Guest pentium Posted October 5, 2008 Posted October 5, 2008 hi. my brother's computer has no audio at all, and it was working before. he wants to buy a new sound card but when we opened the tower, we found out that it was not plugged in the PCI card. it's a silver little box. my question is, can we buy a sound card that goes into the PCI and replace the silver little box? please help. TIA HP PC on winXP SP2.
Guest RobertVA Posted October 5, 2008 Posted October 5, 2008 Re: a question pentium wrote: > hi. my brother's computer has no audio at all, and it was working before. he > wants to buy a new sound card but when we opened the tower, we found out that > it was not plugged in the PCI card. it's a silver little box. my question is, > can we buy a sound card that goes into the PCI and replace the silver little > box? please help. TIA > HP PC on winXP SP2. Before replacing the computer's internal sound hardware: Have you checked the computer's BIOS settings to insure the motherboard's integrated sound accelerator is activated? Does the computer maintain the correct time if unplugged for a few hours? If the computer had trouble with the sound or maintaining the CMOS settings it may need a new battery. Run the DirectX diagnostic (type "dxdiag" in the "Start" button's "Run..." Dialog) and report back if it generates any sound OR reports the presence or lack of sound hardware when you run its tests. The diagnostic can write a log file to the hard drive which can be a source of clipboard "copy and paste" text about hardware identification and test results you might wish to include in further posts. Have you checked the Windows XP volume control (click the speaker icon in the notification area) to make sure the "mute" box isn't checked? Do you hear a tone when you change the volume level? Have you checked the standard Windows sound mixer (double click the speaker button in the Windows XP notification area) to make sure the playback "Play Control" and Wave/MP3" aren't muted and have a reasonable volume level? Have you tried another set of speakers, stereo headphones or MP3/I-Pod ear buds in place of the existing set of speakers? IF the external speakers have a "power on" LED does it illuminate and is the volume turned up?
Guest Brian A. Posted October 5, 2008 Posted October 5, 2008 Re: a question "pentium" <pentium@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:E9E3B4CE-AE95-403B-A4BB-DCC65B314ED0@microsoft.com... > hi. my brother's computer has no audio at all, and it was working before. he > wants to buy a new sound card but when we opened the tower, we found out that > it was not plugged in the PCI card. it's a silver little box. my question is, > can we buy a sound card that goes into the PCI and replace the silver little > box? please help. TIA > HP PC on winXP SP2. From your statement it appears the PC has integrated audio and that "silver little box" is housing component of the jacks on the motherboard. If that is the case and you have an open PCI slot, go ahead, have at it, purchase a sound card and install it. Keep in mind that you "may" need to disable the integrated audio in the BIOS in order for the new card to work. Some newer mobos BIOS will detect a new card and automatically disable an integrated device, yet since it's not every board that does, check any documentation you have and/or have a look see in the BIOS yourself for the setting to enable/disable the device. -- Brian A. Sesko { MS MVP_Windows Desktop User Experience } Conflicts start where information lacks. http://basconotw.mvps.org/ Suggested posting do's/don'ts: http://dts-l.com/goodpost.htm How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375
Guest Xandros Posted October 5, 2008 Posted October 5, 2008 Re: a question Yes it is very likely you can add a sound card. However judging by your inexperience you should get help with this. -- Xandros "pentium" <pentium@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:E9E3B4CE-AE95-403B-A4BB-DCC65B314ED0@microsoft.com... > hi. my brother's computer has no audio at all, and it was working before. > he > wants to buy a new sound card but when we opened the tower, we found out > that > it was not plugged in the PCI card. it's a silver little box. my question > is, > can we buy a sound card that goes into the PCI and replace the silver > little > box? please help. TIA > HP PC on winXP SP2.
