1) Go to Options | Audio | Advanced in Cakewalk, and make sure the Data Directory is pointing to a valid directory. Also, make sure there's enough free hard disk
space on the drive to which the Data Directory path points.

2) Make sure that the computer's date is set to the current date. Do this by going to Start | Settings | Control Panel | Date/Time, or by right-clicking on the taskbar's
clock and choosing Adjust Date/Time.

4) If you're importing a Wave file, note that it must be in PCM format, 8 or 16 bits, stereo or mono. If the file is not 8 or 16 bits, or is in a format other than PCM
(such as ADPCM, TrueSpeech, or any "compressed" format), Cakewalk Pro Audio won't load it.

5) Go to Control Panel | Multimedia | Advanced | Audio Compression Codecs, and make sure all necessary Codecs have been installed (make sure that Microsoft
PCM Converter is installed and enabled). You might even try to reinstall them by going to Control Panel | Add/Remove Programs | Windows Setup | Multimedia |
Audio Compression.

6) Reinstall the drivers for the sound card. Make sure there are no other sound drivers installed. If you've ever had another sound card installed, make sure the
drivers and all references to that card (in AUTOEXEC.BAT and SYSTEM.INI) have been completely removed. Make sure no other unnecessary drivers are loaded
(Roland MPU 401, TTS MPU 401, etc.).

7) If you use accentuated characters like "é è à" in your song name or the directory where the .WRK is saved, rename the file or the directory without those
characters.

8) Reinstall Cakewalk in a different directory, and don't migrate the preferences from your previous version of Cakewalk.