Windows 98 -Sound Drivers Fail to load after Motherboard and processor upgrade

The odd question:

Is onboard sound enabled in the BIOS?

Zee

you will need a ac 97 driver ,

heres a driver , but makes sure its the right one

http://www.viaarena.com/?PageID=328

ftp://ftp.ecs.com.tw/driver/mb/sound/realtek/a355.zip

seems to be the manufacturers latest for all A and A (deluxe) versions... according to ECS website...
but is throwing up a dns error at the moment...

blue zee:  The BIOS AC'97 Audio is enabled.
magus123, ampcats: Thanks for the drivers.  I've loaded several, but none will load.  Device Manager Properties for the Sound card reveals that the drivers were not loaded with error message: "NTKERN.VXD, MMDEVLDR.VXD device loaders for this device could not load the device driver." and an, I believe,"Error Code 2" . I will try both.  I'm thinking I have a problem within Windows 98  I've reinstalled twice and the ATI video Drivers Disc automatically loaded DirectX 9.

Check if NTKERN.VXD is installed.

Turns out that NTKERN.VXD is not normally installed in Windows 98.

It's supposed to be in c:\windows\system and c:\windows\system\vmm32, but often isn't - creating this mess.

The solutin is Start > Run > ye SFC and press enter to extract NTKERN.VXD from the Win 98 CD to c:\windows\system and c:\windows\system\vmm32, and reboot.

That should take care of yor problem.

Zee

My fat fingers....
:))

The solution is Start > Run > type SFC and press enter.....

Zee

Zee:  Thanks. I extracted ntkern.vxd and  then determined that the sound chip is a Realtek ALC 655   6 Channel CODEC.  I loaded updated drivers and installation files from ECS and installed them and the Windows 98 patch.  Still get the "NTKERN.VXD, MMDEVLDR.VXD device loaders for this device could not load the device driver. Error Code 2" message in Device Manager properties.

Double checking:

You extracted NTKERN.VXD to

C:\windows\system

and

C:\windows\system\vmm32

Correct?

Zee: Thanks for staying tuned.
NTKERN.VXD is in both directories. Device manager Properties reports same error message with no conflicts.

Is there a way to be I'm not createing a problem with all the various drivers I've installed?  I loaded a CM CODEC driver its removal .exe file and the Windows Install/Remove program both puts it into a reboot reinstall loop.
At present the RealTeck drivers are installed along with its WIN98 patch that consists of a different soundman.exe file. Device Manager reports a question mark, and the properties tab reports the NTKERN and MMDEVLDR error message.

I was hoping to get everything up and running with the old WIN98 OS before I made any attempts to upgrade, but after all this onboard sound chip failure, I'm inclined to think that the OS is inadequate, or that the sound chip itself is faulty.  I would like to isolate the problem before the effort of enduring the exchange of the motherboard or the upgrade of the OS?  Still interested?  

have you installed a USB device recently with a microphone ... eg a webcam???

have you tried reinstalling directx90b

No doubt I'm interested in trying to help. Don't worry post on!!!

Different issues:

Drivers:
Yes, you could have diferent drivers trying to load for the same hardware, meaning problems.
Usually, booting up in Safe Mode and checking device manager will show multiple entries that can be deleted. Upon reboot Windows will reinstall the correct drivers and, hopefully, sort out the conflict. You may need to point it to the correct location of the updated drivers.

OS upgrade:
Wise decision. Going up to WinXP is getting closer to Heaven (software Heaven I mean).
:)

Considering the hardware upgrade you made that is a MUST and if you are seriously looking into going that way, forget Win98 and install XP from scratch.
If you have your original Win98 CD, the upgrade confirmation will only ask you to pop-in the Win98 CD, confirm, take it our and proceed...

This way you will also avoid transferring problems from your previous Win98 installation.

Start your upgrade here:

Windows XP Professional Upgrade Center
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/howtobuy/upgrading/default.asp

Anyway, if you still want to troubleshoot your Win98, after trying the cleanup I suggested, do post back and  we will try our best to help you.

Good luck,

Zee

Thx everyone.  No Webcam, No mike. Did safe mode boot and deleted all sound drivers. P&P found PCI C-Media (onboard AC'97 is Realtek), I bypassed that install and went to newly downloaded from Realtek driverinstall.--Same problem. No sound. Hardware problem?

>>Hardware problem?<<

Maybe. It's looking more and more possible.

Check Device Manager for SB16 Emulation, any trace?

If you have it, tick disable in this hardware profile and reboot.

Zee

ECS support got back to  me and asked if I did a fresh install on a freshly formatted disk.  I gave in an sprang for a new hard drive and WINXP.  The mainboard installation CD booted, auto setup kicked in and everything installed automatically.
I added the new drive as the master and boot from it.  Know any way to move applications and data from old drive to new without having to reinstall them?

:)

Glad you found it useful.

Zee