Not Sound As A Pound

20CiggysAndaCrateOfBeer

I have just read this thread... here and am having an almost identical nightmare!

My PC has been playing all my music/videos perfectly until tonight and I am totally stumped as to the cause of the problem. I have onboard sound (ie no separate sound card) and have uninstalled/reinstalled the drivers to no avail.

When I go to add/remove new hardware I find that there is an eror code that states: "This device cannot start. (Code 10)". The device in question is a VIA AC97 Audio Controller (WDM).

In accordance with the other post I have checked my BIOS and made sure that all was well there - it is. I have used the MSI Live Monitor to ensure I have the latest drivers - I do and now I am stuck.

Assuming there is no fix available to me could I just buy a new soundcard? I don't need anything too fancy as I only listen to music on the PC to preview my selection for my MP3 player (but I do like watching DVD's on it). As I have onboard sound am I able to stick a new soundcard into the machine or will it screw it up even more?

Any help/advice would be gratefully received as I fear this comp may have a short lifespan if I can't fix it!

NellyLock

you can add a new s/card no prob assuming you have a spare pci slot for it...i have on board sound disabled and use a pci card...but would look into fixing the onboard a bit further first...

20CiggysAndaCrateOfBeer

Nelly,

Being a regular MSE'r getting the onboard prob fixed first is my ideal solution, but a few quid for a soundcard may save my sanity!

NellyLock

it could be a windows update thats messed things up...you could try rolling back and seeing if this fixes it? although not a long term soln.

neil

20CiggysAndaCrateOfBeer

Can't roll back (I think) as I've turned off system restore due to the amount of cr*p it was dumping on my HD (virus scan would take over an hour due to the number of files on the HD when S R was on).

vultura

PCI sound card should work, normally there should be an option in bios to disable it.

Should cost you approx £8-£10 for a generic PCI unit.

NellyLock

ok...have you got the most up-to-date drivers...http://www.lavalys.com/products/overview.php?pid=1&lang=en this tool is a good one for finding driver homepages etc.

Dark_Forces

Go to Start> Control Panel> Performance and Maintainance > System> Hardware > Device Manager and then go to sound video and game controllers then right click on the VIA etc and then properties then see what the device status shows.

Hope this helps

20CiggysAndaCrateOfBeer

Nelly/Neil (? lol)

Drivers are definitely the most up to date, have already checked that out.

BTW - is this sound card anygood? Novatech

NellyLock

ok...how about trying something rather backward and rolling back the drivers...ie uninstall newest ones an shove the original drivers on/older ones...if you can

NellyLock

btw have you added any hardware to your system recently (ie before this issue started)