Lost ability to play audio CDs, can anyone help?

[mfleming]

I have a ProTools LE system with a 002Rack on a XP computer.

Yesterday I started having problems playing audio CDs on the computer. It would take a while to recognize the CD. Once it did, the songs would crackle and skip badly when we tried to play them in Windows Media Player. We tried another player and it had the same problem. I can play every type of music file that resides on the hard drive. SO, it sounded obviously like the CD drive was going bad.

I removed the driver, let Windows reboot and reinstall the driver, but it did not fix it. I even "system restored" back a few days and it did not help.

This morning I did further testing though. Now, I don't even get the crackling when trying to play an audio CD. Windows Media Player now says there is a "problem with the media device." I tried playing it with Roxio Player and it told me that I don't have a sound card (????).

Then I did some tests with various CDs. I can read data CD's no problem. I can also explore audio CDs, and even can rip the songs from them. I just can't play them from the CD. Once ripped, I can play them on the hard drive though. Oh, also I was able to play a CD with MP3's on it with WMP.

SO...it seems that I can do everything just fine except play an audio CD ProTools and everything else is working fine. Doens't really seem like a CD hardware problem any more, but I don't know...

The only things I've done that might be coincident with this are 1) Uninstalled Reason 2.5 and installed Reason 3.0 earlier in the week. Not sure if the audio CD played fine after that or not. I thought they did. 2) Yesterday just prior to seeing this problem, I installed the Quinnware audio player. But, in trying to resolve this Ilater uninstalled it and system restore back to before the install.

I know this isn't exactly proTools specific, but does anyone have any ideas?

[Sacred Spirit]

I have the same problem when trying to play a CD through the player included with SoundBlaster Live. All other players work fine except that one. Try running the wavedriver (and MME helper) through your Digi hardware and see if that works. Reinstalling your audio card's drivers will also be a good idea. System restore doesn't always go back to exactly what you had although it is suppose to. I think you might also be able to 'repair' the Windows Media Player. I doubt your CD Drive is the problem.

[mfleming]

What is the "wavedriver"?

I guess I could try reinstalling WMP, but remember we have a problem with another Player as well.

[madrock]

try uninstalling then reinstalling pro tools.

do you have another audio device you could try?

[Sacred Spirit]

WaveDriver is on your PT install disk. It allows you to use your Digi hardware as a playback only sound card. You'll have to search the DUC for the MME helper. I don't use WaveDriver personally, but the option is there.

[mfleming]

Would it really be ProTools though, since everyting in ProTools (and also things like Reason) work fine. It's only a problem with playing an audio CD with any simple player.

[mfleming]

Actaully, I'm on 6.7 now and I see there is a 6.9 update available for download. Maybe I'll just download that and install it. Who knows, maybe it will fix it.

[mfleming]

Okay, I have now uninstalled ProTools and installed 6.9 (was 6.7 before). I still had the problem.

I reinstalled Windows Media Player 10 and still had the problem.

Then, thinking maybe my new upgrade form Reason 2.5 to 3.0 somehow affected it, I reinstalled Reason 3.0. Still doesn't work. Plus, when I now initiate Reason, I get an error that says "Sound Driver in previous session could not be opened. Check Preferences." So I go into Preferences and it shows as the Audio Device "ASIO DigiDesign Driver" but with a red X next to it. If I select it (even though already selected) the red check turns into a green checkmark and then Reason sound works. Problem is, next time I go back into Reason the whole thing happens again.

So, I checked my Control Panel/Sounds & Audio Devices section. I guess it looks right. Here's what I have:

Volume: No Audio Device

Sounds: Sound Scheme is "No sounds"

Audio: Sound Playback is "DigiDesign 002 chan 1-2"; Midi Playback is "DigiDesign 002 Port 2"

Do these settings appear right?

Question: I've never called DigiDesign Support. Do they have free support for stuff like this? I didn't buy direct, but from Carillon Systems.

[mfleming]

I should also add that I've discovered I cannot play WAV files off the hard drive either. Says I don't have the codec for that. Does that mean anything to anyone?

[mfleming]

I checked and the WaveDriver is installed (it installs automatically with the entire PT install). I followed the instructions for "Configurating WaveDriver for WMP" and it's as is. I even followed the instructions for "Adding Third Party Applications to the WaveDriver Opt-In List" and wmplayer.exe was already there.

I'm really confused now.