Member Avatar for enrique_alb

well first of all,,,i got this compaq presario 5373 from my sister,,,,she told me that the sound doesn't work,,,so i send my pc with a guy "technical guy",,yeah right!!,,,,and he told me that i was going to need a new soundcard so i said fine,,,,now i got a sound blaster card and a cd,,,to install this shit,,,another guy came and told me that it is easier if i fix the oldone cause the computer wasn't gonna be able to recognize the blaster if i have another soundcard inside or installed,,,now the guy that gave me the blaster card,,,he installed it on my computer and he tried ti do something but nothing worked out so he told me that he was going to come later to fix this shit,,,,,so what can i do to fix this by my self??,,,,,of course with some help,,,,
what is the process or steps i need to do??
what's all that stuff about the drivers,,,,please help me guys....thanks!!
kike

  • 6 Contributors
  • 6 Replies
  • 225 Views
  • 5 Years Discussion Span
  • Latest Post Latest Post by lynne123

Dani AI

Generated

A concise diagnostic summary and practical checklist that builds on suggestions from , , and . Those replies correctly focus on avoiding two active audio devices; the steps below concentrate on the common gaps that keep a newly installed Sound Blaster from producing sound even after it appears installed.

  • Confirm the physical signal path: powered speakers or headphones should be plugged into the add‑in card's rear line‑out for tests. Many cases route the front headphone jack to a motherboard header, so the front jack can be silent even when an add‑in card is fine. A click, hiss or static when plugging in often indicates a live connection.
  • Verify device presence without assuming drivers are correct: on legacy systems check the System/Device Manager and the Multimedia/Sounds control panel for the exact device name and any error icons. A device present but flagged usually means a driver mismatch; no device at all suggests a seating/slot, BIOS or dead card problem.
  • Clean driver installation: remove any leftover AC97/onboard or generic drivers via the vendor uninstall or Add/Remove Programs, then install the exact driver package that matches the card model and the OS (Win98 SE vs Win ME). Windows saying "drivers are up to date" can still leave a generic or wrong driver active.
  • Mixer/default device and IO jack mapping: make sure Master/Wave/CD (legacy mixers) are unmuted and the correct playback device is selected in the OS multimedia settings. Also confirm the physical jack used corresponds to the card's speaker output (color and labeling matter).
  • Hardware isolation: reseat the card, try another PCI slot, test the card in a different PC, and test known‑good speakers on the Presario. These swaps separate bad speakers, bad slot, bad card or BIOS/configuration issues.
  • BIOS and front‑panel notes: if onboard audio is integrated, the reliable way to prevent conflicts is a BIOS disable (look for "Onboard Audio", "AC97" or similar). Some motherboards also need front‑panel audio unplugged or reconfigured.

Useful diagnostic facts for further triage are the exact Windows version, the sound device name/flags shown by the OS, whether the card is visible in BIOS, and the behavior when speakers are connected to the card's rear output.

Recommended Answers

All 6 Replies

Member Avatar for dlh6213

This sounds rather confusing to me, but I'll give it a shot. You only need one sound card; I don't know if the old one was bad or not, but since you already have a new one, you should remove the old one and install the new one. When you start the computer, it should try to find some drivers for it but may not. Put in the CD that came with the new sound card and install the drivers from there.

If this doesn't answer your question, can you please try to clarify it?

Member Avatar for enrique_alb

ok, i'm gonna try to clarify this ,,ok, i got two soundcards,, one is the one that came with the computer, it is welded to the cpu , and i say this because of the technical guy that came before, now this soundcard doesn't work ,well i guess this,because i don't have any sound at all. now i received another soundcard,, a sound blaster card and i have a cd to install this card, the blaster card it is already in my cpu, BUT i still have the old one isntalled and they told me that my computer recognizes a soundcard,,,i guess it is the old one,,,,the one that doesn't work, and they told me that my computer isn't going to recognize the the blaster card if i still have the old one,,,,,now,,,what should i do?? do i need to fix the old one downloading some drives or something or what can i do make the new one work??

Member Avatar for caperjack

The welded in one ,lol, is considered onboard ,you will need motherboard chipset drivers to make it work ,if it functions ,now the sound blaster one will work better so you need to disable the unboard one ,this is done either by a jumper on the board or in the BIOS ,if we knew what motherboard was in th ecomputer we might be able to help you .so to find out the motherboard you can open the case and look for a name and number on the board !

Member Avatar for helloimtim

Ok I think I can help with this. Make sure you disable and or uninstall the old sound card. Right click on my computer. Go to properties go to hardware go to divice manager. Go down to sounds and find the old card and disable it By right clicking on it and choosing from the download menue. Make sure your new one is abled and reboot. That should help. If disable it dosent do it just uninstall it, the old one the same way I just told you about only choose uninstall from the drop down menue instead of disable. Let me know if it worked..........

Member Avatar for Catweazle

Hang on a bit. Just uninstalling the onboard sound from within Windows is not enough.

Uninstall the old one. Shut down.
Power up and immediately go into BIOS setup. Disable the onboard sound there.

Boot up, and install the new soundcard.

Member Avatar for lynne123

my pc tells me all my drivers are updated but i still have no sound

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.