Stupid sound card

Okay... I've got a RealTek AC'97 on board sound card that won't work. I've un/reinstalled the driver, made sure the inside of the pc was clean, rebooted, turned up the volume to the max, etc... still doesn't work. The speakers do work though... so it's not a problem with the speakers.

When I did the dxdiag I got this message: DirectSound test results: Failure at step 19 (User verification of software): HRESULT = 0x00000000 (error code)


Um, I'm running win xp pro... and I don't know what else you'd need to know... but I hope someone can help!

Are you sure you installed the right drivers? Try getting them from the motherboard's site if you built your computer, or from your pc manufacturer if you bought it.

Yes, it's the right driver, most recent according the website as well... unfortunately, it still doesn't work.

Any other suggestions?

Uninstall it via device manager, and then run the Realtek audio setting in driver cleaner pro to make sure it's nuked. Next, try to use windows update -> custom -> then the hardware/software tabs on the left side. It might come up with a realtek audio driver that you can try out. If that doesn't work run the one you found on the mb manufacturer's website and install it after cleaning it out with the program I listed above.

If that doesn't work then it may be possible that the audio chip has just fried itself somehow. Also, realtek AC '97 doesn't handle well when overclocking in my experience, so that may be part of it.


Just to be sure- you are running the latest directx version (9.0c) correct?

Is the onboard sound enabled in the BIOS?

dan