(XP home) AC97 / Soundmax audio loss
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Thread: (XP home) AC97 / Soundmax audio loss

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Sep 1999
    Location
    London, UK
    Posts
    71

    (XP home) AC97 / Soundmax audio loss

    Hi there

    I'm a bit stumped, and wondering if anyone has any ideas.

    I'm installing a new hard drive on a Tiny laptop, Everest reports the motherboard as being an FIC360.

    [ North Bridge: VIA VT8604/5/6 ProSavage PL133/PM133/PN133 ]
    [ South Bridge: VIA VT82C686B ]

    Everest reports the audio controller as follows on the new installation (I can't keep the old one stable long enough to get any sense from it)
    AC'97 Audio Controller:
    Audio Controller Type VIA 686A/686B/8231
    Codec Name Analog Devices AD1886
    Codec ID 41445361h
    S/PDIF Output Supported

    It's a Pentium 3 machine, 512Mb RAM, new 30Gb hard drive as the old one was starting to show more holes than swiss cheese.

    The problem is with the audio drivers. The previous installation had fully working audio, the only problem being that at full volume, it was loud enough to rattle the whole machine!

    But.... while installing XP Home on the new drive, I can't get the audio to work.

    What seems to be happening is that on the old installation Device Manager shows "Soundmax Digital Integrated Audio" drivers in use.

    On the new installation, XP Home has detected and installed VIA AC9 drivers.

    I take the new disc out and put the old one back in - I have sound.

    I take the old disc out and put the new one in - I have no sound.

    There are no warnings showing in Device Manager, and Windows detected and installed all but the graphics drivers straight away.

    I've tried downloading and installing the latest Soundmax drivers, but I either get an error saying "Driver not found, please reboot your system" or something like "this driver is not the correct one for your system".

    Either way I can't get rid of the AC97 driver and get Soundmax back on.

    I've updated Windows to SP3, by teh way.

    Does anyone have any ideas as to what I can try to get sound back on this laptop?

    Yes, it's old and rubbish, but it will get my friend on to the internet and give her a way to type up her college assignments while she tries to scrape together enough dosh for a new machine!

    Thanks

    Teddy
    Last edited by TeddyUK; March 26th, 2009 at 07:09 PM.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jul 2002
    Location
    Portsmouth.UK
    Posts
    98
    Just a thought Teddy, if you still have access to the old drive, trying re-installing that drive. Then go to device manager,go to the sound part expand and point to the soundmax entry.Right click and select properties, select driver tab and it should tell you all about the driver installed. You can google for that exact driver then.Download it and update the driver on the new hard drive.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Sep 1999
    Location
    London, UK
    Posts
    71
    Thanks for that suggestion but I tried that first - the driver on the old disc is "Soundmax Digital Audio 5.12.01.3620". I downloaded that and tried to install it, and that's when I got the "driver not found" message. I Googled that message and tried the solutions offered on other forums, i.e. to remove the old driver from Device Manager, reboot then try to re-install Soundmax. Unfortunately, Windows gets there first and re-installs the AC'97 drivers without any option to cancel!

    Then I found and tried older versions of the Soundmax driver, but still no luck.

    Teddy

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Sep 1999
    Location
    London, UK
    Posts
    71
    No solution found, but I invested in a cheapo USB soundcard so at least I can listen thru headphones.

    Teddy

  5. #5
    Join Date
    May 2009
    Posts
    1
    Same problem, new copy of windows XP installed my soundmax on board audio card as an AC 97' and i got no sound

    SOLUTION

    simply go into device manager, find the sound card and hit "update driver", it will simply re-install the device as a soundmax digital audio driver and sound should work fine.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Apr 2000
    Location
    Sheboygan, WI
    Posts
    53,392
    nick3501, you should have started your own thread.

    Post the make and model of your computer. Or the make and model of the mobo if it is a custom/home built rig.

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