About a year ago I upgraded from Windows 98 to XP. I have *very simple 2-piece *speakers that pretty much just play into each other, the back of the CPU and the wall outlet - no software to install. They worked with 98 (I could play my music cd's, greeting card music, etc). I never plugged them back in until a few days ago to play a MP3 audio file (just have not listened to any cd's since then).

When I opened the MP3 file, a Windows Media Player 9 Series error message box appears indicating I do not have a sound devise installed on my computer. I checked the Control Panel Sounds & Audio Devices Properties box (Audio tab) and sure enough under Sound Playback it is grayed out and reads No playback devise.
The power to the speakers in on and I've tried all 4 input holes on the back of the CPU.
Oh, and I can hear a buz from the speakers when I take out the connection and reinsert it.

What could be the problem? Would it make a difference if I used RealPlayer? How come I could listen to things before?

Thanks in advance for any help you can give,
seebee