Sound card drivers

[kayden azagthoth]

Good evening to ya'll,

How can I find out 'exactly' what kind of sound card I have in my computer? Is it as simple as 'Control Panel/System/Device Manager/Sound, video and game controllers'? I don't know what kind of driver I currently have installed and if there is a newer one available.

I've checked through various websites and the more I look, the more confused I get (but that's nothin' unusual http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif ) I've found places that list dozens and dozens of Creative drivers but I don't know exactly what Soundblaster card I have. My receipt from my computer purchase says it's an 'Sound Blaster PCI Ensonic Sound Card'. Under the 'about' tab of my Properties section it's a 'Sound Blaster Audio PCI Windows 9X driver'.

The main reason why I want new drivers is my sound on a game demo I downloaded is choppy and buzzy. I thought the demo I downloaded was faulty so I uninstalled and deleted it and got a new one and the sound is still choppy/buzzy. The game doesn't require a lot of system requirements (Win95, 98, Pentium 2 350 or higher, 64 MB of ram...blah blah blah). My system is a K6-2 500, 128M of RAM, Windows 98. Other than that demo, my sound is generally good. I'm just thinking about purchasing the game but I don't want to if the sound is going to be as crummy as on the demo.

Oh, I also toyed with the sound and video options in the game's menu and nothing I did helped with the choppy/buzzing-ness.

So basically, I'm thinking I need a new soundcard driver...but what driver do I need?? Help!



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And all you touch and all you see, is all your life will ever be.

-Pink Floyd

[jiggles]

Originally posted by kayden azagthoth:
Good evening to ya'll,

How can I find out 'exactly' what kind of sound card I have in my computer? Is it as simple as 'Control Panel/System/Device Manager/Sound, video and game controllers'? I don't know what kind of driver I currently have installed and if there is a newer one available.

I've checked through various websites and the more I look, the more confused I get (but that's nothin' unusual http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif ) I've found places that list dozens and dozens of Creative drivers but I don't know exactly what Soundblaster card I have. My receipt from my computer purchase says it's an 'Sound Blaster PCI Ensonic Sound Card'. Under the 'about' tab of my Properties section it's a 'Sound Blaster Audio PCI Windows 9X driver'.

The main reason why I want new drivers is my sound on a game demo I downloaded is choppy and buzzy. I thought the demo I downloaded was faulty so I uninstalled and deleted it and got a new one and the sound is still choppy/buzzy. The game doesn't require a lot of system requirements (Win95, 98, Pentium 2 350 or higher, 64 MB of ram...blah blah blah). My system is a K6-2 500, 128M of RAM, Windows 98. Other than that demo, my sound is generally good. I'm just thinking about purchasing the game but I don't want to if the sound is going to be as crummy as on the demo.

Oh, I also toyed with the sound and video options in the game's menu and nothing I did helped with the choppy/buzzing-ness.

So basically, I'm thinking I need a new soundcard driver...but what driver do I need?? Help!




Under Control Panel/Device Manager/Sound Cards-Multimedia go to your sound card and then properties, in the properties you should see the date and version of the driver you are currently using...so if that helps.

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Jiggly Jiggly

[Randy_tx]

Well, it could be that your download wasn't a good download......after all, you said all other sounds are fine. I REALLY doubt it's a sound card driver problem at all......it's a game DEMO problem http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif If you want to see if there are better drivers for your sound card, the BEST way is to open the cover and take out the sound card to see exactly what model it is and which Creative chip is on it....then you can go to the creative web site and know you are downloading the right drivers. http://www.americas.creative.com/

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I'm putting a new Fat32 partition in my Head Drive...hope it speeds me up.......

[kayden azagthoth]

Randy_tx wrote:

"If you want to see if there are better drivers for your sound card, the BEST way is to open the cover and take out the sound card to see exactly what model it is and which Creative chip is on it....then you can go to the creative web site and know you are downloading the right drivers."

Hmmmm, I thought about that option, but I've never removed a card from my computer before. I'm afraid that I'll botch something up! http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/rolleyes.gif

What happens when I remove the soundcard long enough to write down its serial number, etc.? Will I have to reinstall it, or will Windows automatically detect it, or will anything happen at all?

If it's a simple and risk-free thing to do, I'll be doing that when ya tell me tis okay!! http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

Thanks Randy!

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And all you touch and all you see, is all your life will ever be.

-Pink Floyd