
selected.
6. If the device driver is not installed, use the Windows Add New
Hardware wizard to install the Microsoft MCI MIDI Sequencer
component.
To add the device driver, do the following:
a. Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control
Panel.
b. Double-click Add New Hardware.
c. Click Next, and then click No. Click Next.
d. On the Hardware Types: list, click Sound, Video And Games
Controllers. Click Next.
e. On the Manufacturers List, click Microsoft MCI.
f. On the Models list, click MIDI Sequencer Device (Media
Control),
then click Next.
g. Click Finish, and restart your computer.
Checking the MIDI Configuration
1. Click Start, point to Settings, and click then click Control
Panel.
2. Double-click the Multimedia icon. If the Multimedia icon is
not present, no multimedia drivers are installed.
Correct the missing Multimedia icon by installing the drivers.
To install the device driver, use the Add/Remove Programs
wizard in the Control Panel.
3. Click the MIDI tab, and then click Custom Configuration.
NOTE: Make a note of the name listed in the "Midi Scheme" area
save the information.
4. Click Configure.
5. In the new MIDI Configuration dialog box, click Save As, and
then type a name in the Scheme name field. Click OK.
NOTE: You can use any name you want, such as "mymidi" or
"test."
6. Click a channel and then click Change. In the Instrument box,
click the down arrow button, and select the FM or Synth
driver, if listed.
Avoid selections containing the word OUT. For example, do not
use the following:
- MIDI Out
- FM Out
NOTE: The listed choices depend on the type of sound card
installed. Examples of listed items are:
- Voyetra OPL3 FM Synth - Media Vision
- Super Sapi Voyetra FM - Creative Labs Sound Blaster 16
7. If no selections are available in the Change MIDI Instrument
dialog box, see your sound card user's guide or contact the
sound card manufacturer. The sound card manufacturer is
responsible for installation and MIDI playback from within the
Windows environment.
Installing a New .idf File
Windows 95 uses General MIDI support. Windows 95 provides a
General.idf file to assign instruments to respective MIDI playback
channels.
If the .idf file is corrupt or invalid, a new General.idf file must
be obtained from the Windows 95 disks, or compact disc. Sound cards
using a different type of .idf file, require installation from the
sound card setup disks.
To manually extract the General.idf file from the Windows 95 disks
or compact disc, do the following:
1. Click the Start button, point to Shut Down, and then click
Restart the computer in MS-DOS mode option. Click Yes.
2. Copy and Rename the General.idf file in the Windows\Config
folder to
General.old
1. To extract the file, use the command below for your Windows
floppy disks or compact disc.
These instructions assume:
- Your Windows folder is C:\Windows
- Your CD-ROM drive is drive D
- Your 1.44 MB floppy disk drive is A
Windows 95 Floppy Disk ----------------------
Type the following at the MS-DOS command prompt and press
ENTER:
extract /a a:\win95_09.cab general.idf c:\windows\config
Windows 95 Compact Disc -----------------------
Type the following at the MS-DOS command prompt and press
ENTER:
extract /a d:\win95\win95_08.cab general.idf c:\windows\config
For more information on how to extract a file, see your
Windows printed documentation or online help.
Manually Checking for MIDI Driver Files, File Placement and
Modifications
1. The files listed should all reside in the C:\Windows\System
folder (where drive C is your hard drive and Windows is your
Windows folder).
The installed MIDI driver filename can vary depending upon the
sound card installed. For example, Media Vision sound cards
use the drivers:
- Opl3fm.drv
- Mvproaud.drv
while Creative Labs Sound Blaster sound cards use the drivers:
- sb16fm.drv - sb16aux.drv - sb16snd.drv
The following files are in the Windows folder.
Entries in System.ini
[boot]
sound.drv=mmsound.drv
drivers=mmsystem.dll
[drivers]
midimapper=midimap.drv
MIDI=opl3.drv *
[mci]
Sequencer=mciseq.drv
WaveAudio=mciwave.drv
Entries in Win.ini
[mci extensions]
mid=sequencer
Entries in Control.ini
[drivers.desc]
mciseq.drv=[MCI] MIDI Sequencer
sb16fm.drv=Voyetra / Sound Blaster SuperSAPI FM Driver
sb16aux.drv=Creative Sound Blaster 16 Auxiliary Audio
sb16snd.drv=Creative Sound Blaster 16 Wave and MIDI
[Userinstallable.drivers]
MIDI=sb16fe=sb16snd.drv
[related.desc]
MIDI=
Bud
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q138/3/14.asp
This article addresses general troubleshooting for MIDI problems in
Windows 95. If MIDI sounds do not play or error messages occur with
the MIDI configuration, use the information in this article to help
solve your problems.
