[Solved] sound card install win98se - HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

okay, here's the skinny:
i installed a new Philips PSC702 Rhythmic Edge PCI soundcard in Win98SE. When I rebooted, win detected the card and started the installation of drivers(from the philips install CD). It found several files that it said the files on disk were older than the ones already on the computer. It recommended i keep them and asked if i wanted to overwrite them. like an idiot, I cliked "yes" and it replaced them. that's when the weird stuff started happening. whenever i try to access the Philips "Acoustic Edge" software controls, the system locks. Also, i if try to open Windows control panel, it takes about a minute or two to compete this operation. This is only with control panel - other programs open immediately. Also, Windows Media Player opens very slowly and then says it cannot detect audio hardware. The card DOES PLAY in some applications like MusicMatch, normal windows sounds, etc. (and sounds great, btw) but has problems in these two areas.
Philips tech support basically said download the latest drivers, which I did, and then said I may have to reinstall windows because i had replaced those files (I believe the files were .vxd files, but i couldn't swear to it) in the initial install. i have tried uninstalling the card and reinstalling. Is there any way out of this predicament w/o reinstalling Win98? or, at least, is there a way to "over-install" Win98 without formatting my HD? I have about 2-3 GB of unreplaceable data on the HDD and really don't want to spend all day burning it on to CDs. Thanks

 

Hello Abcowan,

First go into Device Manager and highlight the listing for your new sound card. Then click on remove. Next go into Control Panel/Add-Remove and remove all the software for the sound card. Also look in your program files to see if you have any uninstall options in the software . Now reboot into a start menu by holding the control key down during the boot process. Select " Command Prompt Only". At the command type:

scanreg /restore (note the space between the g and /)
Press enter.
use the arrow keys to navigate to select a date just prior to when you installed the sound card.
Press enter.
Once complete boot to Windows. This should have restored your system to a state before the soundcard problem. (Note: This will only work if you installed the sound card within the last five days).
If you are successful then reinstall the sound card. Hope this helps. KW1

 

First go to Start>Run type SFC, System File Checker will check your system to see if any system files have been alterted and/or deleted and if it finds any it will prompt you to reinstall them from your Win98 CD.

You can drive over Win98 by booting from a startup disk with CD support and typing Setup at the D: prompt with your Win98 CD in the drive. This will reinstall Windows without loosing any data and restore original file configuration. In some cases you may have to reinstall some applications after Windows is reinstalled in order to get them to work properly.

Good Luck

 

thanks guys - your instructions helped me restore my system, but i found out that wasn't the problem. apparently my old sound card had a bunch of hidden drivers still on the computer that i could only view if i loaded into safe mode. in normal boot, only the philips drivers were there, but in safe mode boot, all the old drivers could be seen in device manager. so, they were interfering with loading anything related to sound. i removed them (keeping the microsoft ones), rebooted and everything was cool. hope this is helpful to anyone with a similar problem. and, btw, the Philips Rhythmic Edge is a great card for $30!!

 

Good job, thanks for sharing the info. I will mark this thread solved.