another lack of sound problem

[Sqwerticus]

Hi Nice Help People

I have religiously trawled through all related sound/soundcard issues, and have resolved the problem up to a point....

Brief History (well kinda brief)

Hard drive on 2nd hand Packard Bell died. GretaP very kindly talked me through making sure it really was dead, and some 6 months down the line I have bought a new drive, and a new unused version of 98SE.

Clean install of brand new 98SE on a brand shiny new Maxtor 40GB hard drive.
So far so good.

Have managed to reinstall all the goodies to get it online again. Woo hoo!

Downloaded AIDA (as per suggestions in other posts) and established the make etc of the sound card - Aureal Vortex 1 AU8820B2.

Downloaded and installed the right driver from SoundcardDrivers.com.

Feeling very pleased with myself up until now, but......

There is no sound output WHATSOEVER. It seems to think it is playing sound - ie there are no error messages. I know the CDROM/ReWriter works ok, as I installed the new OS from it. WMP knows what the CD is. It also plays the pretty pictires in sync with what I know the CD is playing. The onboard sound thinks it is playing too, if I sample the sounds via the Control Panel.

I have tried everything that is suggested in all the other threads:
Nothing in the volume control is muted, the volume controls are all turned up, I have tried all possible configurations of plugs in & out (of both the pc and the monitor (built in monitor speakers). 'Built in monitor speakers' is correctly selected on the relevant menu. Its not the speakers, as my headset doesn't detect sound either when plugged in.

I know that the microphone on my headset is working, as I have whistled into the built in recorder, and it plays back on the wave oscillation type doodah. There is no SOUND though.

I've had the side panel off, just to make sure all connectors are all in order.

Is there something blindingly obvious I am missing? Do you need other/different/better information?

Any thoughts gratefully received.

Sqwert

[oink]

Notice: Ancient Ancient Age X 2, GlenLivet X2 and I'm a lightweight.

#1) Those are not the best of cards. They were cheap, which is why the computer I'm using has one. Actually mine is the 8830
#2) Make sure you have the sound cable from the cdrom plugged into the correct jaqck on the sound card.
#3) Make sure you don't have the sound muted. Try just playing the basic windows sounds while trying the different plugs for the speakers on the card.
#4) Did you check the device manager for conflicts?
#5) The volume on those cards tends to be kind of weak. Is your volume up fairly high on the speakers, and in windows? I leave the settings in windows maxed out.
Hmm, maybe one more GlenLivet or maybe a....

[Landon]

Try plugging the speakers into a portable CD player and see if you get sound, that will rule out whether or not the speakers are bad.

Most sound cards the speaker output is right next to the joystick/midi port, some of the newer 5.1 cards this is not necessarily true, check the documentation.

Click on the speaker icon down in the System Tray, make sure that nothing has a check in the little MUTE check boxes.

This souldn't be an IRQ problem since you can see your voice show up in a wave form display.

Try it in another computer and see if you get the same results.

I have been down the long road of cheap bad sound cards, at one store I bought their "bargain" $8 card, after installing and rebooting Windows crashed, once it was uninstalled Windows stopped crashing. I took it back and explained what happened he didn't even argue or say "Did you try this?" and got out his refund form and started filling it out. I guess everyone who bought that card had brought theirs back.

I have never had a bad experience with Sound Blaster cards, spend the money and get one, the Sound Blaster Live 5.1 is only $32 here in Portland at www.enuinc.com, it's not the top of the line but it does what I want it to.

Good luck!

[Sqwerticus]

Notice: Ancient Ancient Age X 2, GlenLivet X2 and I'm a lightweight.

#1) Those are not the best of cards. They were cheap, which is why the computer I'm using has one. Actually mine is the 8830
#2) Make sure you have the sound cable from the cdrom plugged into the correct jaqck on the sound card.
#3) Make sure you don't have the sound muted. Try just playing the basic windows sounds while trying the different plugs for the speakers on the card.
#4) Did you check the device manager for conflicts?
#5) The volume on those cards tends to be kind of weak. Is your volume up fairly high on the speakers, and in windows? I leave the settings in windows maxed out.
Hmm, maybe one more GlenLivet or maybe a....


Thanks for the reply.

My sound card was even better than cheap, it was free with the free pc ;)....

Before the drive died, everything was working fine. I haven't changed any of the connections that were in place other than removing the old drive, and wiring in the new one. Should I still try changing them?

Everything that could be related to volume (that I can find) is on & turned up.

The device manager shows no conflicts.

Mine's a vodka, but it's still only 3.45pm here. But there again...

[Sqwerticus]

Try plugging the speakers into a portable CD player and see if you get sound, that will rule out whether or not the speakers are bad.

Most sound cards the speaker output is right next to the joystick/midi port, some of the newer 5.1 cards this is not necessarily true, check the documentation.

Click on the speaker icon down in the System Tray, make sure that nothing has a check in the little MUTE check boxes.

This souldn't be an IRQ problem since you can see your voice show up in a wave form display.

Try it in another computer and see if you get the same results.

I have been down the long road of cheap bad sound cards, at one store I bought their "bargain" $8 card, after installing and rebooting Windows crashed, once it was uninstalled Windows stopped crashing. I took it back and explained what happened he didn't even argue or say "Did you try this?" and got out his refund form and started filling it out. I guess everyone who bought that card had brought theirs back.

I have never had a bad experience with Sound Blaster cards, spend the money and get one, the Sound Blaster Live 5.1 is only $32 here in Portland at www.enuinc.com, it's not the top of the line but it does what I want it to.

Good luck!


Thanks for your suggestions Landon.

I have tested the speakers, and they are fine.

I knew that there was a proper technical term for the 'wave oscillation type doodah', so at least I have gained something out of this ;). Having messed around with allsorts, I have now lost the ability to see my voice trace. I don't really understand the whole 'IRQ' thing - I really am a novice, so any further info on that would be good.

When you say 'try it in another computer', what are you suggesting I try? Putting the suspect sound card in my lovely shiny new pc? (Note the slight tinge of horror there). I am quite happy poking around in the guts of an old computer, (seeing if it is possible to salvage for my husband to use for recording his music) but anything that involves my beloved new pc is a different matter!

I am looking at buying a new sound card, but if the diagnostics say that this one is functioning normally, am I likely to encounter the same problem with a new one? I know...that's a kinda unanswerable question.

Any further thoughts appreciated.

Sqwert