Jerry
Thanks for the further details.
I am not sure that
an arrow pointing left and one pointing right. Between the arrows is a dot. All 3 are light grey as if turned off.
is being interpreted correctly. What you are looking at there - previous triangle, Add/Remove Keyframe diamond, and next triangle - all for keyframing purposes and all functional when the clip is highlighted/selected and non functional when the clip is not. They even work if the audio clip is disabled but highlighted/selected.
Please go to the Media Cache Folder (assumed to be in your Libraries/Documents/Adobe/Premiere Elements/3.0) and delete all the conformed audio there (cfa and pek sets). Afterward, when you reopen this project, do you see any audio conforming activities going on at this point (see bottom right and a progress bar that might be expected to be there.)
From what you wrote, the audio with no sound is part of a video audio linked combo. Each combo is the result of a reconnect using one of the "Where is the file...?" message. Go to the hard drive location of one of the files that has been reconnected but with no sound. Does the file at the hard drive save location play back with sound as well as video? What player? Have you checked all the volume controls within the project?
Does the problem exist in a new project?
Please review.
Thanks.
ATR
Add On...Premiere Elements 3.0/3.0.2 is a 32 bit application. Are you working with SD or HD project which is over an hour in duration?
I am wondering about computer resource factors.