Cannot hear certain sounds

i had just downloaded the pc version today. Noticed right away that I cant hear some sounds. after hours of googling and trying the fixes and downloads other users suggested I still cant hear things like xp, crafting, etc. tried f3 and s together, reinstalling, updated java and openal to no avail. please if anybody has any other suggestions it would be greatly appreciated. $27 is a lot of money for half a game