Sound Blaster Issue

#1

Well since we're on the subject of comp issues....I have a problemo too. I can't hear any audio. I can hear computer sounds like email alerts and the windows start up chords etc., but I can't play any music. I use an Audigy Sound Blaster for my sound card and it stopped working a while back so I tried to uninstall and re-install it but in my add/remove programs there is a 0.41 mb entry which I think is an uninstall file, I'm really not sure, but when I try to remove it I get an error message that says.."An Installation support file could not be installed. The system cannot find the file specified"...Ive tried loading the installation cd again but it takes me part of the way through the installation process and then my whole system crashes and I have to switch my comp off manually. I've done the trouble shooter, I've tried a manuall uninstall in safe mode, I've tried system restore....all to no avail.
Even if I knew how to use the internal sound card that originally came with my system would be ok for the moment, but I don't know how to find it.
Anyone have any ideas?

#2

what kind of audigy? if it's an SE then it's junk ... I had bought one myself from wal-mart for $30 .. basically pissed the money away .. switched back to my Soundblaster 16 PCI .. better sound.

well .. if you have onboard sound you can see if it's on by going into the bios and digging a bit. if it's on .. perfect .. if not go ahead and enable it.

When you boot into windows (assuming that's what your in) it should scan and find new hard ware.

go into the sound properties via control panel and set the playback and recording to use the onboard until you can remove the audigy software

you may wanna try downloading the new version from the website and try an overwrite to see if that helps. You can also shut off the computer .. pull out the audigy .. boot it up .. then shut it back down and reseat the card and boot it back up again and windows may find it and reinstall the drivers for you.

Hope that works for you.

#3

Man, I had a SoundBlaster Audigy card, cost me about $130 bucks...I CONSTANTLY had driver issues with it...In fact, I was having your same issue, and in frustration, snatched the card out and used my onboard...

Turns out, my onboard sound blew the Audigy away...I never even thought to install it again, and gave it to raum...

What Kurgan suggested helps...The issue is that there are 'ghost devices' in the device manager...I had to snatch the card out...Uninstall the drivers...Download the latest version of the drivers...Reinstall the card...I will never buy another one...

That should fix your issue though, but if you have onboard, especially Realtek, you should give it a listen...

#4

It's a Soundblaster Audigy 2 NX...

Kurgan I've tried everything you suggested as far as downloading new drivers etc.. with no luck, apart from going into the bios and enabling the onboard sound device. I don't really know how to get into the bios, I don't think my computer skills are that far advanced...

When I go into sound & audio device properties in the audio tab there are drop down boxes for sound playback and sound recording which give me the option of 'modem #0 Line Playback' or 'modem#1 Line Playback' and ''Modem #0 Line Record' and 'Modem #1 Line Record'...I don't have a clue which one to choose. And also when I click the volume tab it says 'No Audio Device'!!

I don't know if I've got Realtek or not....I seem to recall seeing the name on my comp but I just had a quick look in my start menu and my desk top and didn't find anything. I'll have a look in my program files...

shit, I dunno........

#5

I know this may seem like a dumb question, but you don't have any mute boxes checked do you..? And what OS are we talking here..? XP Pro..?

We need to go into the control panel and check out some settings, see if your SB is set as the default output device or if there are any problems in your device manager...

#6

I'm running XP Home and I'm pretty sure there are no mute boxes checked.

#7

OK...

In your control panel under audio/sound devices, is the SB set as your default output, and not your modem or anything like that..? In the device manager, are there any exclamation points or questions marks on any of the devices..?

#8

There are no !'s or ?'s on any of the devices in device manager.
Finding where to set SB as my default output in control panel isn't entirely clear to me...I can get into audio/sound devices easily enough but I don't see where to check the default output.

#9

OK, that looks like an external device, if it is, have you tested it on another computer..?

Does it do both analog and digital audio output..?

#10

It doesn't have straight ahead analog audio output but it does have digital to analog converter....

Hey fuck...I just got the audio going halfway through typing this post...YEEHAAA!!.. :biggrin:

What I did was go into audio/device properties and in the audio tab I set the sound playback and sound recording device to modem #0 line playback and the same with line record, and then I unchecked the 'use only default devices' box and I enabled USB Audio Device in Hardware properties.....

But what I don't get now is that nearly all the SB software has been uninstalled....so have I set up the onboard sound or what??.....I checked by unplugging the power from the SB external device and the sound stopped until I plugged it back in. But if there's no software installed how is it running...I cant get into either the onboard or external sound controls either so I can't adjust the sound quality........

Man I haven't got a clue what's going on, but at least I do have sound from my terminal now