No Sound w/ Older Card on nLite-ed XP SP2

[EXCellR8]

So I threw a bunch of older components together for use in a shop computer, but now I think the build is so stripped that it's causing some problems. I used a "Lite" version of WinXP home edition for the OS, slipped w/ SP2, so it wouldn't take up a lot of space; to cut down the boot time, but I cannot get any sound out of it whatsoever. I figured I could get it to work by now since I've installed so many sound cards but this has me at a loss.

I think the biggest problem is I am not really exactly sure what sound card I'm using, seriously. It's a creative model ct5803 but I'm not sure which series it belongs to. It reads "Audio PCI" but that does little good. I don't think it's a sound blaster or 16-bit audio adapter so I've been kinda guessing as to which drivers to download and install. I've even downloaded drivers off of the Gateway site because I guess this card was used in some older GW models or something.

All of the drivers have installed successfully, yet there is no sound at all with the volume cranked, not even a buzz. I look in Device Manager and it states the device is working properly but it's clearly not. All of the PCI slots have tested good on this board (CUBX-L) so I'm not sure if the board or card is to blame. I have another old Creative card but that one does the same thing, could they both just be junk?

Also, I suppose the jacks in the back of the card are working because I hear the usual zapping sound when headphones are attached. This board doesn't even have onboard audio so I can't disable anything in BIOS. I'm stumped.

 

[Tmagic650]

See if Windows Update can help you with this sound issue. What exactly is a 'Lite" version of XP anyway?

 

[EXCellR8]

ok, i ran dxdiag to test the sound and it works...so my guess is the sound themes were never installed or something because when i move the volume slider i don't get the little clicking noise. maybe i should have tried playing some mp3 files before posting this ellaborate troubleshooting thread :haha:

...this "lite" version of windows is stripped down to the bare essentials (i.e. no visual themes, no pre-installed programs, no tools aside from the disk management etc...) so perhaps the problem was just covered up by the fact the sound theme files are missing. i'm running a 750mhz processor in this beast so i didn't want to install the whole package. so i guess i'm good to go now. i gotta stop posting up threads and then fixing the problem myself lol.

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I forgot to mention that this installation of WinXP uses under 2GB of disk space (so you can literally install to a flash drive) and it takes under 5 min to install after formatting. You can create "Lite" OS install disks using a OEM disk and a program called nLite. You can also have the program slipstream any service pack you like and it will create a custom installation. It's a good way to carry a more "portable" OS with you when you're out doing repair jobs, since it can be installed on anything just like the full version of Windows.