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Don Henthorn Smithville, TX
06-11-2003, 3:25 PM
Been without sound for at least six weeks while I have struggled with trying to install the sound card. Finally today a Gigabyte Tech stumbled onto the fact that my motherboard PCI slots are PCI 2.2 compliant not 2.1 compliant. I didn't even know there was such a thing as compiance for PCI slots. So I guess I'll be selling the SB16PCI on ebay. Just discovered that Comp USA charged me three times the going rate for the card so I won't be visiting Comp USA anymore. Funny how some of the big companies today don't know what it takes for continued success. Anyway, now my problem is finding how I can get my sound back. The onboard sound has to come through a multimedia card since the inner workings have evidently been changed during the motherboard upgrade. Perhaps I'll have sound again by Christmas

John Miliunas
06-11-2003, 6:52 PM
Don, if you have onboard sound, then you should have an output jack for it, as well, without putting in another card. This isn't "bible", but it is typical. It's possible that the onboard sound can be enabled/disabled by either, a simple BIOS setting or a jumper or switch setting physically on the main system board. If it's the BIOS, you can usually get to it right when you power up the box. Most modern-day motherboards access the BIOS by hitting the "delete" key while going through POST (that part of the onscreen dialogue, which often gives you the BIOS version, CPU, memory, etc... information, but before it starts to boot the operating system.) Look at the screen next time you boot or restart the unit. It will usually tell you which key (or keys) to hit when it's going through POST and will allow you to get to the BIOS settings. Good luck! :cool:

Don Henthorn Smithville, TX
06-11-2003, 11:15 PM
Originally posted by John Miliunas
Don, if you have onboard sound, then you should have an output jack for it, as well, without putting in another card. This isn't "bible", but it is typical. It's possible that the onboard sound can be enabled/disabled by either, a simple BIOS setting or a jumper or switch setting physically on the main system board. If it's the BIOS, you can usually get to it right when you power up the box. Most modern-day motherboards access the BIOS by hitting the "delete" key while going through POST (that part of the onscreen dialogue, which often gives you the BIOS version, CPU, memory, etc... information, but before it starts to boot the operating system.) Look at the screen next time you boot or restart the unit. It will usually tell you which key (or keys) to hit when it's going through POST and will allow you to get to the BIOS settings. Good luck! :cool:

Thanks for the reply, John. I did go into BIOS and enabled the on board sound and plugged the speakers into the motherboard socket, but there is no sound. I said Graphics card in my post, but I meant a multimedia card. I think it was a Vortex or Aureal unit. Not sure about that. It went bad and I bought the Sound Blaster because I thought it the old device was an audio card. card.

I looked at the on line manual for the motherboard and didn't see any jumpers for disabling the on board audio so I think it is done through BIOS.

John Miliunas
06-12-2003, 12:22 AM
Don, look in your Windows "Device Manager" and see if there's even a listing for the onboard sound card. If it is, check to make sure there isn't a yellow exclamation mark ("!") by it. That may indicate you need different drivers. (Sound cards CAN be a pain, because each OEM uses so darn many different versions!)

On the other side of the coin, you may be best off just getting yourself a new compiant audio card, especially if you have decent speakers and enjoy listening to CD's or such while working on your machine. Sound cards are relatively inexpensive. As I recall, you're now running XP. If that's the case, just get one which is compliant with XP and you may not even have to load any drivers, because XP will do that for you. Just be sure to get a PCI slot card, not ISA. :cool:

Don Henthorn Smithville, TX
06-12-2003, 4:33 PM
Originally posted by John Miliunas
Don, look in your Windows "Device Manager" and see if there's even a listing for the onboard sound card. If it is, check to make sure there isn't a yellow exclamation mark ("!") by it. That may indicate you need different drivers. (Sound cards CAN be a pain, because each OEM uses so darn many different versions!)

On the other side of the coin, you may be best off just getting yourself a new compiant audio card, especially if you have decent speakers and enjoy listening to CD's or such while working on your machine. Sound cards are relatively inexpensive. As I recall, you're now running XP. If that's the case, just get one which is compliant with XP and you may not even have to load any drivers, because XP will do that for you. Just be sure to get a PCI slot card, not ISA. :cool:

John, that is part of my problem. According to the Microsoft listing pf compatible devices the Sound Blaster 16PCI is compatible with WinXP but it turns out it is is incompatible with my motherboard because of the PCI slots different compliance. Trying to find a compatible device is next to impossible since none of the venders tell whether the PCI requirement for thier devices is 2.1 or 2.2.

John Miliunas
06-12-2003, 10:05 PM
Don, check this one out: http://www.upgradecenterinc.com/didt5pcisoca.html

Don't know squatt about the card itself, except that it meets all the specific requirements. I also did an additional search through Pricewatch. You may want to check some of these out:
http://www.pricewatch.com/1/202/4950-1.htm

Good luck!
:cool:

Don Henthorn Smithville, TX
06-12-2003, 10:25 PM
Originally posted by John Miliunas
Don, check this one out: http://www.upgradecenterinc.com/didt5pcisoca.html

Don't know squatt about the card itself, except that it meets all the specific requirements. I also did an additional search through Pricewatch. You may want to check some of these out:
http://www.pricewatch.com/1/202/4950-1.htm

Good luck!
:cool:

Those look promising, John. I'll check them out. Thanks for the help.