I just put together my first pc. Most of it went smoothly but I ran into two problems. The modem would keep getting hung up and not transmit data but I think I cured that by reloading the drivers. It is working now anyway.

My MB is an Epox 8rda3+ It has onboard sound but I can't get the sound to work. I loaded the drivers that came with the MB and windows says everything is OK but no sound. Any suggestions as to the problem?

Also, what kind of temp for the cpu is acceptable? Should I enable the bios to turn off at a certain temp? What temp. It is running at around 45ºC every time I rebooted.

Your second question first. Yes that is OK as a running temp. As for the shut off temp, that shloud be pre-set in the BIOS. Just check to be on the safe side and put your mind at ease.

Sound, (Stupid question I know) Do you have the speakers turned on?

Are the speaker cables plugged into the correct outlets?
(Speakers to speaker socket/mike to mike socket)

Is the sound enabled in the BIOS?

Also, where is the sound coming from (i.e., CD, TV Card, DVD)?

Do you have the internal cables connected to take the sound to the Motherboard header if required??

You might want to right-click on the speaker icon or check how to get to your Sound Properties and look to see what is muted. Sometimes by default items are muted when you first crank things up...

Speakers are on and not muted. They are plugged up correctly and I've tried the other plugs but none work. There are two options in Bios, auto and disabled. It is set to auto. I have tried both system sounds and CD sounds. Neither will work.

Connect the speakers to the headphone jack on the front of the CD-ROM(or CD-RW) drive, insert an audio CD, and turn up the volume with the dial on the drive and with the speaker controls.
If you do not hear any sound, then the speakers may be bad.

If you hear sound, then uninstall the sound adapter's driver software in Add/Remove Programs, remove the sound adapter from Device Manager, restart the computer, let Windows recognize the sound adapter, and reinstall its drivers.

ski,

Thanks for the suggestion.

I plugged two sets of speakers and headphones. No sound from the port on the CD drive.

I swapped out the CD drive for another that I know works fine and the same thing happened.

Any other ideas?

Is the audio CD playing(Windows Media Player or similar opening)?
Is the CD player's volume dial turned all the way up?
Speaker's volume controls turned up?
Jacks fully inserted?

ski,

Windows media playing and showing the correct tracks.
CD and speaker volume at max.
Jacks fully inserted.

I've tried it with two sets of speakers and a set of headphones. I've tried the jack on the CD and on the MB. I also switched the CD out for another.

No sound of any kind.

Does this sound like a MB problem/windows problem or did I screw something up putting it together? All components are new.

That your speakers are not muted is good...;)

However, if you have a speaker icon in the lower right corner, right-click on it and open the Volume Controls...

Once there, click on Options>Properties and have a look to see which volume controls you want to add to the Play Control...click on them and they will show up...

There's one for CD...check and make sure it is not muted...

Whyzman,

None of them are muted.

There should have been a connector that attaches to the CD player and to the sound header on the Motherboard for onboard sound (Or, to the Sound Card if you are using one)...are you sure you have that attached??

Gary65, .. a VERY IMP QUESTION ....

Are you sure you are not deaf ? :D :D :D

Whyzie, .. i have an onboard sound card and i dun see any connector that attaches to the CD player and to the sound header on the Motherboard..and yet everything works just fine. Gary has an Onboard soundcard too, so i guess there is no need of any connector...

The ancient audio cable is largely unnecessary with the new OS's like XP & 2000. However, for those times when the software fails, a hardware connection helps to work out the kinks. Thus, an audio cable still ships with retail versions of optical drives.

I have some advice that may help. gary65, you said you loaded the drivers that came with the mobo, correct? Those drivers are often out of date, so head over to NVidia's website and DL the latest NForce2 drivers. It might not be a bad idea to also DL the latest BIOS from Epox's site and flash it - the newest one is from just last month.

Something is not right.

Playing an audio CD with the speakers(or headphones) connected to the CD player's audio output jack bypasses your onboard sound adapter altogether(assuming nothing is connected to the sound adapter's audio output jack), and the CD player internally converts the digital audio data to analogue and sends it directly to the speakers(or headphones).
This setup also nullifies any software volume control(in Windows, in the sound adapter's software(if this exists), and in any media player which is being used to play the audio tracks), as the volume level is now adjusted strictly with the volume control on the CD player and on the speakers(or headphones).
And it also nullifies the need for an audio cable connecting the CD player to the sound adapter.
However, a media player has to be opened in order for the audio tracks to play.

Do the 2 sets of speakers and the headphones work ok on another system, or when connected to a stereo setup?
Are the 2 sets of speakers amplified, and have their power adapter connected to a 120 volt outlet? Unamplified speakers will not produce sound when connected to the CD player's audio output jack.
Are the speakers properly and securely connected to each other?
Are the audio tracks definitely playing in Windows Media Player?

For an update,

I put a new analog cable on and it works now. I put the cable on my older computer and it wouldn't work. I guess the cable that came with the drive was bad.

Glad to hear that you solved the problem, and thanks for posting back with the solution.