Member Avatar for Chrisulrich

Dear Anyone.

Computer crashed due to a very large and nasty virus, so I reformatted the hard drive, deleted all partitions to force the Windows install disk to repartition (that way the virus couldn't be hiding in the partitions!) and Windows reinstalled. That was fine.

Went to Control Panel, couldn't find any Multimedia controls. Looked in Device Manager/Other Devices (big yellow question mark) and all the multimedia devices had yellow exclamation marks on them. Clicked on them, they said they didn't have drivers.

Why? I installed XP from a GENUINE MICROSOFT DISK, covered with holograms, verified by Microsoft online, the lot. Why wouldn't it have its multimedia drivers on its disk?

And where do I get them from? I'm writing music, want to record what I write as soundfiles and I can't make any of the multimedia settings work because of lack of drivers.

I've installed SP2, gone to the Microsoft Website to look for drivers, no joy, or I'm looking in the wrong place (could well be the latter!)

Help?

Chrisulrich

  • 4 Contributors
  • 3 Replies
  • 144 Views
  • 1 Day Discussion Span
  • Latest Post Latest Post by fry

Dani AI

Generated

The symptoms you describe (no Sounds & Audio Devices applet and yellow exclamation marks in Device Manager) are the usual result of the audio hardware not having the correct driver after a wipe. , and were on the right track — the goal now is to identify exactly which audio device Windows sees and then install the matching driver in the right order. The checklist below gives concrete steps and a few recording-specific tips.

  1. Open Device Manager, right-click an unknown multimedia device -> Properties -> Details tab -> select Hardware Ids. Copy the first value (it looks like PCI\VEN_XXXX&DEV_YYYY).
  2. Use that VEN/DEV string to identify the vendor and device (search the exact string). That tells whether it is onboard Realtek/VIA/Intel audio, a Creative/Sound Blaster card, a C-Media codec, etc.
  3. Install drivers in this order: motherboard/chipset drivers first, then the Microsoft High Definition Audio bus driver if required (UAA, KB888111), then the vendor audio driver. Some HD-audio devices need the UAA bus present before the vendor package will attach.
  4. Verify BIOS has onboard audio enabled (if relevant), then check services.msc and make sure Windows Audio is set to Automatic and running. Reboot after each driver install and re-check Device Manager.

For music recording: use the vendor's ASIO drivers for low latency where available. If no native ASIO exists for the onboard codec, ASIO4ALL can be a practical workaround. For reliable multitrack work, a dedicated USB or PCI audio interface with proper drivers is often worth the investment.

If driver searches fail, note the motherboard model from the board silkscreen or BIOS and search the vendor support page by model. Only install drivers that clearly match your OS (XP 32/64) and source. If locating the correct package becomes impractical, a cheap USB audio interface will bypass onboard driver troubles.

Recommended Answers

All 3 Replies

Member Avatar for TT4Titans

Go to the site of who made the computer wether it be HP,Dell,Compaq and get the drivers for your it is a clone you or someone else built it look and see who makes the motherboard go to there site and get the drivers.

Member Avatar for Computerkev

You need to obtain the Motherboard driver CD that you got with your pc if you dont have it ask the person or company that you both the computer from. Anytime you reformat a hard drive you have to reinstall all the drivers for you to have a fully functional system.

Member Avatar for fry

yeah, not all of the devices drivers are supplied with windows, so find the MoBos driver disk and install mutimedia drivers from there.

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.