No sound! Boston BA735 & Realtek AC'97

[Guest]

I have a Compaq Presario at home running XP Home with Realtek AC'97 sound
integrated on the mb.

I recently brought my Boston BA735 (3pc set) speakers home from work (W2k
machine & they worked fine). Replaced the cheapo set of speakers I was using
(they worked fine too) and voila' no sound!

I checked to make sure I hadn't clicked "mute" on anything.

I checked to make sure I plugged everything up where it was supposed to be.
(Even pulled the diagram off of the internet...just to make sure)

I went to the Compaq site, downloaded and updated all the drivers relating
to the mb, sound card, etc. (Searched the knowledge base while there)

I went to the Microsoft site and downloaded and updated almost every update
available for my pc. (Searched the knowledge base while there)

I rebooted more than a enough times.

I went to Start, Programs, Accessories, Entertainment, Volumne Control and I
do NOT have "Advanced Properties" it is grayed out.

I went to the Gateway site and downloaded more stuff because apparently the
BA735's were "a Gateway thing" and the Boston Acoustic site was less than
helpful. (Searched the knowledge base while there.)

I even went to work, copied the W2k drivers and tried them.....still no sound.

I've updated everything on the face of my pc's planet and still no sound. I
like my Boston's, it's a nice footrest/foot massager.

Any idea what I might have overlooked or how I can get my speakers to work?

I would greatly appreciate any assistance and thank you in advance.

 

[Nathan McNulty]

Try this. Click Start-Run-Type services.msc and click OK. Now scroll
down to where Windows Audio should be. Right click on it and click
Start (or Restart) if possible. You may need to check the properties
and make sure it is set to Automatic.

 

[Guest]

I tried your suggestion and still no sound. Thanks for the help.

 

[namniar]

Do your old "cheapo" speakers work still?

If this was a pci soundcard I would recommend pulling out and reinserting
the audio card but you said it was an onboard soundcard. So that's not
applicable. However, did you remove the old speakers and plug in the new
speakers when the PC was running or powered down? If you did it while the
machine was not powered down you may have damaged the onboard sound. My
Altec Lansing 2.1 has a power supply connected to the subwoofer - do you?
Thought I'd ask the obvious - sorry.

r.

 

[Guest]

The old cheapo's still work. I powered the machine down, unplugged the
speakers, plugged in the new ones and refired the machine. There is a ps
attached to the subwoofer. I took the speakers back to my machine at work
and they work just fine. Apparently they just don't like my onboard sound.
Guess I have to get a new set of speakers if i can't get this resolved, I
don't really want to reattach the cheapos because everything sounds like it's
inside a tin can.

 

[namniar]

That's odd.

Yeah, try a new set and see if they work.

Good luck, r.

 

[Bob I]

Since the BA735's are digital it seems you would need a digital output
capable sound source. So perhaps a real sound card would fix the problem?

 

[Papa]

I ran into exactly the same problem, and my mobo also has onboard sound. As
you may know, the Boston BA735 is a digital, not analog, speaker system. It
requires a digital sound card. I purchased the Creative Labs Sound Blaster
Live 5.1 sound card (a PCI card), installed it, and now I have beautiful
digital sound. Cost for the card is in the $20 to $30 range. It is
compatible with Windows XP.

Just plug your BA735 cable (the one with the green connector) into the
orange port of this sound card (the "digital out" port which is furthest
from the game port), run the Sound Blaster CD install program, and you are
in business.