Soundmax or C-Media AC97 ?

My computer was purhcased in 2001, when I received it, I got it preinstalled
with Windows 98SE & that is the operating system that gets installed if I use
the system restore cd. However about 8 months back I did a full new
installation of Windows XP Home Edition on this computer. Initially the sound
was working fine. I didn't use the computer the entire summer. When i
switched it on after summer, there was no sound output. I changed my
speakers, checked the wires & everything. Then I thought maybe it's the
driver so I got into the Windows Update website & it showed that I have a
newer driver available & I decided maybe that would be the key to this but
nope after that I got a yellow exclamation mark next to "C-Media AC97 Audio
Device" in device manager. When I use the driver cd I received with my pc it
installs "Soundmax Integrated Digital Audio". Why is it different? Even after
installing the Soundmax drivers I am not getting any sound. I cannot do a
rollback of the driver & neither can I go back to a system restore point. In
Add/Remove Programs I have something called C-Media WDM Audio Driver, when I
try to uninstall it says it has been uninstalled but seems to say that every
single time I uninstall it, after the reboot it still exists & can be
uninstalled again & again. I tried disabling the onboard audio from the BIOS
& got the same result. What is going on? How can I get my sound back? Btw I
think there might be a lot of different drivers of C-Media AC97 & Soundamax
that were installed so, is it cause maybe they all are clashing or something.
How could I completely remove all the sound drivers & then install the driver
from the cd? I've tried uninstalling it from device manager & restarting the
computer & letting windows install it, no success in that. I have a Compaq PC
which I know has an ABIT BL30G motherboard, however I cannot get the drivers
from the Abit website because this is an OEM motherboard & the Compaq website
does not have any new drivers for this pc. What do I do?

It would have been more help to give us the Compaq model than the OEM
board..

If Compaq do not supply XP drivers for any of your onboard functions, then
count yourself lucky that anything other than basic operation works at all..

If sound drivers are not available for the integrated audio function, you
could always go get a cheap sound card that has XP drivers available for it


--
Mike Hall
MVP - Windows Shell/User


"manu08" <manu08@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:6B71DD56-924E-4259-92ED-4E366D5C69A5@microsoft.com...
> My computer was purhcased in 2001, when I received it, I got it
> preinstalled
> with Windows 98SE & that is the operating system that gets installed if I
> use
> the system restore cd. However about 8 months back I did a full new
> installation of Windows XP Home Edition on this computer. Initially the
> sound
> was working fine. I didn't use the computer the entire summer. When i
> switched it on after summer, there was no sound output. I changed my
> speakers, checked the wires & everything. Then I thought maybe it's the
> driver so I got into the Windows Update website & it showed that I have a
> newer driver available & I decided maybe that would be the key to this but
> nope after that I got a yellow exclamation mark next to "C-Media AC97
> Audio
> Device" in device manager. When I use the driver cd I received with my pc
> it
> installs "Soundmax Integrated Digital Audio". Why is it different? Even
> after
> installing the Soundmax drivers I am not getting any sound. I cannot do a
> rollback of the driver & neither can I go back to a system restore point.
> In
> Add/Remove Programs I have something called C-Media WDM Audio Driver, when
> I
> try to uninstall it says it has been uninstalled but seems to say that
> every
> single time I uninstall it, after the reboot it still exists & can be
> uninstalled again & again. I tried disabling the onboard audio from the
> BIOS
> & got the same result. What is going on? How can I get my sound back? Btw
> I
> think there might be a lot of different drivers of C-Media AC97 &
> Soundamax
> that were installed so, is it cause maybe they all are clashing or
> something.
> How could I completely remove all the sound drivers & then install the
> driver
> from the cd? I've tried uninstalling it from device manager & restarting
> the
> computer & letting windows install it, no success in that. I have a Compaq
> PC
> which I know has an ABIT BL30G motherboard, however I cannot get the
> drivers
> from the Abit website because this is an OEM motherboard & the Compaq
> website
> does not have any new drivers for this pc. What do I do?

http://www.soundmax.com/products/index.html
--
Dennis S.
I''m from Illinois. I hope I helped you. Good Luck.


"manu08" wrote:

> My computer was purhcased in 2001, when I received it, I got it preinstalled
> with Windows 98SE & that is the operating system that gets installed if I use
> the system restore cd. However about 8 months back I did a full new
> installation of Windows XP Home Edition on this computer. Initially the sound
> was working fine. I didn't use the computer the entire summer. When i
> switched it on after summer, there was no sound output. I changed my
> speakers, checked the wires & everything. Then I thought maybe it's the
> driver so I got into the Windows Update website & it showed that I have a
> newer driver available & I decided maybe that would be the key to this but
> nope after that I got a yellow exclamation mark next to "C-Media AC97 Audio
> Device" in device manager. When I use the driver cd I received with my pc it
> installs "Soundmax Integrated Digital Audio". Why is it different? Even after
> installing the Soundmax drivers I am not getting any sound. I cannot do a
> rollback of the driver & neither can I go back to a system restore point. In
> Add/Remove Programs I have something called C-Media WDM Audio Driver, when I
> try to uninstall it says it has been uninstalled but seems to say that every
> single time I uninstall it, after the reboot it still exists & can be
> uninstalled again & again. I tried disabling the onboard audio from the BIOS
> & got the same result. What is going on? How can I get my sound back? Btw I
> think there might be a lot of different drivers of C-Media AC97 & Soundamax
> that were installed so, is it cause maybe they all are clashing or something.
> How could I completely remove all the sound drivers & then install the driver
> from the cd? I've tried uninstalling it from device manager & restarting the
> computer & letting windows install it, no success in that. I have a Compaq PC
> which I know has an ABIT BL30G motherboard, however I cannot get the drivers
> from the Abit website because this is an OEM motherboard & the Compaq website
> does not have any new drivers for this pc. What do I do?