Hi everyone,
I just recently signed on to this forum because I've had this problem with my computer for like a week now and cannot figure out how to fix it. Last week all of a sudden my computer's sound just shut off for everything. I bought new speakers since I thought it was just my old ones but still no sound. I got a new sound card also and still no sound. The sound only works for like 5-20 minutes after I restart my computer and then shuts off again only when I listen to music or go to watch a vid clip it seems. I have tried everything to fix this problem including uninstalling windows service pack 2 which seems to make the sound stay on longer for some reason but it still shuts off overtime. Could someone please help me? Thanks in advance.

Im not as proficient in these forums as some of the other guys im sure but since noone else has posted a response i figured id try and give a hand.First ,has a reformat been done recently,new pc build ,old pc build and just prob just happened for no apparent reason?Could possibly be caused by the way in which drivers where installed (Audio b4 chipset?)Also possibly corrupt chipset driver?First thing i would have u try is to uninstall ur soundcard driver.Next find type chipset u have and uninstall then reinstall driver for chipset,if its and intel u can get info at http://support.intel.com/support/chipsets/ (http://support.intel.com/support/chipsets/,if)if u cant find type u have u can also use this utility http://support.intel.com/support/processors/tools/piu/ (http://support.intel.com/support/processors/tools/piu/,then) then i would go to the manufacturers website for ur soundcard and download the latest driver for it(creative for soundblaster card)and install that.Good luck.

The type of sound card I have is a Aureal Vortex 8810 Audio (WDM). Do you know of any site where they would have updated drivers for it. Plus I don't think updating the drivers would solve my problem unfortunately since both of the sound cards are experiencing the same problem. Thanks for the ideas though and I'm still going to try to update the drivers just in case.

mainly i was concerned about the chipset driver,try and update them first b4 reinstalling the soundcard driver.Uninstall soundcard driver first,locate latest chipset driver and download,then remove old chipset driver,reinstall new one,then install latest soundcard driver from manufacturers website.

http://support.intel.com/support/chipsets
http://support.intel.com/support/processors/tools/piu
sorry links were messed up in previous reply,heres the correct ones for intel chipsets and utility

The Intel chipset utility you gave me did not work it said that it was unable to identify the tested processor. Is there any other way I can find out what chipset I need? Thanks for your help thus far by the way.

also here is the driver for your soundcard,choose ur os,may have to join driverguide but its free.http://www.soundcard-drivers.com/companies/136.htm
Seems u have an old soundcard,If u can afford it i would prob replace the soundcard ,u can get them pretty cheap dependin on ur speakers.(2.1 2 speakers and a sub,5.1 5 speakers and a sub and so forth).U can get them pretty cheap and they will come w a recent driver that should work well for u http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?Manufactory=&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&description=&MinPrice=&MaxPrice=&SubCategory=57&Submit=Property
Also this one is a decent inexpensive soundcard(creative good brand) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16829102176
I think a brand new recent soundcard and a correct driver would prob fix the prob ur having,but updated chipset driver would help ur system run better as well,so i would do that also,and dont forget about spyware protection,search for adaware and spybot,download updates and run .Should help ur system performance even though it has nothing to do w the problem ur having.Good luck again.

What kind of motherboard do u have ,do u know?Is it a dell,gateway,etc?what is the model?

I'm not to sure what kind of motherboard it is but I now know that I have a 750MHz AMD Duron Processor if that helps. I'm going to buy a new sound card soon but I just want to make sure I get my problem fixed before I sink more money into this. The sound card I have in it now is just a replacement for the one that is built into the motherboard because that's what I thought the original problem was.

What operating system do u use?

Windows XP

We need info about your system to trouble-shoot this problem. If you don't know anything about your system, download Everest (http://www.lavalys.com/products/download.php?pid=1&lang=en), install it, run it, tell us what it says.

Also, how long has that thing been running since you installed Windows originally? Or rather, where did you get that computer?

http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/TechnicalResources/0,,30_182_871_2364,00.html this is a amd cpuid program,it will tell u info on ur cpu,after u get that download and run AMD Driver pack version 1.30 http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/TechnicalResources/0,,30_182_871_2336,00.html I use an intel but this says it will update ur chipset 4 u,just make sure that u see ur cpu that u found during the cpuid in the system requirements b4 u install the new driver

Hope all goes well,past my bedtime at the moment ,so i will post again tomorrow.

That second link you gave is only for AMD chipsets. If Seanage has a VIA or ALi or even NVidia chipset, that update won't work. We need Everest info first.

Tru tat,Guess i shouldnt assume.:)

It's a good assumption based on the CPU, but you know what happens when you assume! :p

When u assume u make an ASS out of U and ME.

What exact info do you need from everest?

