New Sound Blaster installation but no sound.

[jabez1771]

First of all, let me state that I know very little about computers but I did virtually take my computer apart today to install the Sound Blaster 16 pci (4.1 digital) soundcard. Here's my situation:

I have a HP Pavilion (about 2000, I would guess). It came with Windows 98. I had been having trouble with it locking up for the last couple of years so I finally upgraded to Win 2000. When I did that my speakers quit working. I still had those little computer "beeps" when an e-mail came in but that was about it. I was told that if I installed a sound card that was compatible with Win 2000 I would be able to use my speakers again. I went to Best Buy, told the service guy what my issue was. He said that unless I was running a surround sound system to just by the basic Sound Blaster and everything should work fine. I was able to get the old card out and the new one in but still have no sound. In doing a little trouble shooting research, it sounds to me like there is something attached to the motherboard (besides the card that I took out) that I have to disable. This really blows my mind. I have no idea what to do.

I found the following text in the sound blasters online help section:
---
If there is an onboard sound card in your system, you will almost certainly experience problems similar to those describe above. The reason for this is that both audio cards are usually trying to use the same resources and, in some cases, the audio card device drivers may be conflicting with each other. Our recommendation is never to have two soundcards in the same system. If you want to use an SB Live! card in a computer which already has an onboard card, you should disable the latter. To find out exactly how this is done, you need to contact either your computer dealer or the motherboard manufacturer. It is important to stress here, that in most cases, the card needs to be disable at the BIOS level and that disabling the device in the Device Manger only will very often not resolve the problem. Once the onboard device has been disabled, you can install the soundcard.
---
That text is why I'm thinking that they are trying to tell me that there is something else attached to the motherboard. And as far as BIOS, I have NO idea what they are talking about.

I did look more closely at my device manager, at that seems to back up their text above because under Sound, video and game controllers it lists the following:

Audio Codecs
Game Port for Creative
Legacy Audio Drivers
Legacy Videio Capture Devices
Media Control Devices
SB PCI (WDM)
Video Codecs

I have no idea what most of that is. I do know that the Game Port for Creative and the SB PCI (WDM) is for my new sound card. In addition, when I look at the properties for each, I found that the location for all of the devices (except for the two I mentioned here) is UNKOWN. I could be wrong here but is it unknown because I took the hardware out and now it doesn't where it is?? Also, under properties, each of those devices states "this device is working properly". How can it be working properly if it is no longer installed??

I have checked my speakers. They are plugged into the "rear out connector (connects to powered speakers for audio output)" and they do not have an on/off switch.

Any assistance in this would be greatly appreciated.

Jabez

 

[fenix]

you need to open your 'bios' setup menu before the operating system loads. There are different keys to hold down, depending on your motherboard.

Please state the name of the computer, model and processor if you know it. Then the key that you hold down to get into your bios menu can be determined.

Some the of common ones are the delete key, F1, F2, F10.

When you figure out how to get into your bios menu, you then go to the section and disable onboard sound.

It sounds like you have already installed the drivers ??
Did the 'directions' say to install the software drivers first, or install the PCI card first ? The sequence must be followed.

get back with sme moe info

 

[fenix]

OK, I see you stated the computer and I gave you some eroneous info........to get into the bios, if your computer beeps once about 10-20 seconds after you turn it on, try tapping the F1 key after this point, (about every second). You should bring up the bios setup menu.

?But, after rereading your post, Onboard sound has the sound technology built into the board chipset, so if you already had a sound card installed that you replaced, you weren't using onboard sound and just need to make sure the drivers are installed correctly. Look in device manager and double click the entries under sound, game controllers. They should say that they are working properly and that they are enabled. And there be no yellow exclamation marks or red X's next to each entry.

 

[SESaskDFC]

Howdy:

Try a set of powered speakers.. I think that will solve your problem!!

Murray

 

[kiddpete]

How do you know you are getting no sound? What is the sound source that you are not hearing? Have you tried any other sound sources?

 

[jabez1771]

fenix - I have installed both the drivers and the card. I removed the old card first, installed the new card in the same slot and then loaded the drivers just as the instructions told me to do. Also, I did look more closely at my device manager, at that seems to back up their text above because under Sound, video and game controllers it lists the following:

Audio Codecs
Game Port for Creative
Legacy Audio Drivers
Legacy Videio Capture Devices
Media Control Devices
SB PCI (WDM)
Video Codecs

I have no idea what most of that is. I do know that the Game Port for Creative and the SB PCI (WDM) is for my new sound card. In addition, when I look at the properties for each, I found that the location for all of the devices (except for the two I mentioned here) is UNKOWN. I could be wrong here but is it unknown because I took the hardware out and now it doesn't where it is?? Also, under properties, each of those devices states "this device is working properly". How can it be working properly if it is no longer installed?? -- None of the devices have yellow exclamations or red x's next to them.

