No sound card: HELP!

Alright, so I'm going to start using my other computer for sound based things, such as Ventrilo.

The problem is, there is no sound card and I don't know where to find it at all. The last time I checked on Microsoft.com about it, there was nothing there.

If you need any extra information, please do tell.

Cheers, Tyla.

Ok - system specs for starters.

Look at the back panel where all the mouse, kb, printers etc. connect. Are there (usually coloured) ports there that are unused? Most PCs have onboard sound - crap in older systems, good on recent stuff.

You've checked microsoft.com to find out why you have no sound card? You lost me right there...

Well I believe I was kinda messing around with my computer a while back, and I must have got rid of something. I was a bit of a know-it-all about computers yet I didn't know anything about them.

As for the back panels, I'm using the media bay at the front of my computer. Once I installed Ventrilo it just said something along the lines of Directsound not available, and from there I checked settings and there was no available sound cards to choose from except for the one that was already there, which ofcourse is inactive.

That baking Manchester sun is warping your brain, Tyla. Still celebrating the Reds' double a little too hard? (Oh wait - I just remembered all us United supporters live in London )

Cough.

Anyway - you think you might have removed the sound card, but it's still listed in Device Manager - is that what you're saying? If that is the case, uninstall those drivers via Device Manager to start with.

Next step, reboot your PC to access the BIOS. There should be an option somewhere for integrated peripherals, one of which will hopefully be on-board sound (AC97 or somesuch). Enable it if it is there, otherwise come back again for more help.

Post the name/model of your PC too - we can google it, even if it's ancient.

Well it just says "Boot from CD" and logs on as normal, so basically BIOS is a big "NO U" for access in my case.

As for system stuff, I'm not sure what you mean but I'll post the bottom of System properties.

Manufactured and supported by: Ei-System
Intel(R)
Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.06 GHz
3.05 GHz, 512 MB of RAM
Physical Address Extention

As for Man United, I don't watch football anymore, but I used to support them.

Argh - Dixons/PCWorld. Bastard know-nothing, premium-rip-off-insurance-selling box-shifters.

Don't like Dixons group - can you tell?

"Boot from CD" means your BIOS is set to boot from the CD drive first - not a major problem, but slows down boot time somewhat.

Does it have any identifying number on the case? Like an EI-Systems EI-208 or similar?

RE: the BIOS. Start your PC and keep hitting the Del key (usually - can be an "F" key on some BIOSes). Have a look through the options there - try to turn on the on-board sound if you can, and you may like to make the first drive in the boot sequence C: rather than the CDRom.

EI-303 it says on the back of the case.

As for the BIOS, I have accessed it, and it has the options:

VIA OnChip IDE Device
VIA OnChip PCI Device
SuperIO Device
Onboard Lan Device
Onboard Lan Boot ROM

Not sure which it is. P.S: I changed the boot sequence.

Tyla doesn't need vent. He's bad anyways.

Sucks that you need to use dual comps for vent hope you get it fixed

Go here - http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/...&GetDown=false - that's the drivers for the AC97 onboard sound that your PC does have.

There really should be an option in the BIOS to enable/disable it - there will be lots of tabs; go through all of them.

Well at the bottom of the BIOS screen it says what is in it I think.

It says "Onboard", but there is no option for onboard sound in that tab, unless it's got some more of those abreviations I don't understand like IDE...

If its VIA AC97, I know I've seen that a million times and its buried in a submenu. You're looking for a like that says AC97 in it somewhere that can be enabled/disabled. See anything that says "Integrated Peripherals?"

Bios navigation can be weird sometimes, with submenus you open different ways depending on the make/model. Just be careful what you change in there

Absolutely. It's AC97 you're looking for, or anything else pertaining to sound. Don't touch anything else or you could screw things up.

More.

Why don't you just buy a sound blaster card?

True - would save hacking around in the BIOS...

Here - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...d%20-%20Retail - just over 17 quid inc. VAT.

Or even this tiny little bast for under a tenner - https://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/...html?NOV-SC51N

go to a shop and buy a soundcard for 5 euro or smthing.

(Note I don't want to go buying stuff)

The only options for VIA AC97 Audio are: Auto and Disabled.

"Auto" means "On." And that's what you want. So if it's enabled, you should at the very least see it listed, but not installed, in Device Manager.

The problem is installing it.

It was also on auto when I first checked in the BIOS.

No love.

I think we were checking bios as just step one to make sure it is enabled, so thats good.

have you tried removing it from device manager and re-booting so windows installs it again?

Tyla check if the card shows up as unid'ed in the device manager (mostly has a yellow questionmark combined with exclamation mark (hope i say it right in english) icon next to it.

It could be that the soundcard is in it under it that way (mostly driver that got wicked up some way)

If that's not in the device manager you'll have to look through it manually and find the audio card and then install the driver snogratt provided