Solved Windows 8.1 Pro startup sound plays intermittently

I have a Dell Inspiron 15 (3521 ) laptop running Windows 8.1 Pro that has a Realtek High Definition Audio card AND a Intel Display Audio card. I have been experiencing issues with the startup sound not playing sometimes (at all). I have replaced the Dell drivers a couple of times, and totally uninstalled the Realtek card and re-installed it. I have also tried to replace the Windows Startup.wav file in the Media folder because somehow now it's just a pop or click, but I can't overwrite it.

There are times when I mess around with this thing that the sound plays, and others that it don't. Is this a driver issue or a hardware issue? Why is the Windows Startup.wav file just a pop or click?

I have tried that too. Short of reinstalling Windows, I don't know what to do. The Windows Startup.wav file did sound fine at one time, so I scanned for viruses and malware multiple times - nothing found.

No. My system startup use to take just over 30 seconds (yes I know that maybe long) but now it only takes half that! I really think something is going on!

Thanks, I'll post reply in AM.

Ok, heres what I did: I found the startup sound on line and downloaded it. It was an mp3 so I converted it to wav. I used the tool you provided to replace the file in the Media folder of the Windows folder. The tool did not give any indication that the replace was unsuccessful. Just in case, I went to the Media folder and played the sound - same thing, just a pop or click. After I dug around on the net some more, I learned that the startup sound was embedded in some dll file that came with the operating system. I read another post where another user had the exact same issue as me and said that it might have been a Windows update that caused this. Like I said, I am running Windows 8.1 Pro 64 bit. It also has Media Center as well as Media Player. Being curious, I turned OFF Media Center. It forced me to restart. The sound played after it restarted. I forced another restart and sound played again. Still doubtful, I restarted one last time before writing this and the sound played then too. Fixed? I hope so!!!