Member Avatar for Jltott

Just had to install new hard disc due to hard disc crash and decided to install xp Home at same time as new disc, everything fine, all hardware looks okay EXCEPT my sound card. Registered okay, drivers loaded okay, no complaints from XP home but no "&£(*$)(% sound. All leads connected, all drivers installed, no conflicts
Any ideas?

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by vicec64

Dani AI

Generated

Quick, practical checklist for the SB PCI 128 based on the reports from , and the tip from . This focuses on causes that are often missed with older PCI audio cards: initialization/power quirks, BIOS/resource handoff, and driver-state leftovers in Windows.

Start by isolating hardware vs OS:

  • Try the card in a different machine, or boot a Linux live USB and play a file. If sound appears outside Windows the card is probably OK and the problem is in Windows drivers/config.
  • Confirm speakers/headphones are in the correct rear jack (line-out/front vs mic/line-in) and that powered speakers are turned on. Front-panel audio sometimes needs an internal cable to the card.

BIOS / slot / power checks:

  • Reseat the card and try another PCI slot. Cold-boot-only problems often point to how the motherboard initializes the PCI card.
  • Update the motherboard BIOS to the latest stable release and try toggling any Plug-and-Play/ACPI settings (some boards let BIOS assign resources instead of the OS).
  • Power-cycle completely (unplug PSU for a minute or remove CMOS battery briefly) so the card gets a full reinitialization.

Windows-side cleanup and settings:

  • Fully uninstall Creative drivers and any associated services, reboot, then install the correct legacy driver package for your OS (or let Windows use its default driver to test).
  • Confirm Windows Audio service is running, the SB card is set as the default playback device, and that mixer/volume controls are not muted.
  • Use a High Performance power plan while testing; turn off system power-saving options that may suspend PCI devices.

If the card still behaves intermittently it may be failing; inexpensive USB audio adapters or modern PCI/PCIe sound cards are a pragmatic replacement. When asking for more help, include motherboard model, BIOS version and which exact rear jack is being used.

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Member Avatar for Glenn123

I have a similar problem. Just installed the same card on Windows 2000 and Windows 98 dual boot system, but after cold boot NO SOUND with either operating system.

There is no indication in Device Manager that anything is wrong, and the sound appear to play visually on the screen but you don't here anything. If the computer is rebooted the second time the sound comes on and stays on on repeated reboots until the computer is off for a few hours. Then, the next day NO SOUND until reboot.

Any ideas on this one?

Regards,

Glenn

Member Avatar for vicec64

Did you get the latest driver from It's an oldie - as support ended a long time ago. If you guys can't get them working i would suggest a Chaintech AV512 CMI 8738 card from newegg for a temprary replacement (it's actually far better than the SB PCI 128 anyway) and runs about $12.00 US.

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