BleepingComputer.com: Soundcard Problem

my soundcard worked just fine until yesterday for no real reason
and
i took it out of the slot and put it back in like twice, updated the drivers for it
and restarted the computer a lot
and i plug in the speakers
and the computer dosent detect the card or the speakers
even though the driver is already installed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

heeelp?

i have a gateway
dual core
vista X64
soundcard im trying to make work is creative xfi fatality pro titanium
speakers are gateway too lol
2gb ram
300gb hard drive space

and thats it...

so heeeeeeeeeelp somebodeh?

Ive had a lot of issues with gateway computers in the past, particularly with the ECS motherboards they like to put in those things. But if youve updated the drivers and reinstalled it, and it worked fine till the other day, assuming you changed nothing with the settings, its one of two things:

1: its the motherboard. Like I said, Ive worked on a lot of gateways with motherboard problems, I dont know if yours uses ECS but a lot of gateways do and their poor quality boards in my opinion. Im guessing the sound card is a PCI card, I would try moving it around to another PCI port. also, if its PCI do you have any other PCI cards in the computer, and are they working? if the sound card works in another PCI slot, the problem is most likely your PCI slot, try another PCI card in it to be sure, doesnt have to be a sound card, if the problems the slot, then even a PCI network card will not work.

2:its the sound card. if it wont work in any other slot, or in another computer (try it if you have another computer available) then the card is most likely bad, and you will have to purchase a new card.

its pci express, and it only has one pci slot for the soundcard the other slots work. the card's light lights up inside teh computer. i dunno what it is.

is it pci express x1? and if so, is there a pic express x16 lane on your motherboard, because a PCI express x1 card will work in a x16 lane, if u do have a x16 lane try it on the 16 lane and see what happens. lights on arnt always a good indicator. also look for any burn marks on the card or around the express slot.

how do i tell what kind of pci slot it is?

here is a photo of what a standard PCI, PCI express x1, and express 16 slot look like. there are also pci express x4 and x8 slot types, but x1, x4, and x8 will all work in a x16 slot.

thanks i have one pci express x1 which i put in the sound card, one pci express x16 which has my graphics card, and 3 pci's

well, if you have onboard video you can take the video card out of the x16 slot, which will auto switch to the onboard (provided your motherboard has it) and put the sound card in the x16 lane, that should tell you if the sound card is the problem or not. or, if u have another x1 sound card layin around you could throw that in and see what it does.

yo ill try that...

yo thanks man i tried it and it worked..looks like i need a new motherboard. u know where i can get any good cheap ones?

I buy all my motherboards from www.newegg.com. I would recomend one, but I do not know your exact specs-like processor brand, socket type, memory slot, etc. etc. however, there are several available there, as for brands I would recomend Gigabyte, ASUS, or Biostar motherboards. In my experience, biostar boards are generally the cheaper of the 3-not always but typically, that offer good reliability, but the Gigabyte or ASUS boards will offer better performance. Also, I have never used one, but a lot of people here recomend ASrocks motherboards, and while they can get kinda pricey the reviews are rather good for them.