First of all, check that your sound card supports playing MIDI files; some older sound cards don't, and some companies don't install sound cards on their office PCs (spoilsports).

The easiest way to tell is to look on the box or spec sheet that came with the sound card or computer. If it doesn't support MIDI, you won't be able to hear music in Holiday Lights, unfortunately.

Assuming your sound card does support MIDI, the problem might be the MIDI volume (which is separate from your overall computer volume). See the Holiday Lights Settings "Music Box" tab for a button that lets you adjust the MIDI volume. Just click on it, then turn up the MIDI (sometimes marked "Synthesizer") volume.

If the volume is already up, check that your sound card is configured as the MIDI output device. Click the Start button, then choose Settings, Control Panel. Then open the Multimedia control panel. Click the "MIDI" tab, then make sure that the settings are as follows: the "Single Instrument" button should be selected, and in the list, the item starting with "MIDI for Internal..." should be highlighted. If they aren't, click on them, then try again.

If it isn't clear which item you should choose in the list (for example, if none of them include the word "Internal"), try each in turn. You may have to restart Windows after changing this setting.

If that doesn't help, perhaps your sound card supports MIDI files but is having trouble playing them for some reason. You can quickly test this:

Exit Holiday Lights and then try playing a MIDI file in Windows, without Holiday Lights being involved (make sure you exit Holiday Lights before trying this). Just find a file on your disk ending in ".mid" and open it to see if it plays with no trouble.

If you don't have a .mid file handy, you can find some files on your disk by opening these folders:

• My Computer
• C: (or the drive you installed Holiday Lights on)
• Program Files
• Tiger Technologies
• Holiday Lights
• Holiday Lights Music

Double-click on any of the ".mid" files you see to discover if Windows can play it.

If playing one of those files in Windows doesn't work, it means that there's something wrong with Windows or your sound card that's preventing it from playing any MIDI files, and you should check your sound card documentation or contact the sound card manufacturer.

If those sounds do play without trouble, contact us at support@tigertech.com for assistance.

 
See also:
Why is the Music Box completely empty?
Why do some of the songs sound off-key?