Windows 7 Sound Issues - 2 Different Cards

[THRobinson]

I have an older SB Live! 5.1 card (model SB0060) and couldn't get the sound to work. Ran the driver in compatibility mode for WinXP SP3, and as admin, and it installed fine, when I played music the lvels were going up/down... but no sound from my speakers (and yes, everything connected just fine). Tried downloading newer drivers and same deal so gave up.

Pulled the card out and enabled the onboard card for my Asus P4P800 Intel P865PE (AC97 2.3 compatible / AI Audio via 8-Channel CODEC). Turned the computer on, couldn't install or find a driver. I pointed it to the original install CD for the board and couldn't install the drivers. So... downloaded the latest Win7 compatible AC97 drivers from Realtek. Same thing... installed, says it's fine, levels go up/down on the volume yet I get no sound.

I have my audio running through a receiver... so, the SB Live! card was running though digital, and the onboard card I now have running through regular stereo now. If I plug the jack into my MP3 player I get sound so, not the speakers or the reciever.

Any ideas? The fact that both cards installed and say working properly, the levels show sound but no audio happenind is odd.

***System Summary***
OS Name Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate
Version 6.1.7100 Build 7100
Other OS Description Not Available
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Name N/A
System Manufacturer To Be Filled By O.E.M.
System Model To Be Filled By O.E.M.
System Type X86-based PC
Processor Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.00GHz, 2998 Mhz, 1 Core(s), 2 Logical Processor(s)
BIOS Version/Date American Megatrends Inc. 080009, 23/02/2004
SMBIOS Version 2.3
Windows Directory C:\Windows
System Directory C:\Windows\system32
Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume1
Locale Canada
Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "6.1.7100.0"
User Name N/A
Time Zone Eastern Daylight Time
Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 1.00 GB
Total Physical Memory 1.00 GB
Available Physical Memory 311 MB
Total Virtual Memory 2.00 GB
Available Virtual Memory 1.15 GB
Page File Space 1.00 GB
Page File C:\pagefile.sys
----------------------
***Sound Device***
Name Realtek AC'97 Audio
Manufacturer Realtek
Status OK
PNP Device ID PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_24D5&SUBSYS_80F31043&REV_02\3&267A616A&0&FD
I/O Port 0x0000E800-0x0000E8FF
I/O Port 0x0000EE80-0x0000EEBF
Memory Address 0xF7FFF800-0xF7FFF9FF
Memory Address 0xF7FFF400-0xF7FFF4FF
IRQ Channel IRQ 17
Driver c:\windows\system32\drivers\rtkvac.sys (6.0.1.6303, 3.98 MB (4,172,064 bytes), 10/03/2009 12:46 PM)
---------------------
***Problem Devices***
PfModNT ROOT\LEGACY_PFMODNT\0000 This device is not present, is not working properly, or does not have all its drivers installed.
WebCam Live! USB\VID_041E&PID_4036\6&3B999414&0&2 The drivers for this device are not installed.

Oh also to note for the AC97... I have done the uninstall from device manager, reboot, it found and installed the drivers and said it installed fine. Did another reboot to be safe and nope... no sound.

 

[reghakr]

Hello and Welcome,

Could you please provide tour motherboard make and model as well as the other sound ucard, i'm assumming PCI?
Just a note to all posters who are having problems.

In order to troubleshoot your problem we need to know more detailed specs of your system hardware.

Five choices
1. Go to Start > Run, and type msinfo32
2. Go to Control Panel > Device Manager and look for any entry that has a yellow flag beside it
3. Download http://majorgeeks.com/SIW_System_Info_d4387.html
4. Download http://majorgeeks.com/SIV_System_Information_Viewer_d4779.html
5 Please fill out your computers specs in the User Control Panel here on the site as well. It will then appear next to your name. look at my posting and you'll see the drop-down arrow.

 

[THRobinson]

Actually the make/model of motherboard as well as sound card make/model are in the original post

Asus P4P800 Intel P865PE, and the other card was the SB Live! 5.1 card (model SB0060).

The SB Live! 5.1 was a PCI card.

Again... kinda weird that both cards were able to install, the status said they were working properly, and when playing music/video the levels were going up/down with the sound... but... just no sound coming out of the speakers. I would have suspected either they worked, or they wouldn't install. :S

By the way... what is that, a '70 Chevy Nova?

 

[reghakr]

I can't be certain about this download as it doesn't give a version number.

