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AHHH...my brain is gone....XP reinstalled, sound gone...

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snowxfaerie

Technical User
Jul 9, 2004
7
US
ok, i have re-installed Windows XP on this computer maybe....3 or 4 times, and i've had no problem at all, i've been able to figure out how to reinstall everything. this time around i guess my brain doesnt feel likeputting up with windows so it won't help me. i did re-install, but i cant remember what i did to reinstall the sound driver, i thought it was through the cd for drivers and utilities, but everything seems to be fine, and i did have sound before i re-installed so i kno its just a matter of bringing it back up, and also, i cant change my screen resolution or color options, i know this has something to do with an update i need, any help would be much appreciated :) thank you!
 
A visit to might do the trick as it will attempt to detect any outdated drivers.

I would guess that the drivers for your motherboard are missing though as you are unable to change Screen Res etc..

A visit to either your PC manufacturers website if it is a big manufacturer like Dell, Packard bell etc.. or the MotherBoard manufacturer website should sort you out with the drivers.

Greg Palmer
Free Software for Adminstrators
 
Thanks, i did miss a few updates which is why i couldnt change screen resolution, so that's fixed now i appreciate the help, but still no sound....im gonna play around with the drivers some more
 
Contact the place you originally purchased your computer from and ask them to jog your memory (or is it RAM). Usually they will be included on an extra CD supplied at purchase and applicable to your Sound Card, this would only be the case if they were not pre-installed already.
 
Take a look at the Device Manager,

Start > Control Panel > System > Hardware Tab > Device Manager Button.

Are there any exclamation marks or crosses next to anything? If so what.

You could also try the Free Belarc Advisor software from
This will give you the name of your sound card, once you have that go to google and search for card name xp driver

Greg Palmer
Free Software for Adminstrators
 
yes, theirs exclamation points on 2 things
1 - multimedia audio controller
2 - SM bus controller
 
ive re-installed windows before and had this same problem but somehow it was easy last time, i thought i installed it from the cd, but it looks like it says its already installed, id i go through Belarc and they gave me my report so i'll go see what that says now
 
What Device Manager is telling you is that it has found the hardware but not the drivers. These will be on any supplementary CD supplied to you at the time of purchase.

The SM bus controller will be in a folder applicable to your chipset, and the multimedia controller in a folder applicable to your Sound Card.

Of course later (and updated) drivers will be available via the Internet.

 
Which version of XP did you use for the install. Reinstalled a friends computer and he had the same issues (no sound & sm bus controller driver missing. Opened the computer and noted his motherboard make and model (easy resolution to his problem as saw the NForce chipset so went to NVidia and downloaded the drivers). Anyway my main point is that as he had the original 1st release of XP it didn't have drivers for his motherboard. A bit strange as its NVidia?? and even after a visit to the MS update site, it still hadn't correctly identified the drivers for either.

Probably best to have a quick look (unless you will invalidate the warranty)and then google
 
Its the same version ive been using everytime i re-install it, this is seriously making me want to throw my computer out the window!!! im so frustrated and i seem to have tryed everything under the sun! i do have sm bus controllers....i know that for sure
 
It this a PC from one of the big manufacturers? If so you only have to go to their website and enter your model into the support section and it will show you all the drivers you can download.

If it is not a branded PC, then do as "MasterofNone" says and take a look at your motherboard, here will normally be some indication of the make and/or model number. This should be enough to google.

Greg Palmer
Free Software for Adminstrators
 
ok everyone i appreciate all your help, i figured everything out, what was confusing me was by looking at the audio driver, it told me it was installed so i skipped over it, but in reality it was just my computer letting me know it hates me, it wasnt installed so i did hit install and im back on, the only problem im having now is my a: drive disappeared :)
 
Does the device manager show the floppy drive as working properly ?
If not it has troubleshooting and driver options.
Try going into the Device Manager and remove the floppy drive controller there. Reboot and let the system detect/reinstall the controller.

Look in the Event Viewer (under System or Application catergory). Get to Event Viewer by right clicking on My Computer icon then clicking Manage. Any error messages can be expanded by Right clicking on the line and selecting properties. See if there are any floppy drive seek errors.

812489 - The Floppy Disk Drive Is Missing From the My Computer Folder


Any chance you "hid" the drive using TweakUI?

191579 - Missing Drives in My Computer and Windows Explorer
 
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