MORE INFORMATION
To begin testing your MIDI performance, use Media Player as a
diagnostic tool.
Using Media Player
1. Click the Start button, point to Programs, point to
Accessories, point to Multimedia, and then click Media Player.
2. On the Device menu, click MIDI Sequencer.
NOTE: If MIDI Sequencer is not listed, the driver might not be
installed, or might be disabled. Refer to the section below to
determine if the driver has been installed correctly.
3. Double-click the file Canyon.mid, located in the Windows\Media
folder.
4. Click the Play button.
NOTE: The play button contains a triangle pointing to the
right. If no sounds are heard, see below.
Troubleshooting Steps
Work through the troubleshooting sections below to help correct
your MIDI problems. After each troubleshooting section, attempt to
play MIDI sounds. If the problem persists, move on to additional
MIDI troubleshooting tips.
Making Sure Sound Card is Properly Installed
1. Determine if the sound card can generate sounds. Windows 95
comes with sample sound files. If no sound can be played, the
sound card may not be installed correctly, or its drivers
might not be properly configured.
a. Run Media Player. Click Device.
b. Click Sound.
c. Double-click any .wav file.
NOTE: By default, Windows 95 does not display file extensions. For
information on how to view hidden file extensions, see Windows 95
online help.
d. Click the Play button.
NOTE: If vendor-supplied sound card drivers were furnished with
the sound card, contact the sound card manufacturer for technical
assistance.
2. Eliminate any sound card conflict with other hardware
installed on the system. Make sure no conflicts exist with:
- Base I/O Address
- IRQ
- DMA Channel Settings
To make sure hardware conflicts don't exist, do the following:
a. With your right mouse button, click the My Computer icon,
and then click Properties.
b. Click the Device Manager tab. Make sure View Devices By
Type is selected.
c. Double-click Sound, Video And Game Controllers.
NOTE: If you do not see Sound, Video And Game Controllers listed,
the Windows 3.x drivers may be loaded. Contact your sound card or
driver manufacturer for assistance.
d. Click the sound card driver, and then click Properties.
e. Click the Resources tab, and make sure no conflicts are
listed in
the Conflicting Device List.
NOTE: Any listed conflicts must be resolved. Use Windows 95 Help
to resolve hardware conflicts.
1) Run Windows 95 Help, and click the Index tab.
2) Type the word "conflicting" (without the quotation marks),
and the Help selection "Conflicting Hardware, Troubleshooting"
becomes the selected topic. 3) Click Display. 4) Follow the
Help instructions.
Sound File Appears to Play; No Sounds Are Heard
When sounds appear to play but no sounds are heard, the problem is
usually caused by one of the following:
* The speakers are not turned on or are incorrectly connected.
* The mixer control for MIDI is turned down.
* The MIDI Sequencer is not installed.
* The .idf file is corrupt or invalid.
Checking Speakers and Mixer Controls
1. Are any sounds heard when Windows starts? Do .wav files play
when using Media Player?
From the Media Player Device menu, click Sound, and then
attempt to play any file with a .wav extension.
NOTE: This test demonstrates properly installed speakers.
2. Check the Mixer settings.
For information on how to accomplish this task, see your sound
card user's guide for information about MIDI playback in
Windows. Most sound cards use individual controls for the
different types of sounds the card can play.
To check the Windows volume control, do the following:
a. Double-click the Speaker icon, located on the taskbar.
b. Make sure the volume is not turned down or set to Mute.
Verifying Installation of the MIDI Sequencer Driver
1. Click the Start button, point to Settings, and then click
Control Panel.
2. Double-click the Multimedia icon.
3. Click the Advanced tab. Double-click Media Control Devices.
Make sure the following are present:
- MIDI Sequencer Device (Media Control)
4. If the entry is listed, click it, and then click Properties.
5. Make sure the Use This Media Control Device option is
selected.
6. If the device driver is not installed, use the Windows Add New
Hardware wizard to install the Microsoft MCI MIDI Sequencer
component.
To add the device driver, do the following:
a. Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control
Panel.
b. Double-click Add New Hardware.
c. Click Next, and then click No. Click Next.
d. On the Hardware Types: list, click Sound, Video And Games
Controllers. Click Next.
e. On the Manufacturers List, click Microsoft MCI.
f. On the Models list, click MIDI Sequencer Device (Media
Control),
then click Next.
g. Click Finish, and restart your computer.
Checking the MIDI Configuration
1. Click Start, point to Settings, and click then click Control
Panel.
