No sound and unable to install ADI 198x Audio driver

**gjs5p** · January 16th, 2010, 10:56 AM

I own a Dell Dimension 8300 pc with Creative LAbs 5.1 Audigy2 Audio Card and Nvidia GeForce FX 5200 video card.

I've installed the drivers for Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy2 drivers CD I got when I purchased this PC. I've also installed the latest patch/upgrade for this that I d/led from http://support.dell.com/support/dow...

I've also installed all the drivers that came with the Dell Dimension 8300 Drivers CD Rom. Even the newest Nvidia video driver from nvidia's website - because the older driver from the Dell Drivers CDROM that came with my pc was giving me lots of serious problems with the BSOD and the "nav4_disp" file..And that newer Nvidia seemed to have fixed it - i.e. no more screen blackouts and BSODs referring to the "nav4_disp" file.

There is however, an audio driver included with the cd-rom that I could not install. Its called the Analog Devices ADI 198x Integrated Audio driver, downloadable from http://support.dell.com/support/dow...

Its name is also called SoundMax.
Anyways, so everytime I try to install it with the Installshield Wizard, out pops the error message : "Driver not found! Reboot your system and run this setup again."

I've tried running the setup again and again and rebooting again and again, but still no joy.

I have no idea what is wrong, or what I can do to fix it. Whenever I play a video or a soundfile, there will just be no sound (although the programs for videos and music players appear to work fine with no error messages whatsoever).

Even when Windows XP starts up, the start-up melody doesn't even play.

And of course I've made sure my amps are switched on, and that the volume controls are all switched on and aren't muted, and that all the wires and connections are properly fitted, etc.. In fact I made sure no volume sources were muted. But still, no sound whatsoever.

Can anyone tell me what's wrong???

**Aaron_8015** · January 16th, 2010, 11:01 AM

Well as you have an added soundcard you shouldn't need to instal the on-board sound drivers. Have you hooked your speakers up to the sound card?

Have you gone into device manager and looked for any question marks?

**gjs5p** · January 18th, 2010, 12:38 PM

Originally Posted by Aaron_8015

Well as you have an added soundcard you shouldn't need to instal the on-board sound drivers. Have you hooked your speakers up to the sound card?

Have you gone into device manager and looked for any question marks?

Hi, my speaker to PC connections have stayed the same always. Its just that I wiped out my hard drive and reinstalled Windows XP plus the additional audio/video drivers 2 weeks ago because my computer crashed, and ever since then I've been unable to play any sounds on my computer. By the way my speakers are still working because when I switch them on and off, they still produce the same "popping" sound as they used to even before the PC had crashed on me 2 weeks ago.

I've gone into Device Manager and the only things showing question marks are for my printer, scanner and PCI modem, because I hadn't reinstalled their drivers yet (no time you know... plus I want to fix the sound problem first).

Now in Device Manager, I've gone into Sound, Video and Game controllers and found the following devices enabled :

Audio Codecs
Creative Audigy Audio Processer (WDM)
Legacy Audio Drivers
Legacy Video Capture Devices
Media Control Devices
Microsoft Kernel System Audio Device
Microsoft Kernel Wave Audio Mixer
Microsoft WINMM WDM Audio Compatibility Driver
Video Codecs.

From that list, the following devices do not come with any option to Enable/Disable :

Audio Codecs
Legacy Audio Drivers
Legacy Video Capture Devices
Media Control Devices
Video Codecs.

These same objects, I noticed before, were present even before I'd reinstalled the drivers for Creative Labs Audigy2 drivers... I wonder if they're causing the problem at all. Because if they are, I don't know what to do with them - there's no option to disable them!

By the way I'm no techie and all I know is that in order to get a device working properly the drivers have to be installed!

**Aaron_8015** · January 18th, 2010, 12:45 PM

Okay have you gone to sound options in control panel and made the Creative card the default?

**gjs5p** · January 18th, 2010, 01:55 PM

@ Aaron 8015 : It says there the default device for all options are SB Audigy (which is the Creative Labs one)...

**bigBonehead** · January 18th, 2010, 07:02 PM

What are the Volume sliders set to in the Audio Control Panel, and are there any Mute Boxes checked?

**gjs5p** · January 19th, 2010, 07:08 AM

@ bigBonehead : Vol. sliders are set to maximum. There aren't any mute boxes checked.

**bigBonehead** · January 19th, 2010, 06:55 PM

Sorry I didn't catch that in your first post. Download this driver: Creative Worldwide Support

Un-install the Creative driver through the device manager, then re-boot. Cancel out any attempt by Windows to install the driver. Then double click the downloaded driver to install.

EDIT/ Almost forgot... grab this and run the Registry Cleaner till it comes up with no issues. with all of your attempts at fixing the problem, it couldn't hurt: CCleaner - Home

**gjs5p** · January 20th, 2010, 10:59 AM

I found this page on dell support website telling me the proper steps to reinstall windows xp... and I had to wipe out my hard disc and start from scratch again, follow the steps, and now the sound works fine on my computer. Apparently if you don't do the steps in the right order, this sort of problem can occur!

@Bigbonehead : Thanks for your help!
I guess your way might have worked too but I had already fixed the problem before reading your message.

Cheers!

Rachel