SoundMAX audio under Vista?

[William R. Walsh]

Hello all...

I have a computer system running Windows Vista Business. It's an older
homebrew box, assembled sometime in 2004 with components that fell somewhere
in the middle range of performance at the time. Most everything works
great--even the onboard VIA/S3 "Chrome" video chipset, for which I had to
use the XP drivers. (The video worked, but wasn't capable enough to make use
of glass/Aero effects or play movies well. Still, I was impressed that it
did as well as it did.) I put a newer nVidia card in the AGP slot, ignored
the onboard video and got the enhanced visual effects after recalculating my
Windows performance score or whatever it's called.

What I can't get working is the sound. Windows Vista recognized the sound
system and seems to be capable of using it, but I never get anything out of
my speakers. Both sound and speakers worked on this same system under
Windows 2000 and XP. Vista really "thinks" it is playing sounds--I just
never hear anything. I've played with the volume mixer, but I must say that
the new format for it is irritating and not conducive to easy understanding
or adjustment of other audio settings that were once just a double-click
away.

My speakers are analog stereo speakers...nothing fancy. I've tried to check
and make sure that any digital-only output settings are not enabled for my
speakers. There are no errors in the Device Manager. Everything seems to
indicate that the sound is working except my own two ears. And I know they
work...

The sound chip is allegedly an Analog SoundMAX. I don't recall the exact
type or the motherboard model number, but if you need that info I will get
it. The board is an Asus unit with an AMD Athlon XP 2500+ CPU on it.

William

 

[Guest]

I found an "el cheapo" sound card that works with vista. Cost: AU $25.
I use 2 speakers powered by the USB cable; definitely basic!
It's a Cobra AW-840 from http://www.aopen.com

Mick Murphy in Australia(QLD)

 

[Daze N. Knights]

Are you using a Vista-ready sound driver for the audio?

Daze

 

[William R. Walsh]

Hi!

Are you using a Vista-ready sound driver for the audio?

Well, I am as far as I know. Vista detected the hardware during setup and
installed a (generic) driver for it.. (This is a clean install to a clean
drive.)

William

 

[Daze N. Knights]

Before spending any money on a fix, you might want to go to your mobo
manufacturer's web site and search its Support for software and drivers
for your mobo. If there is a Vista-ready audio driver available for your
mobo, then download it, install it, and see if that helps. Otherwise, I
would suggest buying an inexpensive Vista-ready sound card to replace
the onboard audio. But beware of the fact that even supposedly
Vista-ready drivers are not necessarily *fully* Vista-ready yet, though
they should certainly allow you to hear sound from your speakers.

Daze
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