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sound card not recognized 1

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mattshirk

Technical User
Mar 30, 2005
31
US
Sound card driver and card installed but there is no yellow speaker icon in sys tray.

Windows auto-recognized the device after I installed it and rebooted, and prompted me for driver location which I gave it on CD-ROM but it gets no sound at all after trying a variety of outputs (windows media player, CD player, control panel sounds, etc.)

Also, it doesnt' show the standard yellow speaker icon on the system tray. I haven't found any help matches on the net yet. Does anybody have an idea of what to start trying? I know this should be easy, but...
 
To get the yellow speaker icon
Start
Control Panel
Sounds, Speech and Audio Devices
Sound and Audio Devices
Check Place Volume Icon in the Taskbar

That should at least give you a starting point

Also at Sounds, Speech and Audio Devices
Change Speaker Settings
Advanced
check for and select speaker settings

Daft Question Time - The speakers plugs are connected into the right sockets in the sound card (ie green to green, yellow to yellow etc?
 
Thanks for the tip. Yes the green speaker jack is plugged into the green "out to speaker" jack on the card.

I tried a generic driver on another Sound card that I to no effect either.
 
Hi,

Dumb question but is the sound card being recongnized in device manager? If it is - is the volume set to mute?

Stubnski
 
Thanks for the tips. Speaker icon is now on sys tray but still no sound. Device manager does see the sound card and shows the correct model# and everything.

Something tells me this is a simple issue, but darn it had been hard to figure out.

I also forgot to plug the CD into the soundcard 4 prong plug-in, but after plugging it in it still gets no sound. Plus I've tried system sounds and media player after each round of changes.

Everything seems correct. Windows sees the card, the CD player moves through the tracks and numbers as if is is reading the CD. I've tried System sounds from Control Panel which appear to play but the only sound I ever get is when I remove the plug from the speakers to the Soundcard jack and back in (popping sounds)

Volume controls are not muted.

I tested the speakers on another PC... work fine.

This is an old work computer which wasn't setup for sound. Anything special that would need to be enabled or installed of the Windows install disc?

By the way, thanks alot for all of your help.

 
Is there some kind of windows component that needs to be installed?

 
Hello mattshirk,

Is there onboard audio on the mainboard? If so you will need to disable it in Device Manager or BIOS.

Tony
 
I'm pretty sure this MB doesn't have onboard audio but I'll double check it. Thanks for the tip.

I did scan through the BIOs and didn't see anything to do with Audio. What would it typically be called or listed under in the BIOs???


 
It should be easy to tell if you have onboard audio...there will be outputs/inputs on the back panel, (3) 1/8" phone jacks. In my BIOS, it's under "Features setup" and there is a setting for Audio enable/disable.

Tony
 
Another thought...have you tried ALL the jacks on the sound card for activity to the speakers? Maybe they are mis-labeled or color-coded incorrectly.

Tony
 
Thanks, I looked it over last night and there is no onboard audio. Only jacks are on the Card I put in. An interesting point to mention is that I disabled the driver in Device Manager that had "16" as part of its file name(think it was labeled Soundblaster 16..." as a test and then rebooted. [There were still 2 other drivers listed for the Sound Blaster, 1 with 64 in its name (it is a 64 bit (ESA card?)it plugs into the black slots on the MotherBoard)]

and after booting, Windows 98 recognized a new device and installed some other driver that almost looked like a generic driver. Not sure what it was, but still no sound.

Another thing I should tell you is that this is the 3rd card I've tried in this PC and none have worked. So, I'm wondering if its some kind of disabled OS setting keeping windows 98 2nd ed. from loading something it needs to run a sound card. The PC is an old network PC that was not originally setup for sound.

Just telling you about that incase it gives you a clue as to what I'm doing wrong.
 
matt,

You should have mentioned a lot earlier that you are using Win98. Try checking system files:


If no improvement:

Uninstall all audio device drivers in Device Manager. Make sure you have a Win98 driver and ONLY a Win 98 driver, or, "update driver" using Windows Update.

Try another PCI slot.

Buy a USB sound card:


Don't give up!

Tony
 
I ran this System File Checker with the settings the document you referred me to recommended and it finds alot of files, but I canceled part way through because most of the files I already have are newer by a couple years than the files it wants to replace it with.

So, I need to ask you: is the intention here to revert to older windows files?

Just want to double check before I continue.

Thanks.
 
The intention is to replace any corrupted or missing system files. If a newer version already exists on the drive I would say keep the newer version, but that newer version may be the culprit. I have not played with Win98 in many a year, and am not sure of the correct answer here, but reverting to older files may or may not help the issue. Sorry...
 
It's Ok. I appreciate you efforts. I find myself in the same dilemnia. I may just not have the correct driver. Creative stopped support for this card and the knowledgebase articles don't directly address this issue. Lots of other people on Creatives site having the same problem with this SC, though. I'll check creative.com some more to see if some gives a specific driver name.

 
What is very strange is that it appears fine in Device Manager. Post this on Creative's forum and let us know how it went. Make sure to mention the Win98 part!

Tony
 
I finally gave up on the Sound Blaster cards. Couldn't seem to find the correct drivers. A cheap little SC from CompUSA works great.

Thanks to everyone that helped me on this. I really appreciate your time.

I should mark this issue "resolved" but I don't see where to do that. If a moderator sees this, go ahead and mark it or tell me how.

Thanks,
Matt
 
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