Please help -- onboard sound not recognized

[imported_carol]

Hi! Computer running smoothly until one day when I turned it on and the hive registry was corrupt. I finally had to do a recovery from the WinXP disk. That went fine except for a sound issue. The onboard audio is not recognized. I updated the driver. Do you think it could be dead? Should I install a separate sound card? I have spent countless hours trying to figure this out. I know there are a lot of smart people on this board. Please help me.

Thanks so much for any suggestions. I am fairly computer literate. I built this computer from scratch and was very proud of myself for doing so. I have had it for about a year and running smoothly until this happened.

 

[Lazlo Panaflex]

Hi there,
Did you check the Device Manager to see if there's any yellow exclamation points over the sound devices? In any case, I'd recommend uninstalling them, and then uninstalling the software (I'm assuming it's Realtek?) Then reboot & reinstall the drivers that were working for you before the problem appeared.

(If all else fails, you could do a fresh reinstall of XP.)

 

[imported_carol]

There are no yellow exclamation points under Device Manager. Everything is running properly. When I run dxdiag under Sound it says no sound card is installed. The motherboard is Gigabyte Pentium 4 with onboard video Realtec 'AC97. I think it should be called RealJunk. I will never buy another cheap motherboard again.

My next question is do you think the onboard video is bad? Should I install a separate sound card?

I just ran Windows Repair off my original WinXP Pro disk. Everything went well, but still no sound card.

I am trying to avoid doing a complete reformat, but I realize I may have no choice. Can the onboard video go back without destruction of the entire MB?

Realtec and BIOS drivers were updated successfully. It just will not recognize that I have a sound card.

Any other suggestions?

Thanks, Carol

 

[Team42]

Carol, which Gigabyte board do you have? I realise you've said you've reinstalled the Realtek Drivers, but if you're using onboard sound, you may have missed something. For instance, your sound manager could be defaulted to HD rather than AC'97.

Post your board name and lets see what we can sort out for you (if anything).

T42

 

[imported_carol]

I would appreciate any help you can give.

My motherboard is Gigabyte 8VM800PMD-775RH

Video VIA/S3G Unichrome Pro IGP

WinXP Pro SP2

File System NTFS

No audio devices -- will not detect -- all drivers working properly.

 

[imported_carol]

Sound manager is showing on taskbar but will not work when I right click on it. After right click, it shows Sound Manager, Multimedia, Windows Media Player, Sound Recorder, Volume Control. It shows not installed.

 

[Team42]

Going to bed now (it's 01:55am here). If no-one else gets you up and running in the meantime, I'll see what I can dig out in the morning.

T42

 

[Team42]

OK, Carol, let's see where we can get to now...

Do you have the Gigabyte Chipset Driver installation CD?

- Yes? Good.
- No, not so good, but not to worry. Download both Audio and Chipset Driver from Gigabyte.



The BIOS set-up for your board is similar to mine (GA-P35C-DS3R).

In BIOS, under integrated peripherals, you will find AC97 Audio. Make sure this is set to Auto if you wish to use onboard sound (it should default to this, but it's best to check).

Press F10 and let the PC boot into Windows.

Next, go to Control Panel, and select Sounds and Audio Devices.

Under Hardware, you may find a reference to RealTek Audio. If so, double-click it to get Properties. If you can get this far, delete the driver (if one is installed).

Go back into Control Panel, check under Add of Remove Programmes, and delete any RealTek Audio Drivers (if there are any). You may wish to run Driver Sweeper as well, if you favour the belts and braces approach.

Restart your PC.

Go back into Control Panel and Select Add Hardware (if the Wizard hasn't already started telling you it's found new hardware). If you've got the CD, insert it when instructed by the Add Hardware Wizard. If you're using downloaded drivers, follow that route (can you remember which folder you downloaded the drivers to?)

Follow the Wizard to RealTek AC97 and install the Audio driver you downloaded.

I realise that is probably pretty much what you've done already, but I'd recommend that you seek out and remove the RealTek drivers/devices rather than just trying to re-install them.

Then Select Sound Manager from the tray and set up your system, particularly on the Mixer and Audio I/O tabs. If you can't find Sound Manager, er......um......

LOOK! An Eagle! ------------------------------>

*runs and hides*

If this doesn't work, your OS may need a reinstallation, as Old Hoss suggested.

Good luck. :thumbsup:

As for onboard graphics, it depends on what you want. If you don't play games, it's probably fine. AC97 Audio is probably sufficient too, but you can pick up a Soundblaster Audigy SE for next to nothing these days.

 

[imported_carol]

I tried all of your suggestions plus more, but nothing worked.

This problem started when a hive file in the registry became corrupt. I had to do a Recovery but the sound issue could not be resolved.

Yes, I ended up doing a new installation of the OS, which was successful. At least when these computer glitches happen, it is a good learning experience.

I use this computer for business. What are your recommendations for backup? External HD? Some type of drive image?

And I will look into adding a separate sound card.

THANKS! I love this board.


Carol
http://www.medi-scribe.net

 

[imported_carol]

I use a headset to listen to .wav files. I would like to purchase a USB headset. Would you recommend a USB sound card?