"Your Windows Media Player cannot...

[RougeUnderoos]

play the file because there is a problem with your sound device bla bla bla bla."

That is the error message I get when I try to play a legally (I bought it) obtained cd that is ripped on to my computer.

Earlier today I put a bunch of albums that are on my old computer onto a memory stick and then put them on my new(er) computer. I tried playing one of them and I got a "this product is only licensed for one computer so you have to download a license" message.

I tried to download the license but I got another error message saying that I didn't have something or other enabled.

I said "eff that" and just went and found the cd and put it in the machine and listened to it to the old fashioned way, and ripped it again while I was at it, and that worked fine. But now I can't listen to any music I have on my harddrive. It tells me there is a problem with my sound device, but there wasn't a problem with my sound device a few hours ago, before I did this.

I'm like Sherlocke Holmes, so I've deduced that just getting this error message, or perhaps trying to get the "license", has locked everything up.

I've never seen these messages or been prompted to get a license before, and everything has worked. Now I've had the message and the license garbage, and I can't play anything.

Any ideas? Gawdamn Microsoft. And Sony.

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by RougeUnderoos

play the file because there is a problem with your sound device bla bla bla bla."

That is the error message I get when I try to play a legally (I bought it) obtained cd that is ripped on to my computer.

Earlier today I put a bunch of albums that are on my old computer onto a memory stick and then put them on my new(er) computer. I tried playing one of them and I got a "this product is only licensed for one computer so you have to download a license" message.

I tried to download the license but I got another error message saying that I didn't have something or other enabled.

I said "eff that" and just went and found the cd and put it in the machine and listened to it to the old fashioned way, and ripped it again while I was at it, and that worked fine. But now I can't listen to any music I have on my harddrive. It tells me there is a problem with my sound device, but there wasn't a problem with my sound device a few hours ago, before I did this.

I'm like Sherlocke Holmes, so I've deduced that just getting this error message, or perhaps trying to get the "license", has locked everything up.

I've never seen these messages or been prompted to get a license before, and everything has worked. Now I've had the message and the license garbage, and I can't play anything.

Any ideas? Gawdamn Microsoft. And Sony.

DRM liscening issues would not cause problems with your sound device or cause everything to "lock up". I'm not sure what you mean. Do you mean you can't play even unprotected files now?

Have you tried an altogether different audio player with regular files or perhaps checking on the status of your sound device in the device manager? Is there still sound when windows starts up or when you are playing games, etc.?

- Doctor Watson

P.S. yeah, DRM really sucks.

[Russic]

Note: Cleaned up for CP

[RougeUnderoos]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

DRM liscening issues would not cause problems with your sound device or cause everything to "lock up". I'm not sure what you mean. Do you mean you can't play even unprotected files now?

Have you tried an altogether different audio player with regular files or perhaps checking on the status of your sound device in the device manager? Is there still sound when windows starts up or when you are playing games, etc.?

- Doctor Watson

P.S. yeah, DRM really sucks.

Thanks. By locked up I mean I can't play anything. Now it's even a CD in the drive. "Cannot detect a sound device or some other crap". It does make a sound when the error message comes up though.

I tried Winamp and that doesn't work either.

I just went to the control panel to check (I'm real smart, it never occurred to me to do that until now) and I can't change anything because there is no audio device installed. I don't know if gremlins came and took the audio device or what happened. There was an audio device, then all of a sudden there wasn't an audio device. Very curious.

[WindomURL]

Reboot.
Better yet, shutdown properly then wait 5 minutes to allow a full reset of the electronics before restarting.
This is good advice for any computer problems that can arise due to corrupted thingamajobbies in memory, etc.

If you still have a problem after that, then you can start messing around with drivers and devices.

[RougeUnderoos]

Well, the restart worked, which is kind of odd, because this problem started last night, the machine was turned off for hours, and the problem was still there when it was first turned on. The second rebooting did the trick.

I hate computers. Everything is humming along nicely, you don't change anything or mess with the works at all, and suddenly it's not humming along so nicely. And then you don't do anything to fix the problem, and it starts working again.

Like driving down the road and getting a flat, so you get out and look at the flat, and then start driving again, and it fixes itself as you scratch your head wondering how in the hell it did that.

[WindomURL]

Try being a tech!

In any case, glad it worked out. You probably won't have any more problems.