BleepingComputer.com: Sound Card died

I've had a Creative X-Fi that died recently. At least I think it died; I got a high pitched squeal from it a few times in a row. I disabled the card, then uninstalled the driver. I figured it's no big deal, I can use the on-board sound again (the X-Fi is a card I took out of my last machine that has been laying around, so I had the speakers plugged into the on-board sound before), but now every time I try to play a song, for example, I get this notification:

"Windows Media Player cannot play the file because there is a problem with your sound device. There might not be a sound device installed on your computer, it might be in use by another program, or it might not be functioning properly."

How do I tell Windows (I'm on Vista) where the on-board sound device is?

I haven't physically removed the old sound card, though I'm thinking I may do that anyway since it's junk. I can't think the lack of physically removing the card is causing this.

Thanks,
Tim

If the drivers aren't installed for onboard sound...or you disabled such, either in the BIOS or in Device Manager...I would not expect it to function.

A trip to Device Manager should make all clear.

If the drivers appear to be installed for the onboard, but it still doesn't work...I suggest removing the drivers, rebooting, and reinstalling same. They may be damaged.

Louis

Device Manager shows "Multimedia Audio Controller" under "Other Devices", with the yellow exclamation point icon on it. Updating the driver does nothing - "Windows could not find the driver software for your device".

I know my motherboard - it's Asus IPIBL-LB, I'm on an HP p6110y Pavilion, and I'm running 64-bit Vista. However, I have no idea how to find a legit driver for what I'm looking for, now.

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwar...986&lang=en.

Realtek High Definition would be onboard sound, IMO.

Louis

I downloaded the driver, and after it installed I got a pop-up dialog box that said that "your system does not meet the minimum requirements for this update. Update has been canceled 9996."

That makes no sense to me - I even right-clicked to run as Adminstrator (I'm in Vista) and the only other requirement is I'm running 64-bit Vista, which I am. I'm running Service Pack 2 though - does that make it a different driver altogether?

Tim

Edit - I uninstalled SP2 and tried to reinstall the driver and got the same error message.

This post has been edited by tsquared56: 20 December 2009 - 07:49 PM

Drivers...are never made...with any consideration for Windows SPs...SPs are generated for security considerations of the system, while drivers are generated for improved operation or functional reasons as part of the system.

Regarding your error: http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/documen...product=1843675.

You might want to try the following, Remove Unused Drivers and Devices - http://www.windowsnetworking.com/kbase/Win...andDevices.html

At the very least...uninstall any drivers that are associated with Multimedia Audio Controller in Device Manager...reboot and then install the drivers you downloaded.

Louis

I just noticed something while I was playing around in Device Manager.

I have no "Sound, Audio, Game Controller" menu anymore, but I do have a "Multimedia Audio Controller" underneath "Other Devices". Right-clicking and bringing up the properties, I noticed that under Location, it says PCI bus 1, device 0, function 0.

Because I realized that it's a PCI card, the PCI bus 1 thing kind of made me think twice. Every time I've restarted, I get the popup that Windows needs to find the driver. Is all this going on because I haven't physically removed the old soundcard from the PCI slot? I always thought that I could have on-board sound and a dedicated sound card and I could just switch between the two, but maybe not?

Tim

Edit - Wow. That actually did it. I just took the card out, and when it rebooted, everything was normal. Device Manager shows Realtek HD Audio now. I guess I should re-install SP2, huh?

Thanks for your quick help tonight.

This post has been edited by tsquared56: 20 December 2009 - 09:30 PM

The pop up where Windows is wanting to reinstall drivers each time you restart is most likely for the X-Fi. Windows is plug and play and the X-Fi is a plug and play device for Vista and 7. I don't believe any BIOS has a setting to disable a PCI device either. You can indeed have both installed and functionging at the same time but this can cause problems. Remove the X-Fi, enable the on board in BIOS and uninstall the drivers for the on board and reboot, Vista should find the on board, recognize there are no drivers and either prompt you to install the drivers (of which at the least you should have a driver disk that came with the mobo) or just install a generic driver for you.

Glad you solved it, I suggest installing SP3 rather than SP2.

Happy computing .

Louis