Vista/Win7 (32/64 bits) Driver only

This is for the Realtek AC'97 Audio. You may also need the CODEC along with that. Give me a minute. There is no inf file, so just extract and run saetup.exe.

The SoundBlaster Live is a discontinued product according to Creative...no Windows 7 driver available.

Try inputting your details here:

Please select your product

I also was having a problem with 7.1 channel surround, but Creative did release a driver for my X-Fi Extreme 7.1 channel and SPDIF finally worked.

 

[THRobinson]

Sadly those are the 2 places I already went to to get the latest drivers.

SB Live! is definitely old and likely unsupported... but figured such a basic card that Win7 should have been able to use some sort of generic drivers almost.

Realtek AC'97 drivers I tried those ones as well.

Again, just odd that they installed, and seem to work just fine... just no sound. At my wits end sadly... may have to revert back to WinXP after less than a day of using Win7.

 

[reghakr]

You might want to try tyhis link for the Codecs:

Realtek HD ALC 880 Audio CODECs v R2.23 for Windows 7 (32/64 bits)

 

[THRobinson]

Oddly... even though the driver updater said what I had installed was the best match etc... I re-ran the Windows Updater and it installed the sound card now as "SoundMax Inetgrated Digital Audio".

Sounds "works" ... but was a fluke I heard it actually... very quiet, and at first stereo and now left only it seems.

Oh... there's an annoying side effect...

Now whenever I try to access the Control Panel screen, I get a message saying Explorer has stopped working and asks if I want it restarted. I say yes, reopen Control Panel and same deal. Tried a reboot as well. Sheesh.

 

[reghakr]

If this occurred after applying any of my suggestions, do a system restore and go back to an earlier date.

Maybe we can start over from there.

 

[THRobinson]

Well... just back from a switch over... figured I'd post my results in case anyone else is having these issues.

Seemed that it would crash on the control panel, but if I went to say "Devices and Printers" it was fine, as soon as I went up a branch to the screen where "Hardware and Sound" was then it crashed again. Anything with the Sound option caused it to crash.

So... I uninstalled the driver and removed it from Device Manager.

I started to think a bit, and decided to shut the PC down, stick the SB Live! card back in, and disable the onboard sound card.

I started up, installed the same driver for the SB Live! that I did before, except this time I chose Analog not Digital, and plugged my reciever up via the regular speaker out jack not the digital out.

Rebooted and well, sound works... not as well as the digital out did under WinXp and wow! Super loud!!! Use to keep the audio set to 100% on the computer and the receiver at -50... now I have to keep the PC set to around 50% and even then it's a bit loud.

Will try a few more things to get Digital Audio to work... but, just in case others are having probs like mine, at least they can get sound for now using analog.

 

[reghakr]

Good thinking!!!

yes, it's always been the digital output problem.

Your receiver at -50?

What kind of high-end receiver do you have?

 

[THRobinson]

I have a Pioneer VSX-D711. Use to be hooked up to the TV but, for a short while had a roommate that well... I didn't trust to use it (not very bright, and the remote has lots of buttons).

Never switched it back to the TV yet... have a few older 3' tall floor speakers for fronts and an old bookshelves for rears for a 4.0 system (not 5.1). Sounds great though... moving in 2 weeks so, not in a rush to rearrange my equipment quite yet. When I do the digital will likely be less of an issue and I'll probably either get a pair of decent PC speakers, or, switch back to WinXP since this is a trial beta version anyway.

Few programs so far I can't install... Alcohol120% for example... so, we'll see how a few games go... if they go poorly, well, I may revert back tomorrow.

Hoping in 4 months to build a new system, by then I'll have a better idea of what has drivers and what doesn't.

Thanks for the help.

 

[THRobinson]

Hmm... odd. Ever so often the right speaker stops working. If I go into the volume controls, under the advanced tab where you can pick the quality, when I hit TEST the left speaker makes the test sound, a small pop then the right speaker works fine again.

Very odd...

 

[Zentie]

Soundblaster Live! 5.1

Download drivers from Creative Sound Blaster Live/Live 5.1/Audigy/Audigy 2 kX Driver 5.10.0.3538L Windows 98SE/ME/2000/XP/XP x64 and follw the instructions as it says. My aduio is fine.

 

[reghakr]

It appears that driver is for the Audigy series which is a totally different card.

There are however links related to 5.1 live below with support for Vista.

Can't hurt if it isn't working, just create a restore point before upgrading the drivers.