Audio won't play....unless....

[EyeOfThe]

If I play an mp3, windows media player comes up, starts playing it - but there is no sound.

If I click the progress bar - the sound comes on.

If I click the volume bar - it goes back to mute.

Itunes "plays" the song muted.

This strange development happened after my quest to convert a real audio file to mp3, which involved downloading and trying various software.

I figured it would be fixed after a reboot, but it's still happening.

Any ideas?
Thanks

 

[Kakumba]

real audio? oh man.... Anyways, sounds like some of that software borked the rest of your software. uninstall itunes and all other players etc, then re-install would by my best guess.

 

[wiredvibes]

try removing your audio device from the manager and letting the computer reinstall it

 

[nova2]

suggest restoring from a backup. this could be the fastest 'fix'.

you do commit regular backups, right?

try system restore and/or acronis trueimage or these:
http://www.partimage.org/Main_Page
http://www.mondorescue.org/about.shtml

if you have no backups to restore, then i'm out, for now.