I've lost my sound! - Page 8

Tinky · 08-09-2009, 09:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mick Fisher

Hi Tinky
I have been following this saga with interest and am glad to see you once again have your sound back.

While I had no suggestions to help you in your plight may I make a couple of suggestions to help avoid such situations in the future.

1. Dump the on-board sound in favour of a sound card.

2. Invest in some imaging software such as Acronis TrueImage.

Restore points are all very well but after saving an image of your system to a safe location (external HDD, protected partition or DVD) you will be free to muck about with your system secure in the knowlege you can restore it from the saved image in just a few minutes. Don't worry about such terms as protected partition as Acronis will do all the work if that is the location you choose to save to.

Thank you Mick for the very 'sound' advice, but as you know my horse has already bolted. However I think I may have the Acronis hanging around somewhere on my PC will have a look.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaiNasty

Nice idea Mick but remember Tinky was nervous about taking the side off the pc. Fitting a PCI sound card may just be a step too far.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mick Fisher

True but desparate situations call for desparate solutions. I see Tinky is quite blase about taking the side panel off already .

Familiarity quickly breeds contempt.

Would be a magnificent sight to behold, I am sure.

A PC without some sort of a backup solution is a disaster just waiting to happen. You are a long way from a total solution even with TrueImage but it is immensely better than nothing.

Another plus is the confidence it gives you to try those registry hacks and stuff that is recommended to fix various problems. In the main they do work but one slip and then maybe your PC fails to reboot.........

I am pleased that this thread has been of interest to so many people, just goes to show how prevalent this problem is. Contrary to the impression I may give, I am not a shrinking violet when it comes to opening up my PC, I am game to try anything.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Osem

Add to that a note to invite Zing down for a weekend's B&B around that time...........

Glad it's all sorted!

Hey that's a good idea Osem, will bear that in mind.

Incidentally, how do the external sound cards work? And don't I already have a built-in one, or is that infected lol? How difficult to fit another? Would I have to get a special model for this PC? etcetera etcetera etcetera

Mick Fisher · 08-09-2009, 19:58

My experience of on board audio was brief. It was my first PC, an Intel MOBO, after only a few months an update of DirectX rendered it useless, so much hissing and crackling that it was unusable. Months later and there was still no driver update from the chip manufacturer or Intel, so I had to buy a discreet card, LOL! same with the on-board GFX.

So no more on-board stuff for me. Hmmm maybe I should qualify that with " in a desktop" as I am writing this on a laptop that I am sure has onboard gfx and audio.

I think it might be a case of, if you want to sell cards then they have got to work and so drivers are continually updated for the life of the product whereas embedded chips don't seem to get the same attention. Could it be because they've had your cash and have moved on?

08-09-2009, 20:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tinky

Thank you Mick for the very 'sound' advice, but as you know my horse has already bolted. However I think I may have the Acronis hanging around somewhere on my PC will have a look.

I am pleased that this thread has been of interest to so many people, just goes to show how prevalent this problem is. Contrary to the impression I may give, I am not a shrinking violet when it comes to opening up my PC, I am game to try anything.

Hey that's a good idea Osem, will bear that in mind.

Incidentally, how do the external sound cards work? And don't I already have a built-in one, or is that infected lol? How difficult to fit another? Would I have to get a special model for this PC? etcetera etcetera etcetera

its a peice of cake to add a pci sound card

as for usb models as long as you do not buy a cheap and nasty one you will be fine and you do not have to install it on the mobo

Ive never had problems with onboard audio myself but have in others machines and the realtek HD audio has always been pretty good for me

Tinky · 09-09-2009, 07:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mick Fisher

Could it be because they've had your cash and have moved on?

Could be Mick but there is nothing wrong with my sound now, which I have proved, it's this darned SP2 thingy that is the culprit......and Zing I think you will agree everything is easy when you know how. I wouldn't know what a sound card looks like, never mind fit it. But if the bit comes to the bit, I'm up for giving it a bash!.
Btw I had a windows update today 'Realtec PCI GBE Family controller' is that to do with the sound? You would think by now Microsoft would have come up with a solution. Wonder if I could contact them?

09-09-2009, 12:50

thats ethernet adapter

The card will just slot into a white slot on your you can not possibly put it in the wrong place or the wrong way round its all keyed

Tinky · 10-09-2009, 07:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by zing

thats ethernet adapter

The card will just slot into a white slot on your you can not possibly put it in the wrong place or the wrong way round its all keyed

Thanks for that Zing. When the time comes, I will have to consider one or the other sound alternatives. Thanks again for all your help.

10-09-2009, 10:32

just a little over 10 years years ago I was the person who was nervous looking inside a pc. Didnt have a clue what I was doing installing 64 meg of sdram thinking surely I do not have to push so hard. Now look at me

( I still do not know what im doing lol lol )

Tinky · 10-09-2009, 10:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by zing

just a little over 10 years years ago I was the person who was nervous looking inside a pc. Didnt have a clue what I was doing installing 64 meg of sdram thinking surely I do not have to push so hard. Now look at me

( I still do not know what im doing lol lol )

Well Zing you have certainly come a long way since then. Don't think there is much anyone could teach you.

10-09-2009, 10:43

always stuff to learn Tink I am pretty specialised plenty of scope to expand my horiszons

Tinky · 10-09-2009, 10:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by zing

always stuff to learn Tink I am pretty specialised plenty of scope to expand my horiszons

Good for you Zing, and there is always new stuff coming out every day, so your quest is endless.

Tinky · 17-10-2009, 15:21

External sound card delivered today, will keep you posted.

Tinky · 18-10-2009, 11:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tinky

External sound card delivered today, will keep you posted.

For anyone who is interested this is what I did. I uninstalled the offending pre-release version of Vista SP 2, I then installed the later 'proper' version. Downloaded all the Windows Updates, then plugged in the new external USB 2 sound card. Imagine my disappointment when I was told the device wasn't recognised, even though I had the installation disk! I tried several times to install, but no joy. Was at my wits end. As the very last resort, I once again (sigh) plugged in the speaker jack to my pc, and surprise, surprise, I got sound!!!!!! Can't tell you how happy I am that I now have a cosher SP2 and sound. smiley_critter_blobs_dancin.gif

Paul K · 18-10-2009, 11:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by zing

just a little over 10 years years ago I was the person who was nervous looking inside a pc. Didnt have a clue what I was doing installing 64 meg of sdram thinking surely I do not have to push so hard. Now look at me

( I still do not know what im doing lol lol )

I was the same around 94/ 95. Got sick of my old PC going to PC World every weekend so ripped it apart, took out anything useful and rebuilt a PC from the ground up by reading the manual.
If this external USB sound device was fully supported then there must be a reason why it wasn't showing up. Did the installation instructions say to install drivers before or after the hardware?

18-10-2009, 11:41

send it back under distance selling regs

Tinky · 18-10-2009, 12:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul

Did the installation instructions say to install drivers before or after the hardware?

It didn't have written instructions Paul, there is a diagram on the back of the box. There is nothing to say which order to install, but tried both ways i.e. device first then disk, disk first then device. Didn't make one whit of difference. Just kept repeating 'unknown device'.

Quote:

Originally Posted by zing

send it back under distance selling regs

Normally I would have Zing, but original packaging not in pristine condition now. That will teach me.