No sound from speakers after reinstalling Vista

[DJT298]

Originally Posted by Robert Johnson

cd,

There are three drop down menus :

The first one is "select product". So I chose "Motherboard" as you suggested.

The second drop menu - "select series" has to be filled in. Most of the options are "Socket" followed by a number, such as "Socket 370". However, I see nothing on the MESH invoice stating what the series is or anything like "Socket 370".

That therefore leaves over 20 options for the series, without providing any idea as to which to choose.

The socket type depends on the age and type of chip fitted. Based on your original post and the fact that you have had to re-install Vista, I guess your computer is less than 2 years old (assuming of course that Vista was pre-installed when you bought the system).

If my above assumptions are correct then you will be requiring the socket 775 for Intel chips or socket AM2 for AMD chips. Once you have selected the correct option you will require the actual motherboard model for the next drop down box. If you don't know the model download and run CPUID which will provide details of the motherboard fitted as well as other useful information.

Of course you could also run the wizard as advised by Chickendippers.

Final thought about the sound, Do you have on-board sound or did you specify a seperate soundcard? - Check your original order for any Creative soundcards as you would need to download the drivers from them from the Creative website.

[Davey W]

Hi Robert Johnson,

The motherboard on the original order is an Asus P5B-TMX which was an OEM only board unfortunately. This basically means the drivers won't be found on the manufacturers website.

Links for the audio drivers can be found below with the others you might need;

Chipset
Audio
Lan
Graphics

Davey

[Robert Johnson]

Davey, I downloaded and installed the driver that you linked above.

When I subsequently clicked the Sound Manager icon, it gave the message :

"The audio driver on your system is not designed for Windows Vista."

Consequently, it wouldn't play audio files.

[Davey W]

Hi Robert Johnson,

Sorry.

Those drivers are for XP. For some reason your original specification indicated XP.

Download all 4 drivers in one from this link here for use under Vista.

Davey

[Robert Johnson]

Davey, the setup was successful, but there is still no sound through the speakers. Based on a hunch, I had tried the same RealTek software previously in order to get sound, but without any success. So I assumed that I had guessed the wrong software. At least I now know from you I have the right software for sound when using Windows Vista.

My iPod can readily get sound through the same speakers. So I assume the fault is within the computer itself - the software or the settings. I've tried just about every possible permutation with the settings, but it doesn't make any difference.

Why can't computers be simpler than this.

[DJT298]

Take a look in device manager (click the Start Orb and type Device Manager in the search box). Is there and exclamation marks showing next to the devices?

[Robert Johnson]

DJT, there aren't any exclamation marks next to any of the devices.

[DJT298]

Thanks for the reply. In that case I would imagine the cause of your problem is either the speakers are incorrectly connected to the sound card or the sound hasn't been correctly configured.

Do you have a speaker symbol in the bottom corner next to the clock? If so right click on it and from the list select playback devices. This will open a new window - is there a green tick next to speakers?

Can you also explain how you have the speakers connected (i.e. what colour cable into which port)?

[Robert Johnson]

DJT, there is a speaker symbol next to the clock. There is a green tick next to the speakers.

The end of the cable from the speakers is light green. At the back of the computer are six ports (two rows of three). The cable is placed in to the middle port on to the lower row of three ports, which is also light green.

I had previously been trying different ports in case I had been putting it in to the wrong port, but without any luck. One odd thing about this is that long ago I had no sound, but managed to get sound by putting the cable in to the wrong port - the black one in the middle of the top row. However, even that odd solution doesn't work this time.

[Davey W]

Hi Robert Johnson,

The lime green socket is the right place to connect the speakers to.

The black socket is for rear speakers when you have the system set up for 4/6/8 channel/speaker output and would only emit sound if the audio source being used had the appropriate sound signal. i.e. play a 2 channel audio source and you will hear nothing from that port.

What sound are you using to test the system by the way?

Davey