[purplekitty]

Hi,

My MESH PC (Windows XP Home Edition 2002, Pentium4 3.4GHz, 256MB RAM, 204GB HDD, Creative Soundblaster Audigy 2 ZS Soundcard, NVidia GeForce FX 5900XT Graphics) has no sound...

I moved house about 18 months ago after the PC has sat in one place for about 4 years... after re-assembling the PC at my new place the sound didn't work... I'm getting a bit frustrated with it all now...

here's what I've tried so far (in no particular order, at least three times and all with no effect whatsoever!!)...

• tried the desktop speaker jack in every possible speaker socket (there are 3, one on the front of the tower, one on the back, and another one on the back on the sound card).
• plugged desktop speakers into iPod to check if they're working - they are.
• taken side off pc - taken out graphics card, both sticks of RAM and Sound card dusted all areas, vacuumed, checked for scorch marks, missing bits, broken bits, connections and general nastiness which may hamper smooth running.
• Checked all settings to do with sound on the PC to check all volume settings are set to moderate or high. No mute buttons are ticked/checked.
• The SB Audigy 2 ZS sound card is set as the default sound card
• there are no conflicts in the device manager - it is a yellow "!" free zone
• Been onto the Creative Sound Blaster website and re-installed all possible software and updates that are available.
• have run a de-frag, system clean, disk clean and registry clean
• Gone through all the Creative Sound Blaster Knowledgebase Solutions on their website
• Gone through the Windows Troubleshooting guide
• The Correct speakers are selected in Sound & Audio Devices properties.
• In 'Hardware' all devices are working properly
• In 'Advanced Controls for Play Control' > Other Controls the "1 Digital Output Only" is not ticked/checked.
• Phoned MESH

Obviously a system reformat is a last resort... if anyone out there has any other suggestions I would love to hear them!!

Many thanks,

Kat

[Sami27]

Okay try going to control panel,administrative tools,computer management,device manager,sound,video and game controler,right-click disable,then right-click enable

[purplekitty]

okay, have followed your guide to the device manager, but the enable/disable option isn't available on right click, only:

Scan for hardware changes
Properties

[crjdriver]

Have you checked the bios to make sure the onboard sound is not enabled?

FWIW the software that comes with creative cards is buggy at best. When I install a creative card, I install the driver only and not all of the other stuff.

I assume you have checked the speakers and they in fact do work.

[purplekitty]

Originally Posted by crjdriver

Have you checked the bios to make sure the onboard sound is not enabled?

FWIW the software that comes with creative cards is buggy at best. When I install a creative card, I install the driver only and not all of the other stuff.

I assume you have checked the speakers and they in fact do work.

I can get into the bios, but am not entirely sure what I'm looking for!! And yes, the speakers do work

[purplekitty]

"bump"

[crjdriver]

Have you read your manual as to bios setting regarding the onboard sound?

Each bios is a little different so it is difficult to give you step by step instructions; those are located in your manual.

[purplekitty]

My PC is about 5 years old... the manuals are pretty much long gone!! I called MESH, who built the PC, and their only advice was to reformat the Hard Drive - didn't even mention the BIOS...

The only thing I haven't tried is completely deleting all possible "Sound" from the PC - going into the Device Manager and deleting all sound related hardware in the list, this being:
1. Audio Codecs
2. Creative Game Port
3. Creative SB Audigy 2 ZS (WDM)
4. Legacy Audio Drivers
5. Legacy Video Capture Devices
6. Media Control Devices
7. Unimodem Half-Duplex Audio Device

and then re-starting the PC... is it worth a try, even though I have updated all the drivers only a few days ago?

Thank you so much for your help so far... this is really starting to bug me - there must be some reason for the sound to be screwed!!! Darn It!!

Kat

[crjdriver]

Did the drivers install OK that is no errors?

There is always the possibility that the sound card has in fact failed.

As a test, why not just pull out the sound card and then reinstall the card; see if windows "finds" the card. To do this, follow the following;

1 With the system ON, uninstall ALL creative software. Do not reboot when prompted; just tell it later
2 Once done, shutdown the system.
3 With system OFF and pw plug removed, pull out the sound card.
4 Replace pw cord and pw ON the system. Let it fully boot. Now shutdown.
5 Reinstall the card. If you have another pci slot to use, then use another slot for the card.
6 Pw ON. Windows should find new hardware and ask for a driver. If it does not find new hardware, that would make me think the card has failed. If it does find new hardware, then simply install the latest driver from the creative site.

[No-man]

Originally Posted by Sami27

Okay try going to control panel,administrative tools,computer management,device manager,sound,video and game controler,right-click disable,then right-click enable

You are a god! I am not worthy!
Thankyouthankyouthankyou!