Computer:
Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Professional
OS Service Pack Service Pack 1
DirectX 4.08.01.0810 (DirectX 8.1)
Computer Name SEANAGE (Sean's Computer)
User Name Sean

Motherboard:
CPU Type AMD Duron, 750 MHz (7.5 x 100)
Motherboard Name Compaq Compaq PC
Motherboard Chipset VIA VT8363(A) Apollo KT133(A)
System Memory 256 MB (SDRAM)
BIOS Type Compaq (02/16/01)
Communication Port Communications Port (COM1)
Communication Port ECP Printer Port (LPT1)

Display:
Video Adapter NVIDIA Vanta (8 MB)
3D Accelerator nVIDIA Vanta
Monitor Compaq Presario MV700 [17" CRT] (838CF29KC545)

Multimedia:
Audio Adapter Aureal Vortex (AU8810) Sound Accelerator

Storage:
IDE Controller VIA Bus Master IDE Controller
Floppy Drive Floppy disk drive
Disk Drive WDC WD800JB-00ETA0 (74 GB, IDE)
Disk Drive ST34323A (4 GB, 4500 RPM, Ultra-ATA/33)
SMART Hard Disks Status OK

Partitions:
D: (NTFS) 4104 MB (3178 MB free)
F: (NTFS) 76317 MB (25635 MB free)
Total Size 78.5 GB (28.1 GB free)

Input:
Keyboard Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural PS/2 Keyboard
Mouse PS/2 Compatible Mouse

Network:
Network Adapter SMC EZ Card 10/100 PCI (SMC1211TX) (192.168.0.101)
Modem PCTEL Platinum V.90 Modem

Peripherals:
USB1 Controller VIA VT83C572 PCI-USB Controller
USB1 Controller VIA VT83C572 PCI-USB Controller

Hmmm... how fast can you type? :D

Need mobo & chipset info, audio device info, vid card info would be helpful (as long as we're updating drivers...). And how much installing/uninstalling have you done on this thing? Have you ever reinstalled the OS?

I haven't done much installing/uninstalling on this computer when it comes to drivers and such and I believ I have reinstalled the OS once.

Ok, go here (http://www.viaarena.com/default.aspx?PageID=420&OSID=1&CatID=1070) and download the "Retro chipset VIA 4in1 drivers" (bottom one) and install that for good measure (must be installed prior to the audio driver). For the onboard audio on the mobo, download this (http://www.viaarena.com/default.aspx?PageID=420&OSID=1&CatID=1010&SubCatID=100) and install it. I would try that first before you try to mess with one of those unsupported sound cards. As for the vid card, XP should have the latest driver for it (that thing is old!).

If new drivers don't work, let us know, because the problem is something else.

I also found this if i may be easier, http://www.via.com.tw/en/resources/download-center/chipsets/
and if u use this the driver ur looking for is » VIA KT133A

One last thing ,if u didnt disable onboard sound b4 u installed new card and u have 2 soundcards enabled it could cause a problem,to diable onboard sound u need to go into bios and find onboard sound and disable but what we should prob do is to ,in this order,find the add on soundcard u installed in device manager,right click,properties,uninstall driver,remove add on card,uninstall driver for your onboard sound ,uninstall chipset driver and reinstall chipset driver in earlier post,then install latest driver for the onboard sound, http://www.viaarena.com/default.aspx?PageID=420&OSID=1&CatID=1010&SubCatID=100
at that point hopefully u will be in good shape,make sure u install chipset first,soundcard driver next,then continue on to updating videocard drivers ,etc.

I updated all the drivers and chipset and it still does the same thing. Thanks for all your help guys if you have any further suggestions please let me know. I'm going to bed now though so I'll check back tomorrow. Thanks once again.

I also noticed today that the sound shuts off faster if I watch a video clip then if I listen to music if that helps at all.

So which sound card do you have installed? Did you follow BASPro's advice about uninstalling everything and just using the onboard sound?

I have the Aureal Vortex 8810 installed right now. I didn't have this sound card installed until the problem started occurring.

Definitely sounds like a driver issue. Don't use that antiquated & unsupported sound card! Get a new one or use the onboard sound.

Hey seanage,kinda at a loss if u have downloaded and installed latest chipset drivers and audio driver?Have u disabled onboard sound in ur bios?

I would really be concerned about using a obsolete soundcard seanage,especially when
ur really not sure about a good driver for it.If u did bite the bullet and purchase one of those soundcards i recommended earier i think u would be happy with it then u know u got a driver that will work,and better sound.

I would go buy a better sound card but I still don't think the problem involves the sound card. I think the problem has something to do with a software issue since the same problem occurred on both of my sound cards.

Have u disabled onboard sound in ur bios?

Yes I did.

ok seanage,u may have a corrupt audio codec,id like 4 u to go device manager/ sound,video, game controllers/audio codecs/properties and disable one at a time ,then try and listen to ur music-movie,if u still have a problem after disabling the first one,reenable it then disable the second on and so on,each time listenin to a song -movie etc.,as u go if u find that disabling a certain codec makes the problem either much better or go away,then remove the bad codec and download a new one and replace it.
http://www.free-codecs.com/
Good luck

I got rid of the other sound card and have gone back to my original sound card which is a VIA AC'97. Now I have absolutely no sound not even for a little while after start up but now video clips do not lag when I watch them.

The speakers do make a popping sound now though when I restart or start up my computer.

got latest version driver for via ac97 right?

reenabled onboard sound in bios right ?

Yep I did both of those things and still nothing just the pop sound.

did u read the post a few up?about the audio codecs?

yep i tried that also

just curious sea,where did u get driver for ur onboard sound?

seanage,what does it say in device manager under sound?

Ur pc is a compaq .whats m#?

I got my driver from www.driverguide.com. It says Audio codecs, legacy audio drivers, legacy video capture devices, media control devices, VIA AC'97 Audio Controller (WDM), and video codecs. And lastly my model number for my compaq is 5WV270 5000series.

Have u recently formatted and gone to windows xp sp2?

I was at windows xp sp2 but i uninstalled because i thought that one of the security updates was the source of the problem at first and no I haven't formatted recently.

Thanks for your help guys but it has to be the motherboard that has gone bad. My cd roms don't work, my vid card acts upp and now no sound. I just ordered a new comp so problem solved. Thanks though once again.