No Sound

[WizardsPrincess]

Well, Hi Overclockers! I am again here with a dilema. I haven't learned much yet from my last visit GEEZE! Reguardless I have screwed up and erased my sound on my computer. I have tried to re-install this , new driver etc..etc...but to know avail, I don't even know what sound card I had or really anything about this process or what to do next. I run windows 98 2nd. AMD Athlon..Any help would be wonderful. For my son to hear his games and Mom to hear her music once again will be a good day!! Thank's for any help you will give me.

 

[o770]

welcome to the forums.

i would recommend you first to take a look at the manual you got with the computer, it could be either the mainboard one or the sound card. you probably got a CD with the correct drivers for your sound.


then you could open the Control Panel and try to find the sound card drivers installation inside the panel "Add/Remove Programs". if you find it - and if you already have the drivers CD - you could try to remove the current drivers and re-install them from the CD.
if you got a corrupted installation of one device driver, you need sometimes first to remove the current installation before proceeding with a new one.


it would help us to know what happened before you lose the sound. did you install some program anything?
if you right click "My Computer" in your desktop you get to the Device Manager. open it and look for the sound drivers or anything unusual (with an exclamation mark or unknown devices) and let us know if you find any.

 

[WizardsPrincess]

Hi Thanks for responding quickly, I loaned my manual out and it was never returned. The CD I perhaps got with this computer is no where to be found, or perhaps I have it but I am un-certain that it's the correct cd. I deleted the drivers with the exclamation points. I tried to get a new driver the wizard tries to find it then it can't for some reason. it also says to try to search for your correct driver by name? I don't know that info. Sorry I am completly cluless about this. I also tried to fix after re-booting for the new drivers to come back but still NADA....What was happening before I lost the sound was that I was somewhere I should not have been doing something I had NO knowledge of....WWAAAAAA!

 

[o770]

those wizards wont find new drivers if you have no one already installed.

do u remember the name of the drivers you removed from the device manager, the ones with the exc points?

at the boot screen, right when you turn on the computer, it will show you the brand/model of the your mainboard. if you could write it down i could do a research and check if thats not an onboard sound device and point you to the correct drivers you should get.


in the device manager you will find a tab named something like "sound, video etc controllers". open this tab and check wether you have any sound device installed or not, if so what it is.

 

[KGH]

hi,
since you have no idea what soundcard it would be and no manual and stuck with win98, tough call
but still able to get on the Net is still *lucky
pull out the soundcard and hold it in your hand and www.google.com and enter few model # or code names u find on ur soundcard and you will find ur driver in few mins

if it is on-board soundcard you can go into the motherboard website they should have audio driver for download

so what if cannot come up with a monther model or brand ?
you can go to www.crucial.com and download the Belaire ( if I spell right ) and run on your system and hopefully it can identify your hardware components


'Gluck

 

[o770]

WizardsPrincess, i thought the wizard you were talking about was another thing.
as Kevin suggests, perhaps your best bet would be opening your case and to take a look inside.

hopefully the drivers missing are the sound device ones. if you got a sound CARD chances are you will easily find out which one it is, since the new cards are very well labeled, and you would get to see the label really easily.
if you cant find a card, you can still find out which mainboard you have and we could point you to where to get the drivers for it.

 

[o770]

btw, your speakes cable should be hooked up to your sound device: if you have them connected to a card, thats the sound card; if not then you have an onboard sound device.

 

[WizardsPrincess]

Sound..

Thanks SO much for your help ..OK when my Wizard searched for new drivers For PCI Communications device, it asks me what do you want windows to do? I clicked seach for best driver 4 my device. I looked at a list of all the drivers in a specific location so that I could select the driver I wanted. I chose Sound, Video, and game controller. I kept getting..Windows was unable to locate a driver for this .Then it goes on to have me select the maufacturer and model of my hardware..(Many to choose from) (oh BTW) I looked inside my tower??????? lost.....on which is the right card... It also said if I have a disk that contains the up-dated driver..click have disk...well..You know I can't find that..It kept saying WARNING WARNING WILL ROBINSON go back to Overclockers!! lol...I think I need NEW medication!! help me!!! lol
Oie vey!

 

[o770]

LOL.
well it really doesnt seem like a serious problem actually. but now it appear to be missing another device driver, not (at least) only the sound card one.
Windows could just be confused about what kind of device you got and it asks you about a communication device that is usually a modem or a network card.

again, you will need to find out which sound device you have so ppl can help ya.
there are some other things you could make sure they are fine like mixer adjustments - the volume, balance and such, and the cables... there is the sound setup in the Control Panel too.

lost.....on which is the right card...

the right card is the one you have your speakers cable connected to. if the speakers cable are not hooked up to some kind of a card (which would be the sound card) then thats an onboard sound device and you would need to know what mainboard you got so you could look for the right drivers to this board.

 

[KGH]

with win98 , 90% you have to provide the driver software else the windows itself does not install and use the device correctly.
to check if you have your soundcard installed right
you can go to Control panel => system=>hardware=> device manager and check to see if any yellow ! on SOund/Video/Game control ..( or something like that ) and also from CONTROL PANEL => SOund/multimedia .. go to AUDIO tab and check ..if it is grey out then your soundcard is not detected and installed right.
then you need to open your case.. how to locate which is ur sound card ? well look on the back of your case and see those MIC/line-in/speaker jacks ? that is the card
and search for the driver as I mentioned earlier
good luck
or just put in win2k

 

[WizardsPrincess]

Were getting closer thanks to OVERCLOCKERS!!!!! Thanks so much for ALL the help!
OK two things I saw after I vaccumed the dust!!
Aztech Vanta-8/Vanta-16.....Was this the sound card? There are three green cards like this the bottom being my DSL card.
I also saw as I booted up-Onboard USB Controller is that helpful to you in anyway? Thanks for hanging in there with me. Don't pull your hair out on me yet!