A few days ago, a friend of mine from school told me his YouTube audio stopped working shortly after downloading the newest version of Flash player. I went over to his house and tried numerous ways of fixing it, but nothing helped. I then downloaded the newest version of Flash onto my home PC, and I had the same problem. All other audio works great, it’s just the audio from Flash videos (such as YouTube) that stopped working. Please note that the VIDEO itself works, it’s only the audio. If you have a Windows OS (tested with Vista and XP), this fix should work well for you. There are three possible fixes, so try them all. Here they are;1) Flash Player Settings are poorly configured.

• The steps to fix this are really quite simple. First, open up the flash video with no audio. Right click and choose “Settings” on top of “About Macromedia Flash”
• In the pop-up window that appears, select “Advanced.” This should take you to a Adobe’s website, where they will try to fix your problem.
• In the Table of Contents on the left side of the screen, under the Settings Manager category, click on Global Storage Settings Panel.
• After clicking, on the right side of your screen there should be a Settings Manager interface. Make sure the checkboxes saying “Allow third-party Flash…” and “Store common Flash…” are both checked. If they already were, this is not your problem, so view the next two possibilities. If they were unchecked, check them and restart your browser, and try the video again. Hopefully, it helped. If not, the other two possibilities are not out of the question.

2) You are missing the required Codecs, or the Codec can’t be properly read

• If you are missing the Codecs, this is a very easy fix. The best package for audio/video codecs is definitely K-lite Codec Pack. There is version 3.8, but if the problem isn’t the lack of codecs it’s just that they are malfunctioning, you’ll have to download version 3.3.0 which will be a bummer. A download link to get version 3.3.0 can be found here.
• I’d recommend letting the installation wizard take you through and just click next when prompted. However, you want to make sure the Codec Tweak Tool is being installed (it should by default).
• After installing all the codecs, try the video again. More often than not, nothing will change. Keep reading, though! The fix might be on the way!
• After downloading and unpacking K-lite Mega Codec Pack 3.3.0, find the directory to which it is saved, and go to the “Tools” or “Components” subfolder. You should find an executable file by the name of Codec Tweak Tool (if not, you can always do a handy Windows Search).
• In Codec Tweak Tool, uncheck all of the boxes EXCEPT the boxes next to “Detect broken codecs” and “[Registry] Fix non-working system sound,” as shown in this image:

• Please note the newer versions of Codec Tweak Tool DO NOT have this option. MAKE SURE you downloaded 3.3.0 (the download link was provided earlier).

• After it is done, restart your browser and try again. Hopefully, it fixed your problem. If not, don’t worry - the fix is on its way!

3) The Registry is messed up - this is a common issue.

• If all else fails, this is probably the issue. If it’s not, then it’s a problem with the sound card, not the actual flash player. Please use this with caution - it involves editing the registry so PLEASE follow all instructions VERY carefully.
• First, go to “Start –> Run” and type in “regedit” without the quotes. Please keep in mind that whenever quotes are used, not to type them in.
• If you understand Regedit, here is the path you must follow: “My Computer –> HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE –> SOFTWARE –> Microsoft –> Windows NT –> Current Version –> Drivers32.” After you get to Drivers32, skip down to the bottom of this section (search for SKIP TO HERE) as I explain to less advanced readers how to get there.
• In the left panel, you should see something resembling; [-] My Computer. Click on the [-] and you should see HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, HKEY_CURRENT_USER, etc. Click in the [-] next to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE.
  
• The tree should expand, and you should see options to click on the [-] next to Hardware, Sam, Security, Software, and System. Click on the [-] next to SOFTWARE. A lot of branches should appear, so scroll through until you find Microsoft. Click in the [-] next to Microsoft.
• This next step is very important, and if you click something wrong you could be in a lot of trouble. Scroll down in Microsoft until you find Windows NT. MAKE SURE YOU CLICK ON THE [-] next to WINDOWS NT, not Windows or something else. The first option should be “Current Version,” so go ahead and click the [-] next to that. Scroll down a bit until you find the folder Drivers32. This time, DO NOT click the [-], but click the folder itself.
• If you knew how to use Regedit, SKIP TO HERE. Anyways, on the right side of the screen now you should see many different entries. The first step is to scroll down towards the bottom and click on “wavemapper.” Go ahead and delete that entry entirely - it probably got poorly modified and stopped working. Next, go to “Edit” in the top-left panel, and click on “New –> String Value.”
• Edit the name of this value to “wavemapper”, EXACTLY like that, only without the quotes. Then, double click on this new entry and edit the string value to “msacm32.drv”. I’d recommend copying and pasting that, because a typo will make everything stop working.
• Voila! You’ve just cleaned that entry, so exit Registry Editor and go to the video you want to see. Sadly, you won’t be able to fast-forward or rewind these videos, but you can watch from beginning to end. I haven’t been able to find a registry value that effects fast-forwarding and rewinding. I’ll upload a video on YouTube with detailed instructions soon enough

I hope I’ve been helpful to you, and your YouTube or other flash videos start working again! If ALL ELSE FAILS, search your ENTIRE hard drive for a file by the name of “msacm32.drv” (without the quotes). If that is missing, you should copy it from another hard drive (upload it to the internet somehow and download it), and place it in your C:/Windows/System folder. Alternatively, you can download it from the internet - but this is not recommended as there have been many viruses disguised as msacm32.drv, so it’s best not to risk it. A fifth and FINAL alternative I don’t want to get into is ripping these videos onto your computer (there is plenty of software/add-ons that let you do that) and seeing if that works.

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 23rd, 2008 at 6:32 pm and is filed under Articles, Guides. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.