After unchecking codecs, MM won't start - says it can't find audio

I have XP with SP2. MM was starting to crash on me more and more, especially
after adding audio. I followed the advice on papajohn.org to uncheck some
codecs in the MM options. Then crashes seemed less frequent, but after the
next reboot MM won't start - it says "Windows movie maker cannot be used
because the required audio hardware cannot be found on your computer."

I'm pretty sure I didn't remove any codecs specific to my sound card
(Realtek AC'97), but I uninstalled the sound card drivers, downloaded a fresh
copy and reinstalled them anyway. No change.

I've searched the web and found others having this message, but not because
of simply unchecking codecs. How do I recover? I have a deadline for this
movie (son's graduation in a week), with many hours of work yet to be done.

Thanks.

PapaJohn
Fri May 02 12:05:24 PDT 2008

try plugging an external mic into the computer.... it might satisfy what
Movie Maker is looking for.
--
website references are to www.papajohn.org

PapaJohn (MVP)


"Phantomflash" <Phantomflash@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:FA635111-BFB0-4091-9DC6-7F592ECD126D@microsoft.com...
>I have XP with SP2. MM was starting to crash on me more and more,
>especially
> after adding audio. I followed the advice on papajohn.org to uncheck some
> codecs in the MM options. Then crashes seemed less frequent, but after the
> next reboot MM won't start - it says "Windows movie maker cannot be used
> because the required audio hardware cannot be found on your computer."
>
> I'm pretty sure I didn't remove any codecs specific to my sound card
> (Realtek AC'97), but I uninstalled the sound card drivers, downloaded a
> fresh
> copy and reinstalled them anyway. No change.
>
> I've searched the web and found others having this message, but not
> because
> of simply unchecking codecs. How do I recover? I have a deadline for this
> movie (son's graduation in a week), with many hours of work yet to be
> done.
>
> Thanks.

Phantomflash
Fri May 02 18:43:01 PDT 2008

Today I looked in the Device Manager and saw the following driver with a
yellow exclamation point: "Microsoft WINMM WDM Audio Compatibility Driver".
I couldn't get the driver to update, so I uninstalled it. After a reboot, MM
started working again. However MM still crashes -- maybe as much as before
unchecking codecs. Maybe I have to uncheck even more codecs.

I thought I would have to reinstall that "Compatibiltity driver" for things
to work, but so far Windows seems to be OK. Our other XP system doesn't even
have that driver in the first place, and MM works fine on it. Does this
driver relate specifically to Windows MM as its name implies?