Can anyone please help me with my Sound Dilema?

[Steve AP]

I recently upgraded from a Pentium 3 450 to an AMD Athlon 1.3 complete with new motherboard (K7S5A) and fan.
Which I had fitted from my local Pc shop.

The only problems I have are the sound is all garbled on my games.

My O/S:
Windows 98 SE
Toshiba Dvd
Philips Cdrw
256mb ram
60gb hard drive
Geforce 2 64mb card...PCI
Creative Labs Soundblaster.

I took my machine back to my local Pc shop and the technicians said it was my PCI card..
I then removed my GEforce and fitted my sons Voodoo 5 card (PCI),to see if that helped.
That didn't help either..sound was still the same.
I then tried my daughters AGP voodoo 3 2000 agp card..
The sound worked like a charm.

Surely I don't have to go out and buy another card?...I cannnot understand why the GEforce 64mb and the Voodoo 5 64mb PCI cards cause the garbled sound.

Any kind soul have any suggestions..and if so what card should I buy if I have to fork out again.

Kind Regards
Steve

[This message has been edited by Steve AP (edited 11-16-2001).]

[mjc]

Onboard sound?

What is probaly happening is that the video card and the onboard sound are trying to use the same resources...you can try switching the slots and put the video card in a different slot, but if an AGP card worked without a problem then http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/frown.gif yeah you might need a new vid card...(there is always eBay for the old one http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif )

If you decide to try the slot-shuffle make sure that the machine is powered down and either unplug it or plug it into a pwoer strip and turn off the power at the strip but leave it plugged in...also you may ahve to uninstall and re-install the drivers...but some times Windows will just use the current drivers and accept the switch with no problems.

------------------
mjc
Links list:Computer Links (http://www.dreamwater.org/tech/mjc/index.htm)

Celts are the men that heaven made mad, For all their battles are merry and their songs are all sad.

[Steve AP]

Mjc,
Thanks for the reply man,
I tried everything you said,but to no avail.thanks for the reply mate-
I have all the latest drivers for my sound card-and all my other devices.
Soon as I install a PCI graphics card,the sound is terrible.
Install an Agp card and the sound is great.
I think it is utter bullcrap,that the Technician said it was because of my PCI card that the sound was stuttering.

Would you keep on hassling them till they put it right.?
This is the third time I have asked them,all I get is the same answer.."Its your card mate"..
The damn card worked fine in my old system..I know of other guys who have Amd athlons and GEforce 2's who have no probs

Regards Steve

[YODA74]

take it back to the shop that did the work in the first place there the one's that installed the board apparently they did not do it right just becouse the lites work does not mean the system does don't ya just love tecks

------------------
W/Me (memory eater)
Me Help (http://www.webtechgeek.com/center_Frame_win_me_tips.html)
BUDS TS. (http://www.geocities.com/~budallen/whatsnew.html)
answers (http://www.dewassoc.com/support/index.html)

[mjc]

But do they have the PCI or AGP versions?

It looks like it should go back and that you should keep hassling them...

In the meantime, check and see in device manager what IRQ and the sound card is using and which one the video card is using...

Also do you have legacy support for DOS games installed for the SB, it has been know to cause all sorts of problems on AMD machines, especially in areas that reqire resource sharing....(mostly on VIA chipsets but others are a possibility, too). A lot of it has to do with the way that the SB utilizes the PCI bus...it tends to want to take over and not share with other devices.

Also does your motherboard come with onboard sound...I think it does? Is it disabled?

------------------
mjc
Links list:Computer Links (http://www.dreamwater.org/tech/mjc/index.htm)

Celts are the men that heaven made mad, For all their battles are merry and their songs are all sad.

[Steve AP]

Thanks again guys for your advice-Greatly appreciated.
Yes I disabled the onboard sound in the bios..still no luck.

How do I check for the IRQ settings...I'm new to most of this,But eager to learn.
Is it in Device manger-Resources?

Steve

[mjc]

You can right click on My computer and select Properties, then select Device Manager, then Computer, then proerties...it will then bring up a 2 tab box, the first tab is view resources, select the IRQ button (if not already selected), you will then have a list of which IRQs are assigned to what devices. I'm going to take a wild guess and say that both the video and sound card ar on the same IRQ, probaly 9,10, or 11.

Another thing to try is to boot into safe mode (hit the <f5> key while booting and it will take directly into safe mode). Then go to Device Manager and look for "ghost drivers"--duplicate drivers for devices or drivers for devices that are no longer installed, and remove the duplicated drivers.

------------------
mjc
Links list:Computer Links (http://www.dreamwater.org/tech/mjc/index.htm)

Celts are the men that heaven made mad, For all their battles are merry and their songs are all sad.

[ranchdog]

Hi Steve...

You have an ECS Mboard. Have you been to thier website and browsed around? www.ecsusa.com (http://www.ecsusa.com) Seems like they have a FAQ section on that Mboard.

Have a feeling a BIOS upgrade will help you out.

Hang in there.

Luck.

iisbob knows this Mboard better than anyone around. He should be stopping by.

------------------
......Indecision may or may not be my problem......
...... Kickin' A Rock....

[Steve AP]

Thanks Guys,
Checking all your suggestions as I speak.
Will post back on the outcome.

Thank you again.

Steve