Sound card problems - Win ME

[T O O L]

My Dad's comp was running fine Friday night, then on Saturday when he tryed listening to his music; the volume was lower/voice wasnt clear/fuzzy..
it's an old comp+soundcard SoundMAX Integrated Digital Audio for "windows ME"
no updates/or virus were made/found, i think he said he was trying to listen to a song on a website/while the site loaded the comp froze..
System Restore is disabled..
Sound settings @ Sound and Multimedia are fine.
I also uninstalled the driver and reinstalled it right now, still same problem!!
Any help appreciated, Thanks

 

[Ruben]

if sound is properly installed
try to playback an mp3 file from the harddrive and a track from CD. See what happens.
Just to verify the installation, I'd go into device manager and see how the soundcard is listed and whethere there are any exclamation marks at its entry etc.
If onboard sound died on your Dad, you may get him any cheap add-on soundcard. The cheapest I saw are for 10 bucks.

 

[T O O L]

if sound is properly installed
try to playback an mp3 file from the harddrive and a track from CD. See what happens.
Just to verify the installation, I'd go into device manager and see how the soundcard is listed and whethere there are any exclamation marks at its entry etc.
If onboard sound died on your Dad, you may get him any cheap add-on soundcard. The cheapest I saw are for 10 bucks.

Yea i tryed both already many times..
Device Manager says : - Sound, Video and game controllers - SoundMAX Intergrated Digital Audio, no exclamation marks..

Do i need any in particular?, cas this comp is like 5 years old,
IBM Net Vista
TYPE 2257 -D1U, and if you could guide me threw step by step on how to install the new card, would i need to open the comp case and take out the old sound card or leave it and insert the new one in another slot?

Once again, Thanks for your help man.. :grinthumb

 

[Ruben]

soundmax is integrated onboard sound. So if it is dead, all you can do is to go into bios (look under integrated peripherials) and disable it (look for ac97 entry). Well, I do not know if it hardware.

If you decide to buy add on soundcard: PCI cards need to be inserted into PCI slot, so then yes, you'd need to open the case.

If you want to avoid that, there are usb cards. They just plug into usb slot. As it is millenium you will have to install driver from CD. If you ever upgrade to XP it has standard usb audio driver so then it will be really "plug and play"

 

[T O O L]

soundmax is integrated onboard sound. So if it is dead, all you can do is to go into bios (look under integrated peripherials) and disable it (look for ac97 entry). Well, I do not know if it hardware.

If you decide to buy add on soundcard: PCI cards need to be inserted into PCI slot, so then yes, you'd need to open the case.

If you want to avoid that, there are usb cards. They just plug into usb slot. As it is millenium you will have to install driver from CD. If you ever upgrade to XP it has standard usb audio driver so then it will be really "plug and play"

Whats bios stand for/where is it located? - Im a noob with comps sry..

 

[T O O L]

bump^, anyone know what bio stands for/located?

 

[beerabuser30]

Bios is when you first start your computer up, it is the boot settings. You should have something that says like f8 when you start up, hit that then look under hardware. ME is a really bad OS I would look at an xp upgrade immediately.

 

[Rage_3K_Moiz]

Get this for ur dad. Its not bad and it'll do the job well.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16829102182
Merry Christmas in advance!

 

[Ruben]

if neither you nor your dad have ever opened PC and you are not really interested in this sort of activities get external USB card, something like that:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16829102174
It's probobly the easiest solution.

 

[T O O L]

if neither you nor your dad have ever opened PC and you are not really interested in this sort of activities get external USB card, something like that:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16829102174
It's probobly the easiest solution.

Hey thanks once again!!

Im pretty good with my hands, isnt it pop the old one out and put the new one in?

Last question, if he buys the USB sound card, where would you plug the headphones? (if it already comes with it, then THX)

Merry X-mas!! :grinthumb