Microsoft Entourage sounds no longer working?

Dave, I'm baffled. I have been running Microsoft Entourage for a while, and have grown to like the little bings and bongs of its audio notifications. But all of a sudden Entourage doesn't make any sounds at all. It's mute. What's happened?

Dave's Answer:

This particular question is one that I actually answered by going back and forth with the submitter. Here's what we tried...

The first and most obvious question is: is your sound working for any application on your Mac? You can check that by going to Apple --> System Preferences --> Sound. If it's set properly, it'll look like this:

Notice particularly that the "mute" option isn't checked and that the volume slide isn't all the way to the left.

That wasn't the problem, so the next possibility was that the Entourage Sound Set was corrupted or otherwise messed up. That's not easy to check, but you can at least ensure that the file's non-zero by starting in your home directory and navigating to Documents --> Microsoft User Data --> Entourage Sound Sets --> Microsoft Sound Set. Choose "Get Info" and hopefully your results will be similar to:

Mac OS X: Microsoft Sound Set 'Get Info'

That wasn't the problem in this case, however!

The problem turned out to be that a stray application had changed the output MIDI frequency to a non-standard setting, which messed up Entourage and various other applications on the Mac. I'd never even heard of the Audio MIDI app, but it's on your Mac too, in Applications --> Utilities. Start it up and double check your settings:

Henry, the chap who reported this fix, said that he had to change his output to 41000 Mhz, but that's a bit inexplicable when you can see that mine isn't set to that value and Entourage works fine. My theory: his MIDI settings were indeed messed up and when he changed the frequency, he also reset all the other options, which fixed the problem.

Anyway, if you're having problems with your Entourage audio, this might well be a fruitful path to investigate.

Update: a reader reports that he tracked the problem back to the Audacity program, so if you're using Audacity and have problems with Entourage sounds, it might be your culprit.

Categorized: Mac OS X Help (Article 5951, Written by Dave Taylor)
Tagged: mac audio, microsoft entourage
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Comments

It should be 41000 MHz, but sound might work at lower values. I found this out when I lost sound and checked the MIDI app - it was set to 96000. I don't know what changes it, but some sound app does from time to time.

Posted by: Kirk McElhearn at February 17, 2006 3:22 AM

Thanks! The info about the Audio Midi setup totally worked. I re-set mine to 41100.0 HZ and my entourage sound returned (as well as a malfunctioning QT sound--but only in streaming video like youtube.com). Very odd but hey...it works!

Posted by: scott at March 22, 2006 9:36 PM

Thanks, I just had the same problem.

The only value was 96,000Hz.

I had installed Audio Hijack Pro. Which installs soundflower at the backend.

As suggested, simple twiddling the sliders a bit caused 3 Hz options to appear, setting it to 41000Hz made entourage work again.

How bizarre.

Posted by: Stephen at October 30, 2006 3:12 PM

I'm a total Mac newbie (advanced windows user who just made the switch). I found this advice outstanding and yes, it worked. There is no way in this lifetime I would have discovered this out myself. A million thanks.

Posted by: Gayle at March 27, 2007 5:45 PM

I still have problems compared to older versions of Entourage. On my old G3 running OS9, I could drop hundreds of sounds into the system file and use the Rules in Entourage to set of a specific sound for each one of my contacts.
On OSX, I'm stuck with a single 'New Mail' sound.
Nothing I do will let me access other sounds on the hard drive.

Posted by: Steve Davenport at April 17, 2007 6:20 AM

Returning the settings to 44100 (not 41000 or 41100) restored the sounds in Entourage in my G5 tower, and also in my G4 Powerbook. And in the PB, that also fixed a QuickTime bug - it restored the sound and also fixed an actual video playback bug that had been plaguing me for a long time.
Who'd a thunk that. So thanks a lot for this thread.
benos

Posted by: benos at May 12, 2007 2:04 PM

Hi,

I'm having a similar problem, but not exactly the same. My "sent mail," "error," and "start up" sounds are all working, but my "new mail" and "no mail" are not. I went into my Entourage Sound Set folder, and lo and behold - there was nothing in it! (i.e., no Microsoft Sound Set).

Any ideas?

Posted by: Pam at January 24, 2008 8:01 AM

I had the same problem. My settings were 44100. Changing form 24 bit to 16 bit fixed it for me..

odd though.

Sander

Posted by: Sander at February 7, 2008 6:55 AM

Any and all of these solutions only work ONCE. After opening Entourage and getting the Welcome sound, any other sound, (New Mail, No Mail, Mail Sent etc.) will work the first time it is used and then every action after that is silent once more. Anyone else have that problem?

Posted by: Glenn Emond at February 10, 2008 8:26 PM

This hasn't worked for me, yet. I can't open Audio MIDI Setup - it crashes.

I have looked for 3rd party MIDI drivers as per Apple Support (this is what they recommend if you have the crash issue when opening Audio MIDI Setup app).

I don't have any 3rd party MIDI drivers and still I can't open it. Being like someone else on this thread - newly converted from a PC user (and an MCSE amongst other certifications - like it helps me now!!!), I'm a little stumped.

Any advise would be greatly appreciated.

Darren

Posted by: Darren at March 9, 2008 1:47 AM

hey there.... my problem is that the microsoft sound file is completely MISSING in the folder !? can anyone send it to me via mail..please?? can't find it on the net to download :C

Posted by: Max at August 20, 2008 6:27 AM

Looks very helpful, but in my Sounds file (System), there is no Optical Digital Output choice, and in the Audio Midi Setup, there is no digital choice--any suggestions?

Thanks!

Posted by: Terry at May 7, 2009 9:19 PM

Same as Sander

I had the same problem. My settings were 44100. Changing form 24 bit to 16 bit fixed it for me

Posted by: Adam at July 15, 2009 6:10 AM

Ok this totally worked. Thank you so much! In OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard you must change the settings to 44100khz 2 channel 16 bit audio for BUilt-In Audio and Built-In output. Audacity IS the culprit. Changes it to 24 bit and that is not supported by MOST applications.

Thank you so much!

Posted by: Will at October 18, 2009 12:57 AM

Hi - how can I get the horizontal line back that separates and highlights the message you click on in your mail box? It's gone and I now have to double click an email to open it to see it...rather than how it was before...

Posted by: georgia at July 28, 2010 8:38 PM

I'm using Entourage 2008 with 10.6.3 (Snow Leopard).
The system settings solution did not work for me but I discovered that there was a missing file (possibly a pointer file as it is only 200k) in the Sound Sets folder for 2008.
Simply search for "Sound Sets". If the folder is empty and you have an earlier version of Entourage on another computer (I used 2004) just copy file entitled " Microsoft Sound Set" the onto a thumb drive and import into your current Sound Sets folder.
This worked for me.
:)

Posted by: Harry at November 25, 2010 6:42 PM

I have something to say, now that you mention it, but ...

I do have a lot to say, and questions of my own for that matter, but first I'd like to say thank you for all your efforts on this Web site by buying you a cup of coffee!

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!

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