SESaskDFC -- you're right, my speakers don't have "power" they just plug into the computer. I'll give that a try too to see if it works.

kiddpete -- I've tried several different sounds (wav files and some of my old files that I know have sound, there is nothing. I don't even hear the standard "computer beep" anymore and from what I read on Creative SB's website, it still sounds to me like I need to disable the "onboard sound" through the BIOS but I don't know how to do that.

--- Thanks everyone for your input and suggestions. Please let me know if you have anything else.

 

[BillR2003]

Hi Jabez. As was pointed out by Fenix, the onboard sound is something that is built onto the motherboard. Since your computer had a sound card in it you probably don't have onboard sound. Was the other sound card in there when you bought it? If so then it is unlikely that there is onboard sound. Also, are your speakers plugged into the right connection? There is one for amplified speakers and one for headphones. If your speakers aren't amplified and they are plugged into the amplified connection then you wouldn't hear sound.

 

[jabez1771]

OK. Thanks everyone.

I connected the speakers from another computer to this one. They are "powered" speakers. I was sure they were in the right connection but tried each one to be sure. Still nothing.

I also noted that the box states one of the minimum requirements as "headphones or amplified speakers". Is there a difference between "amplified" and "powered"???

In addtion, I found the following under System Information/Hardware Resources/Conflicts-Sharing:
IRQ 9 MICROSOFT ACPI-COMPLIANT SYSTEM
IRQ 9 SB PCI(WDM) -- (my new sound card)
IRQ 9 REALTEK RTL8139(A)-BASED PCI FAST ETHERNET ADAPTER
IRQ 9 INTEL(r) 82801AA USB UNIVERSAL HOST CONTROLLER
IRQ 9 INTEL(r) 82801AA SMBUS CONTROLLER

Does any of this mean anything??

One more thing.... I was looking at the add/remove hardware and found lots of things that look to me to be some type of speaker related thing. The first one I found was just in the general serach. It is "system speakers". All of the others I found after I checked the box "show hidden devices". i.e.,
1. "Realtek RTL8139(A) based PCI Fast Ethernet Adapter" (has a green logo in front of it)
2. "Multimedia Audio Controller" (has a yellow ? in front)
3. "PCI Simple Communications Controller" (has a yellow ? in front)
4. "PCI Input Device" (has a yellow ? in front)
along with several things that have a speaker icon in front of them (mostly Microsoft stuff)

Does anyone have any additional thoughts?

Thanks
Jabez

 

[fenix]

Hi Jabez...,



The itmes that you listed below are mostly software.

Audio Codecs
Game Port for Creative
Legacy Audio Drivers
Legacy Videio Capture Devices
Media Control Devices
SB PCI (WDM)
Video Codecs

I'm not saying it's impossible, but it seems unlikely that these items were listed under device manager, (which displays 'firstly', all the HARDWARE installed in your computer).

Under my device manager/Sound, Video and Game controllers,
it lists:

Dman audio accelerator
Dman -PCI virual mpu-401
dman- PCI Option-1
ESS-SOLO-1 PCI Audio Drive (this last item has a Red X in front of it because it was onboard sound that I disabled when I installed my PCI (slot) sound card.

Can you please verify that you were actually in ''Device Manager' ? I don't mean to be offensive, but you stated that you didn't have that much experience with computers and I'm checking all the bases. I don't have a W2K installed on any computers at the moment, but I believe that Device Manager lists hardware like in other Windows OSs.

-----------------------------------------


You mentioned that you get a little beep when an Email arrives. For an explanation, this sound is probably coming through your modem speaker, or even a small motherboard speaker if one is installed.

As was asked in a reply to you, what is your sound source ?

We have to establish how you are attempting to generate sound and what isn't working.

Have you tried to play an audio CD ? If so, and you don't get sound, did you remember to reconnect the little speaker wire that goes from the CD player to the sound card ?? And did you verify the CD is working by using the headphone out jack that may be installed on the front ?

Have you tried to play the audio files on your hard drive under Windows\Media ?? Or do you have any MP3 files saved ? These need a jukebox program, like Windows Media Player, RealPlayer, MMatch, etc.? Do you have a small speaker icon in the system tray area ?? If you do, do you hear a 'ding' ((Windows Media file) when you adjust the volume slider ?

Please verify all these questions and have patience...it's just a matter of going through every possibilty, and it's not always easy when your not sitting in front of the machine itself.

maon' back

btw, I just wanted to address the issue about powered and unpowered speakers. On the sound cards that I'm familiar with, the two outputs are 'Line Out' (to go into an audio component like a mixer board or amplifier; and Speakers Out, which can be used for powered and unpowered speakers as well as headphones. Maybe the newer sound cards have an actual headphone out, but I'm not familiar with them.

