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Win XP system: Unable to select MIDI device...

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First post, by Rekrul

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I have a system running Windows XP Pro, with on-board Realtek HD Audio. For some reason, it has lost the ability to select a default MIDI device. MIDI used to just work. I never had to manually change or configure anything. It played .MID files in Media Player Classic, DOS games had Midi music in DOSBox, freeware Windows games played MIDI music.

When I go to sounds and devices, the box for a MIDI device is blank. If I open it, I see "Microsoft GS Wavetable SW Synth" listed, I can click on it, but when I click Apply, it clears the box. Same result if I hit OK.

Because of this, MIDI doesn't work. It doesn't work in DOSBox with games that use MIDI. Media Player Classic can no longer play .MID files. Windows games that use MIDI for music are silent, etc.

I tried installing a third-party software MIDI device, and it showed up in the drop-down box, but wouldn't stay selected either.

Going into the DOSBox config file and adding a zero to "midiconfig=" got MIDI music working there, but not every program lets you manually change MIDI settings.

Does anyone have any idea what might be wrong, or how to fix it, short of re-installing Windows?

Reply 1 of 2, by bakemono

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Something may have gotten hosed in the registry. If you have another XP system that's working normally you could bring up regedit on both and try to compare entries. For instance:

HKLM\system\currentcontrolset\control\mediaproperties\privateproperties\midi
HKLM\software\microsoft\windows nt\currentversion\drivers32

again another retro game on itch: https://90soft90.itch.io/shmup-salad

Reply 2 of 2, by Rekrul

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bakemono wrote on 2023-07-18, 14:21:

Something may have gotten hosed in the registry.

I figured that was probably what happened. 🙁

Some other details I should mention;

I installed a GT430 graphics card in this system. It has an HDMI port on it and since HDMI usually has sound included, the card includes its own audio hardware. Unfortunately, it has no other output for audio, so if you use that card for the sound, you lose the ability to connect dedicated speakers or use headphones. When I first installed the drivers, it installed the drivers for the audio as well, which disabled the onboard sound. So I disabled the four(!) audio devices on the card, then went into the BIOS and re-enabled the onboard audio. I did this shortly after getting the system, so that's the way it's always been.

I didn't uninstall them because then Windows would just keep detecting them at boot as new hardware.

I've tried re-installing the drivers for the onboard audio, but that didn't do anything. What I haven't tried is uninstalling the card drivers, the onboard drivers, removing the card, and then re-installing both from scratch. I'm kind of afraid that it might end up even more screwed up.

bakemono wrote on 2023-07-18, 14:21:

If you have another XP system that's working normally you could bring up regedit on both and try to compare entries. For instance:

Interesting idea.

While searching for a solution, I found a site which stated that all but the first MIDI in a particular registry key should be set to wdmaud.drv. Mine were, but I also changed the first one as well, and that got MIDI working in Media Player Classic. In other words, I could once again open a .MIDI file and MPC would play it. However, it didn't fix anything else.

After some more searching, I found what were supposedly the default MIDI registry settings for XP, but after making the changes, MPC no longer played MIDI files (even after changing the wdmaud.drv entry back as well), and it didn't fix anything else, so I put them back to what they were.

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