Unable to access mp3 files?

For some reason, I cannot play mp3 files. Everything was working fine until recently, and not I cannot play them. Upon opening them with WMP, I get a "cannot access file" error, which is not correct, because I have full permissions to access them and they are not in use by another process (i can move them, rename them, etc). Upon opening them with other players (Itunes, Winamp), the files will open in the player, and the player will say that they are playing, but they will never start playing...the progress will just stay at 0:00. I'm running Vista Home Premium 32. I've tried reinstalling the players; it's not an issue with the players, but either with the files themselves or with Windows. I haven't installed any new software recently, or made any major changes; they just stopped working.

 

The only thing I can suggest is system restore.

 

Try to uninstall your codecs, and then reinstall the latest version.

 

if you updated aim 6.5 to the latest release, it may do this. go to your playback devices page, and it should bring up an error message about an audio enhancement, and it will ask if you want to enable or disable it. click disable and it should work fine again.

 

Try VLC player. it doesn't depend on external codecs. If VLC can't play the file than it's probably corrupt. I've read of Trojans that corrupt media files, don't have any first hand experience with them though. I always practice 'Safe Hex'...

 

Yes, I recently updated to aim 6.5 This is probably the issue. What exactly do you mean by " playback devices page", though?

EDIT: Nevermind, I figured it out. Problem solved, thanks for the help.

 

No problem Vagabond, just post here again if you need anymore help.

 

great help ktang! il remember this in case i up AIM

 

Care to share the solution?

 

Well, to fix the sound problem, just go to contorl panel, then classic view, click on Sounds...it prompted me with the message about disabling the audio enhancement, and I disabled it, things work again.

Sorry, I had a page with more detailed directionso n how to fix other problems it causes, but I can't find it again. If I do, I'll link you guys.

 

right click on the speaker icon in your start bar and you should see a choice for "playback devices" if you choose that, it'll bring up that error message listed above.