dsound.dll error closes programs (onboard sound card error?)

drewtweedie

Honorable
May 20, 2013
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10,510
Hello,

I'm trying to troubleshoot a dsound.dll error that occurs when opening a few games. I inherited a computer with major stability issues. After some brute force testing, I discovered one of the RAM cards was bad, and since removal, the computer has run almost everything without a hitch. However, when trying to open a few games, the launcher immediately crashes with a sound.dll error, "The program can't start because DSOUND.dll is missing from your computer. Try reinstalling the program to fix this problem." In no particular order, I have tried the following:


Reinstalling the program
Installing the latest DirectX update
Replacing just dsound.dll
Updating graphic card drivers
Running DirectX Diagnostic, which comes up with, "Error: Problem getting extra sound info"
Checking the sound card in Device Manager, where no errors are listed
Disabling, reenabling, uninstalling, reinstalling, and updating the sound card drivers
Disabling the sound card on boot
Rebooting (many times)


Still the problem persits. Since reinstalling the sound card drivers, I have recieved a new error on startup though, "RAVCpl64.exe error (0x000007b)". This error has stopped appearing on the two most recent boots. I have stopped short of a clean reinstall of Windows and trying a new sound card.

My system specs are:

OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
Mobo: GA-MA78GPM-DS2H (onboard sound card)
BIOS: Award Modular BIOS v6.00PG
Memory: 2048 RAM
Graphics Card: ATI Radeon HD 4800
Processor: AMD Athlon 7750 Dual-Core

I have run sfc /scannow, which upon completion tells me that there were errors detected, but unable to be fixed. I have the log from the latest run, but it is far too large to post on sites like pastebin. If anyone could recommend a site to upload a .txt file for public viewing, it'd be much appreciated.

Thanks for reading.
 
Solution
Well since you inherited the computer and hence do not know what all could have been done to the computer it might be time for a good old clean and re-install. I know that is time consuming and a pain in the backside but it might be just what the doctor ordered in this case. At the very least you can eliminate the OS as the source of the problem. From what I have seen in your post you have done about what you can to solve the problem.
Well since you inherited the computer and hence do not know what all could have been done to the computer it might be time for a good old clean and re-install. I know that is time consuming and a pain in the backside but it might be just what the doctor ordered in this case. At the very least you can eliminate the OS as the source of the problem. From what I have seen in your post you have done about what you can to solve the problem.
 
Solution