[nick0440]

I just recently installed a new motherboard (with the same onboard soundcard) but now the sound isnt working at all, I cant even open up the volume conrtol manager, it says i dont have any sound device installed. Im using Realtek AC'97 Audio drivers.

I also have a bunch of "?" next to some devices called "unknown" in the "other devices" tab in device manager

Edited by nick0440, 19 June 2006 - 03:47 PM.

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Your sound card drivers will need to be re-installed. Even though you said the new board has the same onboard soundcard as the old one, I suspect there is a slight difference in the actual chip. Remember - AC97 is just a standard, not a model number.

Your new board should have come with a CD containing drivers. You should be able to install the sound card drivers by simply running the CD (most of them will auto-start), & selecting the audio driver install from the menu.

If the CD doesn't have this type of option, you could also install them from device manager instead. i.e :
open D/M, double click on the first 'unknown' device & select the Update driver button. When it asks you for the location of the drivers, point it at the motherboard CD & let it search for them.

You will probably find that once the first 'unknown device' has been correctly installed, Windows will find & automatically install the rest of the sound card components. If it doesn't, then repeat the above process for each unknown device in D/M

[Samm]

Your sound card drivers will need to be re-installed. Even though you said the new board has the same onboard soundcard as the old one, I suspect there is a slight difference in the actual chip. Remember - AC97 is just a standard, not a model number.

Your new board should have come with a CD containing drivers. You should be able to install the sound card drivers by simply running the CD (most of them will auto-start), & selecting the audio driver install from the menu.

If the CD doesn't have this type of option, you could also install them from device manager instead. i.e :
open D/M, double click on the first 'unknown' device & select the Update driver button. When it asks you for the location of the drivers, point it at the motherboard CD & let it search for them.

You will probably find that once the first 'unknown device' has been correctly installed, Windows will find & automatically install the rest of the sound card components. If it doesn't, then repeat the above process for each unknown device in D/M

[nick0440]

ive already tried what you have described. check this link for another conversation on this topic.

http://forum.oscr.ar...11183#post11183

[Samm]

OK, thanks for the link.

From what you've said in the other forum, suggests to me that the chipset drivers haven't been installed properly. When you replaced the motherboard, did you install these chipset drivers from the CD?

Also, what do you have listed under the USB controller section of device manager? Do any of the entries have a yellow exclaimation mark (!) next to them?

Can you also let me know what make & model the new motherboard is please?

[nick0440]

the motherboard Manuf. is DFI the make is INFINITY RS482

None of the USB entries have exclamation marks.

Yes I installed the chipset drivers from the CD.

[Samm]

OK, here are my suggestions. (You may not like all of them!) :

1. Back up everything of any importance (i.e docs, mp3's, address book, favourites etc) AND create a system restore point

2. Boot the system in Safe mode. Open Device manager & delete any devices that have a (!) next them, all devices that are marked as Unknown or are in the 'other' section of D/M. Delete all the audio related devices.

3. Delete any 'ghosted' (duplicated) devices and any old devices (ie from the previous motherboard) from D/M. These only show up in safe mode so check the whole of device manager for duplicated/obsolete entries

4. Reboot the system normally. When rebooted, you must insert the driver CD & install DirectX 9.0C, followed by Microsofts .NET framework (unless already installed of course)
Next install the ATI Catalyst drivers, followed by the audio drivers. If it asks you to reboot at any point, then do before carrying on the driver installs.

WARNING
This may of may not work. If it doesn't, it could leave your install of XP in a right mess. (Hence the system restore!)
To be honest, when you replaced the motherboard you should have formatted the drive & performed a completely fresh re-install of XP. You may still have to do this if you can't get it to work any other way.

Let me know what happens

[nick0440]

how do u suggest i backup 3.5gigs of mp3's?

should i still install the onboard ATI drivers even though i installed other ATI drivers that came with my graphix card?

Edited by nick0440, 19 June 2006 - 06:00 PM.

[Samm]

RE. the ATI drivers - the ATI Catalyst drivers aren't just for the video card, they also contain the ATI chipset drivers, which you do need.

Re. the MP3s - you only really need to back these up if you have to format the drive. However, if you don't back them up yet & it turns out that you do need to format the drive etc, backing up at this stage will be more of a problem if Windows isn't loading or working correctly!

You could back up the MP3's by one of these methods. Obviously which one you use will depend on what hardware etc you have available :

1. several CDRs or one DVD-R (assuming you have a burner)

2. a second hard drive or external hard drive

3. In the unlikely event you happen to have more than one partition on your primary hard disk, then you can backup to one of the other partitions as you would only need to format the C partition to reinstall XP.
Alternatively, if you have a copy of Partition Magic (or similar) and are happy to use it, you could create a second partiton by shrinking the size of the C partition & creating a new partition in the free space

4. Install your hard disk in someone elses computer as a slave & transfer your data across to their drive temporarily. Wouldn't advise this option however unless you are familar with the procedure

[nick0440]

i just typed dxdiag into my start/run: and a bunch of new audio devices appeared all with ! by them here they are:


Microsoft Kernel Acoustic Echo Canceller
Microsoft Kernel Audio Splitter
Microsoft Kernel DLS Synthesizer
Microsoft Kernel DRM Audio Descrambler
Microsoft Kernel GS Wavetable Synthesizer
Microsoft Kernel Wave Audio Mixer


If I bought a new Sound Card would it help in this situation?

Edited by nick0440, 19 June 2006 - 09:20 PM.

[Samm]

I don't think buying another sound card will necessarily help. There is a slight chance that your onboard one is faulty & hence the problems you are getting, but it seems more likely that the problem is driver or codec related, rather than hardware.

You said that a load of new devices suddenly appeared in D/M, all with yellow (!) by them - if you highlight each one in turn & select 'properties', what error is reported in the properties window?

[nick0440]

i type dxdiag in 'run' and new devices appear.. the ones i listed and now I have found that even an unknown device appears.

the error reported is

Windows cannot load the device driver for this hardware. The driver may be corrupted or missing. (Code 39)

Click Troubleshoot to start the troubleshooter for this device.



Also, when I look at AC'97 Audio device, it says the service is working but hasnt been started yet, any idea on how to start it?

Edited by nick0440, 21 June 2006 - 10:45 AM.

[nick0440]

fixed!!

solution: when all else fails use the REPAIR option for windows XP.

to access this option place the windows xp CD in your CD-Rom and reboot your computer. (it doesnt matter if you use the winXP cd that came with ur comp, u can use a friends or buy a new one, just have a product key. if xp came with your comp it product key can be found on the sticker attached to your computer). If your bios is set to boot from Hard Drive first you must select boot from CD-Rom.

Heres the important part, after the CD boots select INSTALL not REPAIR.
It will search for other windows versions on your comp. When it finds a previous install for XP hit "R" for repair. Let the comp do its job it will load files and restart automatically, after this process you will be asked to register with microsoft and possibly activate your product. (read those very clear instructions that are given to you straight from the setup program) After this everything whould work OK.

NOTE: I didnt have to unistall previous drivers to get the device to work, the problem lie in Windows itself therefore it only makes sense to repair windows instead of spending hours trying to fix drivers that are perfectly fine.

If this doesnt work and you've exhausted all other resources, your only option is to reinstall windows. You can google guides for reinstalling windows, I hope this helps everyone !!!

[Samm]

Glad to hear you have fixed it. Nice to know that XP's repair option does occasionally work!