VLC does not longer play sound--HELP!

[orestesdd]

All of the sudden, my old VLC player stopped playing sound. I can actually play a movie, but no sound. Then, I decide to upgrade my player to the latest version, and I am still in the same boat, no sound.

I do have other players like MPC, but again MPC is crashing when trying to look for codecs (these codes were working just a few days ago). MPC does play the movie as it is the case of VLC.

Any idea how to fix at least the VLC problem? I would appreciate any help. My best guess to the problem will be those Microsoft updates which keep coming every week. I can't stop those "critical" updates, for I am afraid that my computer will have lots of security holes, and I will get into worse problems.

Thanks.

[DJ]

VLC is a stand alone player that uses its own libraries to decode media files it does not use Direct Show. So there will be no interference between VLC and another DVD or media player.

Try erasing the preferences directory. C:\Documents and Settings\Owner (this is you)\Application Data\VLC Erase VLC.

Application Data is a hidden directory so you will need to make it visible.
Then reboot your machine and try again.

[orestesdd]

DJ:

Thanks, but the problem is still there, no sound. Movie plays, but no sound. I am very sad about this since I have a few movies and animations that only play on the vlc player.

My other palyers have bigger problems than the VLC player. I always counted on VLC due to the fact the VLC is a self-contained player which does not have any dependencies on what it is installed on my PC.

Thanks for your help anyway.

[DJ]

Considering it did work and other players are displaying the problem, I would be looking at three items.

1. DirectX and the DirectX diagnostic.
2. Sound card drivers.
3. The sound card (or chip set is more likely the case today for most modern mother boards).

[orestesdd]

I don't think it is the sound card, and because of the MPC player error messages I am getting, I will guess it is the stupid Windows XP registry which is messed up.

I do have sound while playing CDs and DVDs or at least it was working on the weekend of August 12-13 when I came back from Japan. Before I left for Japan on July 31, everything was working just fine.

If I have to blame something, it should be those stupid MS updates (critical or not) that keep updating my PC almost every once a week or even sometimes more often.

I am at work now. When I get home today, I will test the music CDs and DVDs on my PC to see if these things still work. One thing I noticed long time ago was that Apple QuickTime player stopped playing sound even before all these problems with sound showed up.

Anyway, I bought a registry utility tool at compUSA to see if I can fix this probem, but before I can use it, I will see if I can restore my Windows XP to an earlier save point before July 31.

Thanks again for your response.

[orestesdd]

OK, sound problem solved; sound driver seemed to have been corrupted. I used the suggestion to run dxdiag to see what was going on.

Now, I still have one unresolved problem with VLC. I played a movie with subtitles and the subtitles are set in the middle of the screen instead of at the bottom which is where one usually see the subtitles.

I played the same movie with MPC player which is not working too, and the subtitles are just fine. Any ideas how to fix this for VLC. I am using the VLC player 0.8.5, which I believe is the latest version.

Thanks.

[DJ]

To the best of my knowledge, VLC only recognizes positional information from VOBSub. All of the rest of the formats will appear at the bottom of the screen. There was supposed the be a way to move subs but I assume it was never finished as it doesn't work for me or anyone else.

So the best thing I could suggest is resetting or erasing your preferences.