 

[BillR2003]

Fenix, he is looking under device manager. Those are all the drivers for the hardware. The computer I use has a SB and those are the same things listed.
Jabez, did you uninstall the drivers for the old soundcard before you installed the new one? That is probably why you have the question mark next to multimedia audio device.

 

[BillR2003]

Jabez, try changing the IRQ for the video card. That might be part of the problem. I don't know if you can do it by going into it's device manager. It may not let you do it manually. One way to do it is to move the sound card to another slot. You'd want to uninstall the drivers first and then reinstall when you had it in the new slot. I found this on another site. You might want to try it to change the IRQ.
Look in Device Manager under "Computer". If it's ACPI, let's change it to "Standard PC". You have three choices:

1. Enter BIOS setup and change the OS to Non-PnP and Manual in the PCI/PNP section. Enable "Reset" too. This doesn't change the PC type really. It makes the current setup work better.

2. Reinstall Windows 2000 from within Win2K (run Setup on the CD) and (on reboot) press F5 when you see "Setup is inspecting hardware..." and select the Standard PC HAL when prompted. Continue by using the Repair > Fast Repair method. This is the technique I recommend.

3. The easiest fix and one that works for me is to change the driver for "Computer" in Device Manager to Standard PC and restart. Go to the Driver tab and click Update driver> Next> Display a list...> Show all...> Standard PC. Although this technique works for me, I have heard of systems that will not restart when it's used. A word to the wise...

Hope this helps!

 

[jabez1771]

Well here's the scoop.

Fenix - First of all, I'm not offended at all. I'm just glad people are offering to help me!

what you said makes sense, the beep was probably coming from the modem speaker because it's not there anymore and the beep is gone too (it was part of the old sound card.)

As for "sound source", I'm sorry but I really have no idea on that one....

My new sound card as the following jacks:
joystick
rear out
line out/digital out
mic in
line in

I have the speakers connected to the "rear out" which is what I "believe" I'm supposed to do.

Also, just for grins, I went out and bought "amplified" speakers today.

BillR - I'm thinking you could be right. I did not uninstall the drivers before I installed the new one. The reason I didn't is because I (assumed!!!) that they were not installed to begin with because when I upgraded to WIN 2000 it told me it could not install them....

Here are my next steps as I see them.

first - I'll go ahead and give the "amplifed" speakers a try if that doesn't work, I should probably uninstall the new soundcard and then uninstall the old device drivers, then reinstall the new one (does this sound right???) If it does, can you please confirm that to uninstall the old device drivers I just need to go to the remove hardware and click to remove each one?? AND the BIG question for me is which ones do I need to remove. I'm really not sure what most of that means, I just know that it is listed under sound/video/game controllers.

Thanks again. Your help is trully appreciated.

Jabez

 

[jabez1771]

Here's where I am now...

Tried an audio CD. Didn't work. I tried the new speakers. Still nothing.

I then tried to figure out what I needed to uninstall. I found nothing in add/remove programs that indicated it was part of the sound card except my new sound card, so I moved to add/remove hardware. Wasn't sure what to remove here but I did take a chance and removed the following (which all had yellow ??'s next to them):

PCI Input Device
PCI Simple Communications Controller
Multimedia Audio Controller

-- Seemed logical to me???

Then looked under device manager - sound, etc and found the same list still sitting there. Nothing had changed....

Then uninstalled the new soundcard software (through add/remove programs). Figured, maybe I'd have to remove the new soundcard, replace the old soundcard and then go back to add/remove programs in order for it show me the sound programs that were out there to delete them.

Did all that. Rebooted computer. Went to add/remove programs. Still don't see anything that looks like a soundcard thing to me. Went to add/remove hardware. Guess what... the same three things I "removed" earlier are back now and I have that old "beep" again when I get an e-mail. Other than that, nothing seems to have changed.........

My computer is now sitting open and I am don't know where to go next. By the way, I keep seeing "Realtek RTL8139A based PCI Fast Ethernet Addapter" in the hardware listing. Can anyone tell me what it is??? Sounds like something sound related but I really don't know. There are also TWO called "Realtek RTL8139A based PCI Fast Ethernet Addapter - Eacfilt Miniport" - what ever that is????

