Why did BEEP just quit working?

[mcalhoun]

What would make BEEP quit working? I've been using a paid-for TCC Version 18 on Windows Vista Home Premium since 2015, and all-of-a-sudden BEEP does NOT make any sound, but other computer sounds work and I can play mp3 and mp4 files.

 

[rconn]

Are you running 32-bit or 64-bit TCC? (The sound code is completely different.)

 

[mcalhoun]

32 bit. What I find "funny" is that BEEP has worked for years!

 

[Charles Dye]

Didn't TCC use the Beep service, once upon a time?

You might try NET START BEEP, see if that makes a difference.

 

[rconn]

The 32-bit TCC uses the Win32 Beep API.

So - your Windows is broken.

 

[mcalhoun]

The response to NET START BEEP was "The requested service has already been started" and BEEP still does not work.

If my "Windows is broken", do you have any suggestions as to WHERE it is broken since all OS sounds DO chime and playing mp3 and mp4 files DOES produce sound, ?

 

[rconn]

The response to NET START BEEP was "The requested service has already been started" and BEEP still does not work.

If my "Windows is broken", do you have any suggestions as to WHERE it is broken since all OS sounds DO chime and playing mp3 and mp4 files DOES produce sound, ?

Those sounds do not use the Beep API.

As to where it's broken - it's kernel32.dll. (And there's nothing anybody but Microsoft can do to help you with that.)

If you switch to 64-bit TCC, it will use DirectSound.

 

[Joe Caverly]

Do you get any sound using the following;

echo %@winapi[kernel32,Beep,261.63,500]

I also found this;

"In the past many problems were found in the use of the Beep API. Since Windows 7, the Beep API has been re-coded by Microsoft to work with computer sound cards. Prior to Windows 7, the API functioned only with an on-board sound chip. Unfortunately, during the transition from sound chips to sound cards, some computer manufacturers still used chips while others used cards. This is the basis of the problem for older Windows versions. No problems should be encountered in the use of the Beep API for recent builds."

Joe

 

[mcalhoun]

RE: Switch to 64-bit TCC: won't that require me to get a 64-bit OS?

RE: "echo ... winapi ...": After hitting RETURN, the only response "1". No sound.

RE: kernel42.dll: I examined the "properties" of my kernel32.dll, downloaded what some website claimed was the identical serial number, did a binary "file compare", and they were NOT identical. So I decided to rename my current kernel32.dll to kernel32.NOT, copy the downloaded version to C:\windows\system32, reboot, and see if that fixed the problem ... but quickly discovered that I could not even rename the file! "Access denied"!

I disabled "readonly" on \Windows and \Windoes\system32 but still can NOT "touch" kernel32.dll.

Other suggestions?

 

[rconn]

Windows won't let you replace its system files (at least not without a lot of convolutions).

The problem you're having is with Windows, not TCC. You need to contact Microsoft for help.

 

[mcalhoun]

I'm going to give up; if I asked Microsoft for help solving a problem on a Windows Vista PC, I could probably hear their techs laughing all the way from Washington to Kansas!-(
My thanks to everyone who made suggestions.

 

[Charles G]

Have you maybe run SFC ? (system file checker?) did a disk check?

 

[mcalhoun]

Have you maybe run SFC ? (system file checker?) did a disk check?

Yes, I did. After a lot of disk activity, it asked me to insert my original disk -- which I have NEVER had.
I then connected the Ethernet cable and re-ran SFC, but it found nothing on the Internet.
Finally, and this may or may not be related to the SFC search, a few days later my PC took MUCH longer than usual to boot, so I turned it off, took it apart, salvaged the hard drive, threw the metal parts on my scrap-metal pile, put the power supply and motherboard in my electronic-scrap "collection", discarded the miscellaneous parts that remained, and called it "quits" for my Vista computer!

I'll now go back to an old XP machine and see what happens.

Thanks again to everyone who tried to help me.