2. Double-click the Multimedia icon. If the Multimedia icon is
not present, no multimedia drivers are installed.
Correct the missing Multimedia icon by installing the drivers.
To install the device driver, use the Add/Remove Programs
wizard in the Control Panel.
3. Click the MIDI tab, and then click Custom Configuration.
NOTE: Make a note of the name listed in the "Midi Scheme" area
save the information.
4. Click Configure.
5. In the new MIDI Configuration dialog box, click Save As, and
then type a name in the Scheme name field. Click OK.
NOTE: You can use any name you want, such as "mymidi" or
"test."
6. Click a channel and then click Change. In the Instrument box,
click the down arrow button, and select the FM or Synth
driver, if listed.
Avoid selections containing the word OUT. For example, do not
use the following:
- MIDI Out
- FM Out
NOTE: The listed choices depend on the type of sound card
installed. Examples of listed items are:
- Voyetra OPL3 FM Synth - Media Vision
- Super Sapi Voyetra FM - Creative Labs Sound Blaster 16
7. If no selections are available in the Change MIDI Instrument
dialog box, see your sound card user's guide or contact the
sound card manufacturer. The sound card manufacturer is
responsible for installation and MIDI playback from within the
Windows environment.
Installing a New .idf File
Windows 95 uses General MIDI support. Windows 95 provides a
General.idf file to assign instruments to respective MIDI playback
channels.
If the .idf file is corrupt or invalid, a new General.idf file must
be obtained from the Windows 95 disks, or compact disc. Sound cards
using a different type of .idf file, require installation from the
sound card setup disks.
To manually extract the General.idf file from the Windows 95 disks
or compact disc, do the following:
1. Click the Start button, point to Shut Down, and then click
Restart the computer in MS-DOS mode option. Click Yes.
2. Copy and Rename the General.idf file in the Windows\Config
folder to
General.old
1. To extract the file, use the command below for your Windows
floppy disks or compact disc.
These instructions assume:
- Your Windows folder is C:\Windows
- Your CD-ROM drive is drive D
- Your 1.44 MB floppy disk drive is A
Windows 95 Floppy Disk ----------------------
Type the following at the MS-DOS command prompt and press
ENTER:
extract /a a:\win95_09.cab general.idf c:\windows\config
Windows 95 Compact Disc -----------------------
Type the following at the MS-DOS command prompt and press
ENTER:
extract /a d:\win95\win95_08.cab general.idf c:\windows\config
For more information on how to extract a file, see your
Windows printed documentation or online help.
Manually Checking for MIDI Driver Files, File Placement and
Modifications
1. The files listed should all reside in the C:\Windows\System
folder (where drive C is your hard drive and Windows is your
Windows folder).
The installed MIDI driver filename can vary depending upon the
sound card installed. For example, Media Vision sound cards
use the drivers:
- Opl3fm.drv
- Mvproaud.drv
while Creative Labs Sound Blaster sound cards use the drivers:
- sb16fm.drv - sb16aux.drv - sb16snd.drv
The following files are in the Windows folder.
Entries in System.ini
[boot]
sound.drv=mmsound.drv
drivers=mmsystem.dll
[drivers]
midimapper=midimap.drv
MIDI=opl3.drv *
[mci]
Sequencer=mciseq.drv
WaveAudio=mciwave.drv
Entries in Win.ini
[mci extensions]
mid=sequencer
Entries in Control.ini
[drivers.desc]
mciseq.drv=[MCI] MIDI Sequencer
sb16fm.drv=Voyetra / Sound Blaster SuperSAPI FM Driver
sb16aux.drv=Creative Sound Blaster 16 Auxiliary Audio
sb16snd.drv=Creative Sound Blaster 16 Wave and MIDI
[Userinstallable.drivers]
MIDI=sb16fe=sb16snd.drv
[related.desc]
MIDI=
Bud
ASKER
Both answers to this question were good ones, however, I have done all that was suggested short of deleting the registry completely and starting fresh. I have deleted the
sound devices from Device Manager and reloaded windows with no success. I have reloaded Windows with no expansion cards at all and nothing in Device Manager, either.
Sorry. I think we need to go deeper.
sound devices from Device Manager and reloaded windows with no success. I have reloaded Windows with no expansion cards at all and nothing in Device Manager, either.
Sorry. I think we need to go deeper.
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
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ASKER
Javier,
That really is not an option because I have 100's of programs that will not be picked up. I had previously thought of that and had tried it and rejected it for that reason.
That really is not an option because I have 100's of programs that will not be picked up. I had previously thought of that and had tried it and rejected it for that reason.
ASKER
I have been a technician for a long time and this problem has me stumped.