Sound device

[Danny Linehan]

Howdy,

I have Dell Dimension 2400, about 4 years old, and my sound device keeps
disappearing on me. It's a SoundMAX Integrated Digital Audio device.
Sometimes I can bring it back by updating the drivers, or a reboot works
sometimes, but it's quite annoying to lose my sound without knowing why. I
would appreciate any help on this.

 

[sgopus]

Could be a bad connection in the board, try reseating the card

 

[Mark Adams]

Could be a bad connection in the board, try reseating the card

Hmm... SoundMAX Integrated Digital Audio device. Sounds like onboard audio
to me. No card to reseat. The mainboard audio device is probably failing,
soon you won't have any sound. If you have an open PCI slot you can install
an aftermarket sound card there, as long as the failing audio device doesn't
fry the rest of the mainboard.

 

[Paul]

Hmm... SoundMAX Integrated Digital Audio device. Sounds like onboard audio
to me. No card to reseat. The mainboard audio device is probably failing,
soon you won't have any sound. If you have an open PCI slot you can install
an aftermarket sound card there, as long as the failing audio device doesn't
fry the rest of the mainboard.

Replacement PCI sound cards start at $7.99 here.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2000290057+1102608534&Subcategory=57

I had Soundmax on the motherboard of my P4 based system, and replaced it with
a CMI8738 based card. Since I only use stereo out, there are no complaints.
The CMI8738 cards can vary in price, from $7.99 to $60 if you buy one at the mall.
So shop around a bit, to get the best price (taking shipping cost into account).

My problem with SoundMax, wasn't appearing and disappearing. It was the
random "click" noise in the background every once in a while. I tried about
four different driver versions, and it got a bit better with the
latest driver, but never got fully cured. That is why I dumped mine,
and went with a separate card. That, and the background reverb added
by the driver, which could not be completely disabled.

Looking though the Newegg reviews, it is surprising how many cards
don't get good reviews. So shop carefully before deciding what
to retrofit.

Soundmax would be connected via AC'97 interface to the Southbridge.
That is a private bus, used for sound (and MC97 softmodem, if a combined
solution). So it isn't quite the same as something sitting on the
PCI bus. The appearing and disappearing could be a software issue
of some sort. I'd probably try testing it in Linux, to see if
the hardware is more reliable with a different set of software
used. That might guide me as to whether it is defective hardware.
A PCI based sound card, would be independent of the AC'97 high speed
serial interface. The old sound can be disabled via a BIOS setting (if
the BIOS is full featured), or in Windows itself.

If you run out of PCI slots, and don't need things like EAX for games,
a USB sound solution is another potential way to fix it. Not my first
choice, but still an option if all the PCI slots are full.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16829128002

Paul

 

[Danny Linehan]

Thank you all for replying. I appreciate the help. I was thinking a new
soundboard was in order--or maybe a whole new computer.