Re: Sound cards ...

[Mara]

Would someone please explain what a 'sound card' is. (I saw it mentioned in another thread saying that sometimes if the ports don't work for headphones, one can "install a new sound card").

 

Not too sure if this (a 'sound card') is a physical thing (like a skinny floppy?) or a software thing (like drivers) or ?

 

I ask because my headphones worked great after reloading my C: Drive and, in fact, worked great yesterday. But now the silly thing won't work no matter what port I plop it into. Zipped over to the normal 'Windows Update' site and everything seems to be up to date - so thought maybe a new 'sound card' might be worth a try.

 

Thanks once again,

Mara

[Dalo Harkin]

Mara a sound card is an add in card like a graphics card - they are basically a dedicated piece of hardware that reduces system load from the MOBO and the CPU - sound cards offer superior features like EAX (Lucasarts) the sound is much clearer.

the most expensive sound cards cost around £200 and some of the more cheaper ones are around £10 in terms of which you need - if you do not play high end games or watch dvds or make music on your pc then the latter is the best option.

you plug the sound card into a spare PCI slot on the MOBO and then install the drivers - it powers off the MOBO so no wiring involved.

I personally always buy a sound card as I play games and EAX is a magnificent experience with 5.1 speakers :D

Edited September 6, 2008 by Dalo Harkin

[Seth]

Here's a picture of a "add in" sound card.

 

http://www.microsoft.com/library/media/1033/windowsxp/images/using/mce/expert/sound_sound_card.jpg

 

Try different headphones, or try the headphones in another device (not the microwave though:D)

[Mara]

How wonderful to have the 'sound card' and the differences between them explained so well! And having a photo of the add in makes things so much easier to understand, too!

 

Thank you, thank you to both of you, Dalo and Seth - I truly appreciate it!

[DSTM]

Hi Mara.You said your headphones stopped all of a sudden.

Maybe one of the children accidently hit the mute button next to your up/down volume button on your keyboard.Worth checking.:)

[Mara]

Double-checked, thanks to your suggestion, DSTM - it doesn't seem to be that.

 

But since I've now learned that sound cards need drivers, thought I'd double-check to see if it's driver was out of date (although I tried the normal section and there were no yellow exclamation marks). Downloaded a program called 'UniBlue Driver Scan' which apparently does a thorough scan and not only lets one know which drivers are out of date but lets one download all the necessary new drivers at once.

 

If someone could take a quick peek at the scan results below, under 'Sound, Video and Game Controllers' section, please, and let me know if this is a driver for my 'sound card'.

 

Thanks so much once again.

 

 

 

http://i35.tinypic.com/2rf3hq9.jpg