I don't know if the following helps, but I hope it does because it's a lot to type. When I check the box to "show hidden devices" the following items all have speaker icons in front of them. They are:

BDA Slip De-Framer
NABTS/FEC VBI Codec (Codec was listed under sound device??)
Closed Caption Decoder
Microsoft Kernel GS Wavetable Synthesizer
World Standard Teletext Codec
Microsoft DirectMusic SW Synth (WDM)
BDA MPE Filter
Microsoft Streaming Service Proxy
Microsoft Streaming Clock Proxy
Microsoft Kernel System Renderer
Microsoft Kernel Audio Mixer
Microsoft Streaming Network Raw Channel Access
Microsoft Streaming Network Raw Channel Access
Microsoft Streaming Network Raw Channel Access (it's really there 3 times!)
Microsoft WINMM WDM Audio Compatibility Driver
Microsoft Streaming Tee/Sink-to-Sink Converter
Microsoft Streaming Tee/Sink-to-Sink Converter (listed twice)
BDA IPSink
Microsoft Streaming Quality Manager Proxy


Well, that's all I have. Please help....... (I'm drowning)

Jabez

 

[BillR2003]

Hi Jabez, why don't you tell us a little more about the computer? The model number and what the processor is. To help troubleshoot. As for the Ethernet card, that is the network card. You use it to connect to other computers. Or to go online via DSL or Broadband. Once you tell me more about which Pavillion it is I will try and find more information about it. Do you have any other cards installed besides the sound card? It seems the computer is finding other things that it doesn't have drivers for. Be patient. I know it can be a pain when things don't work!

 

[fenix]

Well, let's go back to the basic stufff, so I ask again...

is there a speaker icon in your system tray ?

does it 'ding' when you adjust the slider that appears when you hold the pointer on the icon ?

Have you double clicked the speaker icon (if it's there), to open the master audio window, and made sure that the master, the wave, and the cd mute box ARE NOT checked ????

 

[jabez1771]

Thanks Bill & Fenix
I can tell you that it is an HP Pavillion. Sticker on the back says 8750C Pent III. That's about all I know. I can find the manual on it.

I used to have a speaker icon down in the right corner but since I upgraded to WIN 2000 from 98 it is no longer there. It did everything you said (when I had it). Also I double checked that mute was off when the new sound card was installed.

Jabez

 

[fenix]

Did the card's drivers say they were compatible with W2K ??


If so, then I think we have to consider that the new sound card is bad, or became damaged when it was installed . Do you have another computer to try it in ? Did you follow ESD procedures when replacing it ? (static discharge damage protection, like draining the static electricity in your body to ground via a ground wrist strap, or touching or holding one hand to the chasis of the box). It wouldn't be the first time that a computer component was damaged by static electricity. Another thing to consider is that many PCI device manufacturers recommend that ALL power is off to the motherboard before changing a PCI card. (Newer boards like yours have a small electrical charge that always keeps them hot, even when the power switch is turned off). Yu need to turn off the power strip or unplug it from the wall. At this point, I would take it back and exchange it for a new one. Just tell them that it's defective. This wouldn't be the first time a card was defective eithe.

Also, did you consider trying your original sound card ??
It just seems that all you had to do was to find the correct drivers for it in the first place, if they existed. W2K IS more stable than 98, but one of it's drawbacks was availability of drivers.

 

[Murgle]

As it is an HP pavillion, does it have the speaker volume control knob on the keyboard? Mine did - came with a set of Polk non-powered speakers, the volume control (amplification too i think) is via the keyboard - the multimedia audio controller may have been something to do with this, not sure, as I don't have it anymore. Not sure if any of this is helpful or not

Ahhhhh, I see you have a machine that goes Bing!

 

[BillR2003]

Did you do a clean install when you installed Win2000 or did you upgrade it over Win98? Also,I looked on HP's website and it has nothing about using Win2000 with that model. So there's no help there.

 

[jabez1771]

I'M DONE!!! I HAVE SOUND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
THANKS VERY MUCH EVERYONE FOR YOUR SUPPORT AND HELP!!!!!!


Here's what I did...

I remembered that when I reinstalled the old soundcard the computer "found new hardware". It wanted to search for new drivers. I told it NO. So I thought I take a chance and restart the computer and tell it to find new drivers this time (thinking that if it installed them, I could then remove them and go on from there). So I did but it could not find the drivers so it gave me the option to disable each device, of course, I told it to disable each one!!! BTW - each of those "new hardware" pieces were the exact ones that I had guessed about earlier and "removed" from the hardware list -- good guess!

I then took the old soundcard out again and put the new one in. I reinstalled the new software, restarted the computer and I HAVE SOUND!!!!!!!!!!!!! All sound works, files, CD's, windows stuff, everything!!!

Oh... one more thing. My husband was up here at the end. He said "Plug your old speakers back in. They are Polk speakers. Their much better than those things." Gave it a try just to be sure. The old speakers do work but not like they used to. Even with the volume at max, you just hear it. So I plugged the new speakers back in. Everythings cool now!!!

Thanks so much for your help! You guys have been great.

******* just fyi on the name Jabez1771 -- Jabez is my oldest ancestor that I've been able to trace to. He was born in January of 1771 in Rhode Island. **********

Catherine