Sound Drivers! ..

[mb26]

i installed Xp pro..

Ok, 'multimedia audio controller' is giving me problems.. its asking me to install it and i'm not sure what i should be installing (and if it is causing problems with the rest of my sound drivers installation....)

i have Trident 4Dwave - DX sound which is onboard sound on my CB649M-SI motherboard.

also i'm not sure where to get the drivers from.. should i try and use the 'w95'/ w9x drivers or the NT4 drivers?

i had the sound working at one point... i think it was in some kind of software mode, and it crashed my winamp and/or WMP.. then i pressed 'end now' when the box came up, but it didn't close, and when i tried pressing CTRL-ALT-DEL, nothing came up. also when i tried to shut down it would not. So, i reinstalled XP.

i currently have no sound (other than when i plug my speakers into my CD drive's headphone port and play a CD.. the only thing thats been keeping me sane :) )

i am worried to install anything, i have downloaded a couple of drivers (from soundcard-drivers.com ) which are claimed to work with Win XP but i'm not sure if they will work for me.. when i load them up they say 4Dwave NX . i understand the NX and DX are similar or something but i dunno if the drivers would work for me

also on the CD (for my motherboard) in the NT folder (in the 'sound' directory) when i go through the add hardware thing, it has 'PCI audio' and 'PCI audio gameport' should i install any of these first or not atall :confused:

the installer on the CD works kind of but it brings up an error, and then the sound doesn't work
trident's website has a 'drivers' section but when u get to a certain point it craps out 'page not found' stuff.
and well if i ever search for Daewoo (my motherboard manufacture-er) all i get is their car websites :( .

what should i do?

[mb26]

Also, i have an old Aztech 'Sound 16C SRS 3D' sound card from an older machine.. it plugs into the (what i think is the pre- PCI port thing) black slot (which is bigger than the PCI) above (or below) the PCI slots.

when i tried installing this i dont think it worked initially.. but perhaps it might with something or other, so this is a possibility if i can't get the onboard sound to work (however i dont think it even supports playing two sounds at once so its definately not preferable)

[mb26]

i tried installing the downloaded 'so called' XP drivers and it gave me the BSOD.. so i guess that counts them out

[MrBigglesworth]

You download this one?:

http://www.soundcard-drivers.com/drivers/88/88972.htm

user: drivers pass:all

[mb26]

yes that is the one i downloaded and it gave me the BSOD... i think they are the Win2000 drivers or something

[GaryRouth]

You'd want to stay away from that old ISA sound card if you can.

The onboard might be OK, but you need to clean things up for it to have a chance. Boot the pc in Safe Mode and remove all your sound devices from Device Manager, and remove your sound software from Add/Remove Programs in Control Panel.

When rebooting from Safe Mode back to Normal, first enter Bios Setup, and make sure the onboard is Enabled in all the right places.

I know WindowsUpdate just about killed you last time, but if there's a driver that will work with XP, that's probably where it is. If not, you might save your sanity and get better sound with either a low-end CMI PCI card (~$10 USD) or an older TurtleBeach (~$35 Santa Cruz oem). An Audigy comes in at $50 USD - sorry I don't know the UK prices-
. . . Gary

[late edit: . . . just took a look at the motherboard manual for that Daewoo. Windows 98se is actually a better match for that model: might be best to go "back to the future" with that one. Must struggle a bit with XP]

[glc]

You are experiencing the problems that frequently crop up with obsolete (and not very common when it was current) hardware in a new operating system. That's what the Microsoft Hardware Compatibility List is for, you sure aren't gonna find drivers for long discontinued hardware from the manufacturer, and if M$ doesn't build in driver support in the OS, you are out of luck.

I haven't seen the Trident 4Dwave since 1998 and that Aztech was made for Packard Bell and Windows 3.1. Neither one of those was anywhere near "mainstream".

Buy a current cheap soundcard that is WinXP logo certified, shouldn't cost you more than 20 bucks US.

[mb26]

it doesn't really struggle with XP, it runs pretty much as well as ME does w/ 288 mb ram.. and anyway i still have ME installed and (because of the sound) i have been using that again... (why does everyone discount winME?.. i find it wayy better than 98se)

and yep, *suprise* i realise its all old and not mainstream but i was only about 13 when i brought it and it was a lot cheaper than something that was mainstream and i knew nothing to build my own, and it has served me well.. and the soundcard was just lying around i thought i may aswell use it if it was going to work.. XP seems to detect most of it but it doesn't end up working, perhaps i needed to disable the on-board.. but anyway it doesn't matter that much i'll live :)