if you want to know for sure what kind of soundcard you have you could run Belarc Advisor
(then you'll know you have the right drivers)
http://www.belarc.com/free
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No sound / cannot install sound card driver
Hi,
Here's the situation. I was given a Dell Optiplex GX260 computer at work, which came with Windows XP. I reformatted the hard drive and installed Windows 2000 (Traditional Chinese), but ever since, my computer has been unable to produce any sounds (no startup sounds, nothing whatsover). It's not a speaker problem, because I've tested the speakers elsewhere, and they work. I suspect it's a sound card driver problem, because when I check Device Manager, many of the multimedia/sound related components are listed under "other devices", with a question mark as the icon and an exclamation on it. However, when I try to install the drivers for them, they cannot find the drivers anywhere, including on my Windows 2000 CD, saying that they cannot find some kind of .INF file.
I have tried downloading various possible drivers for my sound card, which is supposed to be a Sounblaster Live! series card, but whenever I go through the installation process for these drivers, they always come out saying that they cannot locate a Soundblaster device and abort the installaton process (tried installing Soundblaster and KX series drivers).
So what is happening? Why can't these driver installers find my sound card? Why can't my hardward installation wizard find the .inf file that it needs to install the driver? According to Device Manager, I'm also missing drivers for Ethernet Control Card, PCI device, PCI input, Multimedia Control Card, and USB Control Card. Does it matter that I don't have these? Is the lack of any of these the reason why I can't get sound? And if so, where can I get these things?
Oh, and one more thing, if I upgrade to Windows XP (again Traditional Chinese version), would my driver problems go away?
Thanks a million!
Chris
P.S. -- Anothing thing, because the computer is company property, the box is locked, and I am not allowed to open it up to physically inspect the parts or make adjustments. I can only use software to determine what hardware components it has inside. Don't know if this matters.
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Answers
you would normally be able to find the "file" through the device manager. right-click the device and click Properties. click the Driver tab, then click "File Details". this will tell you what file(s) is/are the driver(s) for that device
but yours shows up as not having the drivers loaded, so i don't know
http://www.americas.creati
^ the above link will get you the driver for your Creative Live! sound card for windows 2000. Follow the directions on that page to download, then just double click on the program once it is complete.
Installing XP pro might solve your problem because XP has support for much more hardware then 2000 does
Under "Other Devices" in the Device Manager, I have the following, all of which don't show drivers when I click "File Details":
Ethernet Control Card
PCI Device
PCI Input Device
Multimedia Control Card
USB Control Card
Then, there's also a section called "Sound, video and game controllers", which has listed under it:
Legacy Audio Driver Programs
Legacy Video
Audio Converter
Media Control Device
Video Converter
Do I need to get rid of these items in the second group in order to install a new driver? I tried to delete the "Legacy Audio Driver Programs" yesterday, but when I went into "File Details" , it contained so many files (lots of .dll stuff) that I didn't know what to delete -- whether to delete it all, or to look for something that is the "driver".
Sorry for my idiocy in this area -- any help would be most appreciated :)
i also have a soundblaster sound card and i have a lot of the same entries you do
http://www.moruses.com/scr
i don't think you need to uninstall any this, just try to find the correct drivers for the devices under "Other"
(although i don't have all my drivers loaded either)
http://www.dell.com/us/en/
says it has integrated sound with OPTIONAL Sound Blaster Live,
are you sure you have the SoundBlaster and the sound isn't integrated into the motherboard?
http://support.dell.com/fi
at this point in this link, you can click on TO DETERMINE..... for the correct device... you may need your serial number
bill
Hello this is my first post as a so called expert just for your information i believe you problem was not with your sound card at all but with your pci drivers on your mother board if do not have the pci drivers installed then of course the mother board would not be able to detect the sound card and any drivers (even the correct ones) would not have been able to identify that the sound card was a sound blaster and would have aborted the installation as a safety precaution to avoid the operating system becoming unstable
I hope this post will help future users
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by: SysExpertPosted on 2003-07-27 at 19:28:13ID: 9016718
1) get the drivers from the Dell site, and remove any other drivers you got from other locations.
After you have downloaded the drivers, read the documenttion on installation.
Normally it is best to delete all the devices for sound from the device manager and reboot, you will then be asked for drivers, you should use the ones from Dell.
The Dell site should also have troubleshooting info.
I hope this helps !