Stupid problem...new card...sound is now ruined...help!

[WarmMachineME]

Ok, this is going to sound stupid, but I have run out of options, and have no choice but to come to you guys for help.

I just installed a new graphics card. The Xtasy GeForce4 MX420 64MB PCI.

Now then, here's the deal. I installed the card, fired up Grand Theft Auto 3 to test it out, and the results were beautiful. But, I soon noticed that I had no sound. And when I turned the volume all the way up, I could just barely hear the game's soundtrack. Barely.

I messed around with a few things, wondering if I had indirectly affected the sound when I disabled the in-board graphics card. I restarted the computer, and to my surprise my chosen start up sound came blaring out of the speakers at maximum volume. I found this especially odd, seeing as how when I looked at the volume controls, they were nearly completely down. I played with the controls, and found that as I moved it, the volume varied randomly from maximum to non-existant, and the sound moved from one speaker to the other to both.

Now, logic told me that the sound should not have been affected by the installation of a new graphics card, so I started going down the list of usual suspects. I...

-checked the power

-checked all the connections, twice

-opened the computer to make sure I hadn't jarred anything when installing the card

-checked to make sure my in-board graphics card wasn't one of those integrated graphics + sound monsters, and it wasn't (The card itself is labeled as the ESS Allegro in my device manager.)

-checked all the properties of both the sound card, the new graphics card, and the previous graphics card in the device manager.

So, I'm at a loss. I have no idea what could be happening. All I know is that the sound worked fine prior to the installation of the new card, and now it doesn't.

I'd be exceedingly grateful for any suggestions anyone might have.

Just in case it may matter, the rest of my system's vitals are -

512MB Ram
850 Mhz PIII

[Cricket]

Hi WarmMachineME,

Did you update DirectX when you installed the new video card?

Cricket

[newme]

to help yourself get a quick helpful answer you might want to put more details if this is a home built comp, or propriety(hp, dell).what type of sound card also if you checked irq assignments it will help some of the more experienced people help you with your prob.the more info the better
good luck

[newme]

sorrry, you beat me cricket

[WarmMachineME]

To answer your questions...

It's a Compaq Presario 5000.

No, DirectX wasn't updated when the card was installed.

And I'm afraid I have no idea what IRQ is, sorry.

I'll go see about updating DirectX, and see if that helps, and I'll do a little digging and find out as much as I can about my sound card and post it here eventually. Thanks very much everyone for your time thus far.

[WarmMachineME]

Here's what I know about the sound card,

ESS Allegro PCI Audio (WDM)
Hardware version : 018

If anyone knows where to look to find more about it, by all means, show this newbie the light.

[mike breck]

Yes after changing a graphics card or an updating graphics drivers, you should reinstall DX.

When you've done that, go to Start Menu>Run and type in dxdiag.
This will bring up the DX control panel where you can test your video card and soundcard.

I don't think ESS soundcards are good quality ones. The card may have just gone South and the fact you were installing a graphics card is purely coincidental.

Can you test the ESS card on another machine to see if it's working?

[WarmMachineME]

Reinstalling DX seems to have corrected the problem. Everything works as it should now.

Thanks for your help everyone