Toshiba A10 laptop soundcard problems, and playing some .wav files

Hi,

I just got a Tosiba A10 laptop, and have discovered a problem with
playing about half my .wav files (which work fine on my Win2k
desktop). I figured this might be just a Windows XP problem, and that
I just needed a codec or additional driver or something (I had a
similar problem with Windows 95 a few years ago, with PCM encoded .wav
files if I remember rightly). Put media player 9 fails with them,
saying "Windows media player encountered an unknown error", at the
same time it checks the MS website for a codec, but fails each time.
I've also tried Winamp 2.X, it gives the error "codec missing".

This wouldnt be so bad, if it wasn't the case that I have bought the
laptop mainly for music creation, and that half the .wav samples used
in my music sequencer wont work, and therefore nothing will play
properly. Same goes for my .wav editor, which cant load the sample
files either.

I'm just wondering if this could be a more hardware issue, and the
PowerMax sound system used by the Tosh, apparently made by "standard
system devices" (says that for the codecs) or "Analog devices inc"
(says that for the SoundMax sound), according to the hardware tab,
under the "Sounds and audio devices" icon in the control panel. I
thought the sound would be pretty much Soundblaster hardware
compatible, but I think I'm learning that alot of the sound is
generated by software emulation in laptops, and may have "issues", is
this the case?

Is there a fix, or might I need a USB soundcard/box? If so, I believe
they are relatively expensive, anyone know a reasonably good quality
budget one (preferably under $85/£50)?

"Rtm" wrote in message
...
Hi,

I just got a Tosiba A10 laptop, and have discovered a problem with
playing about half my .wav files (which work fine on my Win2k
desktop). I figured this might be just a Windows XP problem, and that
I just needed a codec or additional driver or something (I had a
similar problem with Windows 95 a few years ago, with PCM encoded .wav
files if I remember rightly). Put media player 9 fails with them,
saying "Windows media player encountered an unknown error", at the
same time it checks the MS website for a codec, but fails each time.
I've also tried Winamp 2.X, it gives the error "codec missing".

This wouldnt be so bad, if it wasn't the case that I have bought the
laptop mainly for music creation, and that half the .wav samples used
in my music sequencer wont work, and therefore nothing will play
properly. Same goes for my .wav editor, which cant load the sample
files either.

I'm just wondering if this could be a more hardware issue, and the
PowerMax sound system used by the Tosh, apparently made by "standard
system devices" (says that for the codecs) or "Analog devices inc"
(says that for the SoundMax sound), according to the hardware tab,
under the "Sounds and audio devices" icon in the control panel. I
thought the sound would be pretty much Soundblaster hardware
compatible, but I think I'm learning that alot of the sound is
generated by software emulation in laptops, and may have "issues", is
this the case?

Is there a fix, or might I need a USB soundcard/box? If so, I believe
they are relatively expensive, anyone know a reasonably good quality
budget one (preferably under $85/£50)?

Have you checked Toshiba's site for drivers for it for XP? Sometimes they
update drivers and that *may* fix it.
--
~misfit~


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On Thu, 16 Oct 2003 22:28:47 +1300, "~misfit~"
wrote:
Have you checked Toshiba's site for drivers for it for XP? Sometimes they
update drivers and that *may* fix it.

Sadly I tried, there was an update, but it didnt make any difference

Thanks