Going Nuts!! Sound won't work!! 1

[ginavg]

I have a Compaq with ME installed on it the sound just stopped working. There are no problems showing in device manager. I have tried everything. I decided to install a pci sound card the other sound is on the motherboard. I cannot figure out how to disable in Bios. It shows in the Bios that both sound (onboard and pci) have different irq's but there is no place to enable or disable.

I installed the PCI soundblaster with no problems I still have no sound. When I go to control panel multimedia I see under playback device wierd characters and I cannot go into advanced. Also under sound it is low and grayed out. I tried removing sounds in the os and re-installing but to no avail. Can anyone please help me?? Why would it be grayed out? I cannot control any sound through the os..

Thanks so much for any help

Gina

 

[mainegeek]

Hello ginavg,
The device drivers for your on-board audio may be corrupt.
It maybe easier just to uninstall the pci sound card drivers and software and remove the card and then re-install the on-board audio drivers and software from the Compaq Utility CD. If this doesn't correct it then you can
probably disable the on-board audio in the bios by changing
the IRQ for it to N/A or disable it in device manager. If you can post your Compaq model it may be more helpful.
Also make sure the "mute" box isn't checked.

 

[ginavg]

The bios only lets me change the irq's to numbers not N/A. The onboard audio is not installed, as far as I can tell.
I did uninstall the audio...I cannot figure out why the sound is grayed out under cpanel and multimedia.

I actually image and build servers for a living and am not a novice in the hardware/software area but I am stumped!! Thanks for any help you can provide.

Gina

 

[franklin97355]

See what Device Manager has to say about the sound card. If you are using a plug and plat operating system make sure your BIOS knows that.

 

[wemoring]

Gina, have you received an answer for the sound problem.
I am hsving the same problem with no solution in sight.

 

[ginavg]

No my problem has not been solved. I am frustrated because this happened before and I ended up just buying a new pc.....very frustrated.

 

[Cindy1]

I'm not really sure I understand but correct me if I'm wrong. The onboard sound doesn't work and he installed a new sound card and that didn't work either. I noticed you have a Compaq that is common for the sound to just quit on them, it could be a driver issue. You need to tell me what the model number is so you can disable the old one in the bios that is a must. The multimedia needs to know to pick it up. The drivers to your old one are in your D:/system/save/icon/(then you have to look for the icon that matches your sound). Good luck keep us updated.
Cindy

 

[mpj17une]

First let me tell you that I am a novice in computer h/w. My problem is that I got a new m/c and got windows95 installed on it. Everything was working fine but the next day I installed windows 2000 and the sound just stopped working. When I go to control panel multimedia under sound it is low and grayed out. Can anyone please help me?? Why would it be grayed out? Do i need to use the sound card device drivers to get the issue solved ?

Thanx.

Prasad

 

[BadBigBen]

Hi to all,

I had a similiar problem with my PC...

to make the story short... Deinstall all drivers for the Soundcards, reboot and reinstall the sound drivers using the Manufactures install scripts, do not let Windows install these...

the reason why they are greyed out is simply that the drivers are missing...

Hope that this is helpful in solving your problems, seeing as it did on my system...

Oh, another thing that you might want to check, if the Sound drivers are set for digital output try to set them to Analog and see if it helps any...

Ben

 

[Cindy1]

The new sound card that you bought is that compatabile with windows 2000 or do you have to download the drivers from the internet? That seems fishy that it was working until she loaded windows 2000. Ginavg we are determined to fix this problem!
Cindy

 

[pudda]

Ginavg, let's take a logical look at this.
1. Your sound worked, then suddenly quit. Why?
a.The software drivers for the sound card corrupted, or
b.The sound chip failed.
2. The second sound card, tho it has the correct drivers, cannot function because the Windows Operating System will not allow it -the original sound card (chip) is still there.
Windows is confused, has one sound card that won't work and one that cannot work.

To repair this, remove the second card in the Device Manager, shutdown and physically remove the card.
Restart, go to the Device Manager and remove the original sound card (chip) and everything else under the sound directory. Then shutdown and restart, let Windows find the correct drivers. If it cannot, you have a few options of doing as Cindy1 says, finding new (probably updated) drivers from Compaq, or going without sound for a while until this is fixed.
Hope this helped, post with your model number if not...
The test continues...

 

[ginavg]

Thanks guys...ok where do you look for digital output compared to analog? also

" Deinstall all drivers for the Soundcards, reboot and reinstall the sound drivers using the Manufactures install scripts, do not let Windows install these..."

Where are the manufactures install scripts?? What if I cannot find them?

Cindy1 your dedication is appreciated!

Ginavg

 

[BuckeyeComputers]

I have seen the occasion where sound cards load fine, but will not play any sounds. Cant remember the exact fix but it had to do with one of the windows codec were corrupt. the fix went something like, boot to safe mode and remove all sound drivers and then reinstall sound card, then add new hardware and choose the type of hardware yourself which will be sound and game controller. and then show all hardware and choose company microsoft and check down thru there for the codecs, this is from memory so it is pretty choppy but might jog someone elses memory for mor help

 

[Cindy1]

What model number compaq do you have?
Cindy

 

[BadBigBen]

Hi again,

the install scripts come usually with the Sound Drivers (setup script)... once installed go to your Properties Folder/Control Panel and under System you double click on the Soundcard click on settings and at the bottom should be where you can change from Analog to Digital and Reverse...

I hope this helped... sorry if it is a bit unclear, but I am trying to cross reference this all from a German system and the exact wording for the correct way to do all of this is lacking as to the fact that I do not have an American Windoze installed on any of my PCs...

Good Luck,

Ben

 

[ginavg]

Ok guys and gals here it is "Compaq Presario 5000" The Bios is wierd because I cannot figure out how to disable the on board audio!! I am not a novice.....


Thanks to all Ginavg

 

[Kjonnnn]

I just did two laptop with ME (#&$@%&%#$$@)

If you can afford it, install something else...or you'll be posting on this site quite regular.

 

[ceh4702]

Just seeing you have a Compaq is bad enough. Many Compaq computers have the cmos on the hard drive and you need a setup floppy disk sometimes to change it. There may be a jumper that disables it or you may have a chipset driver CDROM that updates windows and has the sound drivers on it.
I would inspect the motherboard carefully and see if you can disable the sound with a jumper. If you do not like my post feel free to point out your opinion or my errors.

 

[jake2k2]

don;t ever use any home version of windows like 98, ME, XP-home, they screw up alots things at times,

 

[Kjonnnn]

Well 98 second edition is great
Havent heard of major problem with XPH
Whereas, ME is a POC.