Guest pentium Posted October 5, 2008 Posted October 5, 2008 Re: a question hi i went to sounds and other devices under control panel and it has "no audio device" and everything is grayed out...what should i do? "RobertVA" wrote: > pentium wrote: > > hi. my brother's computer has no audio at all, and it was working before. he > > wants to buy a new sound card but when we opened the tower, we found out that > > it was not plugged in the PCI card. it's a silver little box. my question is, > > can we buy a sound card that goes into the PCI and replace the silver little > > box? please help. TIA > > HP PC on winXP SP2. > > Before replacing the computer's internal sound hardware: > > Have you checked the computer's BIOS settings to insure the > motherboard's integrated sound accelerator is activated? Does the > computer maintain the correct time if unplugged for a few hours? If the > computer had trouble with the sound or maintaining the CMOS settings it > may need a new battery. Run the DirectX diagnostic (type "dxdiag" in the > "Start" button's "Run..." Dialog) and report back if it generates any > sound OR reports the presence or lack of sound hardware when you run its > tests. The diagnostic can write a log file to the hard drive which can > be a source of clipboard "copy and paste" text about hardware > identification and test results you might wish to include in further posts. > > Have you checked the Windows XP volume control (click the speaker icon > in the notification area) to make sure the "mute" box isn't checked? Do > you hear a tone when you change the volume level? > > Have you checked the standard Windows sound mixer (double click the > speaker button in the Windows XP notification area) to make sure the > playback "Play Control" and Wave/MP3" aren't muted and have a reasonable > volume level? > > Have you tried another set of speakers, stereo headphones or MP3/I-Pod > ear buds in place of the existing set of speakers? IF the external > speakers have a "power on" LED does it illuminate and is the volume > turned up? >
Guest pentium Posted October 5, 2008 Posted October 5, 2008 Re: a question hi i went to sounds and other devices under control panel and it has "no audio device" and everything is grayed out...what should i do? (sorry for posting twice) AND how do i get to BIOS? i tried pressing the delete key while it's rebooting, nothing happened, windows just started normally. "Xandros" wrote: > Yes it is very likely you can add a sound card. However judging by your > inexperience you should get help with this. > > -- > > Xandros > > > "pentium" <pentium@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message > news:E9E3B4CE-AE95-403B-A4BB-DCC65B314ED0@microsoft.com... > > hi. my brother's computer has no audio at all, and it was working before. > > he > > wants to buy a new sound card but when we opened the tower, we found out > > that > > it was not plugged in the PCI card. it's a silver little box. my question > > is, > > can we buy a sound card that goes into the PCI and replace the silver > > little > > box? please help. TIA > > HP PC on winXP SP2. > > >
Guest Paul Posted October 5, 2008 Posted October 5, 2008 Re: a question pentium wrote: > hi i went to sounds and other devices under control panel and it has "no > audio device" and everything is grayed out...what should i do? > (sorry for posting twice) > AND how do i get to BIOS? i tried pressing the delete key while it's > rebooting, nothing happened, windows just started normally. There is a list of BIOS keys here. The delete key was a good guess, but there are more of them. http://pcsupport.about.com/od/fixtheproblem/a/biosaccess_pc.htm Paul > > > "Xandros" wrote: > >> Yes it is very likely you can add a sound card. However judging by your >> inexperience you should get help with this. >> >> -- >> >> Xandros >> >> >> "pentium" <pentium@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message >> news:E9E3B4CE-AE95-403B-A4BB-DCC65B314ED0@microsoft.com... >>> hi. my brother's computer has no audio at all, and it was working before. >>> he >>> wants to buy a new sound card but when we opened the tower, we found out >>> that >>> it was not plugged in the PCI card. it's a silver little box. my question >>> is, >>> can we buy a sound card that goes into the PCI and replace the silver >>> little >>> box? please help. TIA >>> HP PC on winXP SP2. >> >>
Guest Ken Blake, MVP Posted October 5, 2008 Posted October 5, 2008 Re: a question On Sun, 5 Oct 2008 00:08:00 -0700, pentium <pentium@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote: > AND how do i get to BIOS? i tried pressing the delete key while it's > rebooting, nothing happened, windows just started normally. How to get into your BIOS depends, not on Windows, but on what motherboard/BIOS you have. As a matter of fact, you have to access the BIOS before Windows even starts to boot. One common way is to press the Del key when you first power on, but that's not necessarily right for your computer. Watch the screen carefully when you first boot; there's often a message there telling you what to do. If not, check your system documentation or check with your vendor. Also look here: http://michaelstevenstech.com/bios_manufacturer.htm Also bear in mind that the Del key *may* be right for you, even though it appeared not to work. The problem with it may simply be that you pressed it too late. -- Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience Please Reply to the Newsgroup
Guest thecreator Posted October 5, 2008 Posted October 5, 2008 Re: a question Hi Pentium, Open the Control Panel. Go to Sounds and Audio Devices. Click on Audio Tab. Chek the Default Devices for each and in the Voice Tab. It is quite possible that the Audio Devices were changed. Change them back. -- thecreator "pentium" <pentium@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:E9E3B4CE-AE95-403B-A4BB-DCC65B314ED0@microsoft.com... > hi. my brother's computer has no audio at all, and it was working before. > he > wants to buy a new sound card but when we opened the tower, we found out > that > it was not plugged in the PCI card. it's a silver little box. my question > is, > can we buy a sound card that goes into the PCI and replace the silver > little > box? please help. TIA > HP PC on winXP SP2.
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