[random_factor]

I recently had a little computer trouble in the form of an exploding PSU, which led to the complete rebuilding of my PC. I got an expert to do it, because I don't know enough about computers to go poking about in their insides. Basically what he did was to frankenstein the working parts of the exploding computer with the usable parts of another computer I had but never used due to its tiny HD and overheating problem. Now I have the best of both PCs in one machine, which functions brilliantly. There is however one problem. As part of the reconstruction process, my friendly expert had to wipe the HD and re-install the OS (WinXP) and everything else. In doing so, he forgot to install any drivers for my soundcard, which means that my soundcard reads as Error Code 28: Driver Not Installed, rendering my PC silent. When I asked the expert about this, he said that if I googled the serial number for the card, I'd be able to download a driver, probably free of charge. This sounded pretty good, but I can't seem to find the number he was referring to. The only thing I can find that might be it is a set of 'Hardware Id' numbers under the 'Details' tab in the Multimedia Audio Controller Properties window, accessed via the Device Manager. Those numbers look like this:

PCI\VEN_1039&DEV_7012&SUBSYS_58501462&REV_A0
PCI\VEN_1039&DEV_7012&SUBSYS_58501462
PCI\VEN_1039&DEV_7012&CC_040100
PCI\VEN_1039&DEV_7012&CC_0401

Can anybody explain to me exactly what I need to do to obtain a driver for this soundcard?

[The Admiral]

Is the sound card integrated into your motherboard? What motherboard do you have? What make/model/manufacturer is your computer?

[Tyger]

Download and install something called Everest Home Edition. There is a very good likely hood that it will tell you what sound device you have, and any other hardware too. If you can print the page that results, or save it to a floppy or CD so that you will have that information later.

[random_factor]

Cheers Tyger, good tip. Everest gave me the name, and from there on it was simple. Turns out I have an SiS 7012, so all I had to do was pop over to the SiS homepage and download the driver from there. Now I have full glorious sound.