Sound device missing =(

[cheesybeans414]

My brother recently built me a computer from scratch as he had already done his before but when we tested the sound on media player the following error came up:

'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.'

I have a sound card and when I checked the Sound and Audio Devices Properties it says there are no sound devices on my computer but on the Hardware tab it has Audio Codecs, Legacy Audio Drivers, Media Control Devices, Legacy Video Capture Devices and Video Codecs It has Windows XP OP installed and I ran the Motherboard installation CD to make sure everything was installed properly and couldn't find any problems with that. Im not sure what information you need for me to install the right software on my computer. Any help would be great, and if you let me know where to look for the information I will let you know.

I also keep getting an error message when I put in a DVD, it says 'Windows Media Player cannot play the DVD because a compatible DVD decoder is not installed on your computer'

Not sure if its the same problem or not, but any help would be great! =)

[pip22]

In Device Manager the sound card should be listed by name (eg SoundBlaster Live or Soundblaster Audigy or whatever make it is). If it's not listed by name it means the driver for it is not installed, in which case you should see "Unknown Device" listed there with a red or yellow symbol.
Although XP has many drivers built in for the most popular soundcards, some it doesn't have so you have to download them from the makers website. I don't know enough about your soundcard make/model to assist you further.

As for not being able to play DVD-films. Windows XP (ie Windows Media Player) cannot play them without first installing software which contains the mpeg2 decoder. The easiest way of doing this is to install a dedicated DVD-player application. You will then be able to watch DVDs with that or use WMP -- whichever you prefer. You can download one from here:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/win...r/plugins.aspx

[cheesybeans414]

I've had another look on Device Manager and under other devices it has 'Audio Device on High Definition Audio Bus' and on the symbol it has a yellow exclamation mark. Does this help anymore? 'm just trying to find out what make/model my sound card is. Is there anywhere on my computer I can check for it, or will it be with the information that came with the Motherboard?

[cheesybeans414]

The make of my motherboard is ES elitegroup and the model is P4M900T-M2

[Kevin_gibson]

Originally Posted by cheesybeans414

The make of my motherboard is ES elitegroup and the model is P4M900T-M2

You have a Realtek sound card (unless otherwise a PCi card has been installed)
http://www.ecs.com.tw/ECSWebSite/Products/ProductsDetail.aspx?detailid=822&DetailName=Driver &MenuID=7&LanID=0