More Ghostbusting
In "Who You Gonna Call?" ( http://langa.com/newsletters/2006/2006-04-13.htm#3 ), we tried troubleshooting some mysterious PC sounds. Here's a similar issue:
Hi Fred! Often I hear my system (XP ProSP2) go "bing bong" in the background without me plugging in a blue tooth device or a flash drive.
How can I get it to send me a Pop-up to say what it is bing-bonging about?
Somewhere in it's innards something is happening that triggers the bing-bong - there should be a way of telling me why it felt it necessary to bing-bong. ;) Regards, Erich
I'd suggest that you examine the system sound assignments to see what's using the bing-bong sound. That, in one step, will at least narrow the list of suspect triggers of that sound.
In XP, you click to Control Panel's "Sounds, Speech, and Audio Devices" applet, and then click "Sounds and Audio Devices." In the window that opens, click the "Sounds" tab, and explore the "Program Events" windows to see what events are currently set to use the sound you're hearing. As you click each event, you'll see the associated sound--- usually a wav file--- listed below, along with a "play" button so you can preview--- er, prehear? pre-audit?--- the sound in question.
From your description, it may well be the Device Connect ("Windows XP Hardware Insert.wav) and Device Disconnect ("Windows XP Hardware Remove.wav") sounds you're hearing--- but that's what you need to find out for sure: Whatever's triggering that sound is the thing you need to look into further.
If several events are assigned the same sound, troubleshooting will be harder, so you might want to temporarily replace some of the duplicated sound assignments with unique sound assignments so you can tell what's triggering what.
It's also possible that you won't find your specific "bing bong" sound listed there, especially if third-party software is doing the deed. In this case, you might use Search to locate all the WAV files on your hard drive, and explore them one by one (double click 'em) until you find the exact sound you're looking for. Note where it is, which probably will be a clue was to what's using it. (E.G. If the sound is located in a instant messenger program folder, it's a reasonable bet that the IM program is triggering that sound.)
OK, let's back up a bit and assume it's a Device Connect/Disconnect that's triggering the sound. If you open Device Manager (right click My Computer then Properties, Hardware, Device Manager) and leave it open, you usually should see some kind of action when devices come and go--- the list will change. (It may help to expand some sections of the hardware list, such as USB, so you can see the subsections). If hardware is what's coming and going, then you should see *something* happening on the hardware list simultaneous with the bing-bong sound.
If it's not hardware, then check out software: Hit Ctrl-Alt-Del to open Task manager, and leave it open, on the Applications tab. (Task Manager wants to always be the topmost windows, but you can make somewhat smaller, and even move it mostly off screen to get it out of your way.) See if new applications come and go when you hear the bing-bong sound.
If not, then try the same thing with the Processes tab open. that's messier and harder to track, but can catch fleeting events that otherwise might pass beneath the radar.
If it's not hardware and not software, then the next time you hear a "bing bong" sound, maybe you better get up and answer the door. <g>
Digg
Del.icio.us
Reddit
StumbleUpon
Other
Permalink
