No Sound Device

Mitsuhide

Hey guys.

A few months ago my mom bought a "new" computer from Compaq. (New as in it was running Vista with 446 megs of RAMo_O). So earlier today I put my old copy of XP on the sucker, as it will inevitably run much better compared to Vista.

I got the chipset and monitor/graphics drivers to work without a hitch. The problem is, I had to scour the net for the drivers, as HP doesn't even give you XP drivers for the POS computer, only Vista.

Now here's my question. How can I get the sound working? I downloaded what I thought was the Realtek driver for this mobo, and installed it. Oops, no sound still. So I went into the sound device section of the control panel and was greeted with this...

I'm pretty new to formatting computers, so any huge error I've missed, or entire driver I forgot to download is entirely just inexperience.

Here's HP's spec page for this model: Compaq Presario SR5110NX

Anyone know what's going on?

Zxerol

Reading the motherboard specifications for the computer, it's running Realtek HD audio (ALC888). Did you install the older Realtek AC97 drivers? The two aren't the same.

Regardless, the Realtek HD drivers can be obtained directly here. Since you're running XP, the Windows HD audio hotfix has to be applied before the driver can be installed -- the audio installer should actually take care of that for you when you run setup, so you shouldn't actually have to worry about that. (If you're interested, the hotfix should be in a folder called "MSHDQFE" when you extract the zip. If you manually install it, you should see a crapload of new unknown audio devices magically appear in your device manager, begging for drivers.)

Mitsuhide

I tried what you said with the MSHDQFE, and tried to execute the one that said winxpsp1, but it said I have a newer version. So I assume that means that it was taken care of during installation? I am downloading that XP driver from Realtek you linked, but I have tried it countless times, and nothing is working.
I have a feeling something may be wrong with my copy of windows, because the audio was fine on both Vista, as well as my Ubuntu live cd.

EDIT: also, when I check the device manager, there are no exclamation points next to anything that has to do with audio. although, there is one next to the "PCI Device."

Are those somehow related?

Zxerol

If you're running Service Pack 2 (which you honestly should), you should run the xpsp2 version ("kb888111xpsp2.exe" in the set I have here). But, if you just ran the setup, then it should have taken it all for you, in theory. That lone device in device in Device Manager is probably the audio, and if the hotfix wasn't installed correctly Windows won't know it's an audio device. At least, that was my experience with this sucker.

The UAA HD spec is actually built-in with Vista, which is why the audio works with no fuss in that OS (and Linux, of course, is just simply hardcore about it). Windows XP doesn't, and that hotfix is needed to patch it in for the audio to work at all. It's stupid and a pain, as evidence by your problem here. Doesn't help if the manufacturer doesn't even directly support the board and the OS (I can't even find the board on ECS' website).

Mitsuhide

Thanks for all your help, this must be a huge hassle.

Well, I checked my general system specs and apparently I have Service Pack 3 installed. If you think I can, should I downgrade to SP2?

I guess what I can try is downgrading to SP2, then trying the fix and then installing the driver?

I won't do anything too drastic unless you tell me to, after all, you're the expert here. :P

Really, reinstalling Windows won't be that much of a hassle, because I have all of my data on a few DVDs anyway.

sonicmage

the difference between SP2 and SP3 is the updates, if i recall correctly. if you were to downgrade to SP2 you would have to get all the updates that are inclused in SP3, and since your driver isnot working on SP3, then i dont think you would have anymore luck with SP2.

firekiun

I had the no sound card problem just yesterday with my new PC build.

I solved it but formatting the comp and install a fresh copy of XP, making sure that alway install the UAA HD driver first before installing the RealTek driver.

This could be a stupid suggestion, is your onboard sound card disabled in your bios?

Mitsuhide

firekiun wrote: »

I had the no sound card problem just yesterday with my new PC build.

I solved it but formatting the comp and install a fresh copy of XP, making sure that alway install the UAA HD driver first before installing the RealTek driver.

This could be a stupid suggestion, is your onboard sound card disabled in your bios?

I seriously did not think of that.

EDIT: OK i went into the BIOS, and onboard sound was enabled, but I changed it to auto. no idea if that'll fix it, though.

Also, what is the UAA HD driver? ><

firekiun

Mitsuhide wrote: »

firekiun wrote: »

I had the no sound card problem just yesterday with my new PC build.

I solved it but formatting the comp and install a fresh copy of XP, making sure that alway install the UAA HD driver first before installing the RealTek driver.

This could be a stupid suggestion, is your onboard sound card disabled in your bios?

I seriously did not think of that.

EDIT: OK i went into the BIOS, and onboard sound was enabled, but I changed it to auto. no idea if that'll fix it, though.

Also, what is the UAA HD driver? ><

I have no idea what that driver is, but for my motherboard, I actually need both UAA HD and realtec, seeing how some post above mention uAA HD, I think it can be apply to you too.

Mitsuhide

Well I tried that UAA thing, but it said my version of windows was too new or something, and that it didn't need to install. Man, this is such a headache!