• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

Help, my old Vortex drivers are f$cking with new sound card!

P

PullMyFinger

Senior member
I made the mistake of trying to install a Vortex II sound card on a Win2K machine. There were no official drivers for it but I downloaded some which were recommended. Long story short, they didn't work, machine didn't like sound card, couldn't uninstall all old Vortex files/drivers.

I replaced the Vortex with a Hercules Fortissimo II and everything seemed ok, then slowly I started noticing that one channel wouldn't work, then certain sound layers were playing much louder than others, then I would loose all volume control. After uninstalling and then reinstalling the drivers, all is well again,.... for now. I'm positive that when Windoze starts up, I still see a quick A3D window flash on the top right corner of my screen and I believe that this is causing a conflict with my new sound card.

My registry is still loaded with Aureal keys so my question is, can I simply delete every Aureal or Vortex related key? Any help would be appreciated as I really don't want to reinstall Win2K.
 
That's weird. I installed a Vortex II soundcard, the Diamond MX300 on my dad's Win2K system with no problems. Win2K automatically detected and installed it, and it was so seemless that I didn't even see a single popup window or confirmation window appear. It was that simple...
 
Yeah, I can't understand what happened either because I gave it to a friend who also has Win2K and he said it installed fine. Maybe it was just a fluke with my system.
 
I hear varied reports of Aureal cards working with Win2k/XP - some it's no problem, some take a little tweaking, and the rest just plain choke on the card.
As for the A3D splash at startup - some things to check:
I don't know if 2k has this, as I'm in XP, but, in Device Manager, click View -> Show all Devices. Look for and remove anything Aureal or Vortex.
Close that, and go to the Add/Remove Programs applet in Control Panel; again, look for anything Aureal and remove it.
Next thing is to go to the startup programs section in the registry, should be around HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
Something like that probably, and also in the RunOnce, RunServices....a few other iterations. Look for anythat suspicious; do back up the keys first though before deleting, in case something was important.

As for deleting the Aureal entries in the registry, I'd think that wouldn't do anything bad, but it could still be risky. Heck, I just did a scan in my registry in WinXP, never used an Aureal card with this installation, and there's one Aureal key present; it just is concerned with spash screens and sounds, not actual driver/program files, like you seem to still have.
 
Thanks Jeff,
I actually did most of the things which you suggest and there isn't anything which shows up in the device manager or under add/remove programs. I hadn't specifically checked the particular registry entry which you mentioned, I'll try that right now. As far as the number of Aureal entries in my registry, I did a search and found probably 30 separate instances.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top