Question about sis 7018 /xp-pro failure

[goodar]

I have an sis 7018 board in my AMD XP PC. I use standard cheap speakers and this has worked for years. I began actively using the WinMediaPlayer and noticed the sound quality is like a bass speaker is ripped. I swapped speakers with a known good set, same bass fuzz. Headphones same, plugged the sis 7018 output into my phono input of my stereo and it's a little better but very heavy bass. All setting are at default (this has worked for years). Do these audio boards fail like this? I updated the driver a few months ago. It is some change in the last 2-3 days and I generally don't play with setting if something works. If this is a hardware failure, can you suggest a good replacement vendor?

Thanks.

 

[Tmagic650]

The Creative SoundBlaster SE PCI is a good cost-effective choice

 

[raybay]

What do you find for audio listings in your Device Manager of Hardware in System of the Control Panel.
First, download and install the latest drivers... remove the old drivers first, if you can, or just overwrite them. Corrupted drivers will cause that effect, particularly if AC'97.
Audio systems burn out very easily. Any heat or electrical damage will cause a significant degradation in sound that sounds buzzy. Audio cards start at about $21, but the more you spend, the better quality sound. If you upgrade the sound, be sure to disable or remove your old sound drivers.

 

[goodar]

In the control panel, hardware, device manager, under sound, video, and game controllers I have:

Audio Codex
Legacy Audio Drivers
Legacy Video capture devices
Media Control Devices
MPU-401 Compatable MIDI Device
SIS 7018 Audio Driver
Standard Game Port
Video Codecs

In that order. I also installed Kristal recording software a few months ago, and I've tried to record my guitar using the pre-amp output of a Pignose to the sound board input, but I wasn't playing with any of that for weeks before this failure occurred.

The day I began noticing this, I had begun using the Windows Media Player to input CD's, previousl;y I had just copied the CD "data" to a directory then selected the player later to play the file.

Should I go in and delete all the other drivers but SIS 7018?

If I have a hardware failure, are ther better, more robust brands of audi boards? I have access to Microcenter, Circut City, and Best Buy or I could just order it and get it delivered, if this looks like hardware failure.

-Thanks again

 

[Po`Girl]

Hi,

Uninstall your 7018.

Download another one HERE (and many other places)

If that fails,do as mentioned above, and get a cheap or expensive audio card.

 

[goodar]

Po'girl

I removed the 7018 driver from control panel, add-remove, 7018 driver. Then I used the link you suggested and downloaded a compressed file, uncompressed it, and it contains:

AUDIRACK
DOS
NT40
WIN2000
WIN95_98
WIN98SE
WINME
WINXP

In WINXP there was:


SIS7018.cat
SIS7018.inf
SIS7018.SYS
UNIST2K.exe

the only executable would only uninstall, the cat appears to be only a listing, the inf file was not like a README, no instructions, and the sys file was not self-installing.

So, I suppose I need to find another version of the SIS 7018 Driver, release 1.14. I will look with Google.

Did I miss anything? I'm not really a PC guy, most of what I do is on Solaris and my PC is a conveneient appliance that occasionally (like now) acts up. Please tell me if I missed something obvious.

-Thanks again.

 

[Po`Girl]

Go to Sounds and Audio devices in the control panel.

Click on "Hardware" then highlight the SIS 7018,

then "Properties" then "Driver then "Uninstall"

After that, you have to install the XP drivers you downloaded.

Use the Add hardware wizard in the control panel,

or the sound device properties/driver update section you

already used.

Follow it through,and make sure you select "install from a list or specific location"

(or similar words) then "include this location" then browse to where the drivers are.

Just allowing Windows to reinstall the old drivers,often works even if you can`t get it to

install the "new" ones.

 

[goodar]

Po'Girl,

I tried 3 or 4 sites to get a driver download to work. Apparently Installshield (that does PC install stuff) needs a setup and/or and ini file to kick off the installation. I went to SIS' home and then to downloads and got SiS7018 ver 1.19 and it had the directories I cited earlier AND 6 or so other files including exe that kicked off the Installshield install.

I still have the bass rumble in the sound. I made a CD from known good files on my PC and played it in the car today and it has scratchy sound then 6-7 tracks into it the files were apparently empty or corrupt (my CD player didn't make any noise).

So, unless some MS Windows Media Player settings I screwed with inadvertently are causing the problem, I think I need to get a sound card to replace the SiS audio chipset on my AMD motherboard. I stopped at Best Buy and read some boxes, apparently I need to figure out my CPU speed and the kind of buss this AMD motherboard has, then I can get a sound card.

I've read good and bad comments about Soundblaster products (that's what my Best Buy carries). Do you have experience or opinion on hardware seletion? Like Sgt. Shultz, "I know nothing".

-Thanks for helping me this far.

 

[Po`Girl]

Before you buy any hardware,download Winamp and associate with all audio files.

Take a look in the Options/preferences/plugins/output and try whatever outputs

are in there.

If it is just a media player /software issue,then that should reveal it.

I`m no expert on soundcards,but your comment about hearing good and

bad things about Soundblaster,could apply to almost any product,anywhere.:haha:

Unless your a power user,you don`t need to spend too many tens of dollars.

Mine is a C media something,which cost under $ 30 if i remember right.

 

[goodar]

Po'girl,

You are a wonderful person. The Winamp media player is playing my files without buzz or any other errors. I do need to read the documentation because I don't understand the model. I successfully added some folders of songs at the initial launching of the window, but I can't get back to that easy addition. I've tried to add other stuff but with odd results. I just don't get the playlist/library relationship to files and directories on the PC. And I have to figure out how to read in and write CD's. But that's my problem.

Maybe I'll bug someone on the software forum.

But,... perfect results, thanks again.

 

[Po`Girl]

Now you have proved it`s just a software issue,you should be able

to get Windows Media Player fixed,just by reinstalling/upgrading it.

If you have version 10 try upgrading to 11 or rolling back to 9,

then downloading 10 again.

In fact, reinstalling/upgrading it should have been the first suggestion in this thread.

There are other alternative players HERE

 

[goodar]

Po'girl,

You are exactly right. I removed V-11, and reinstalled Windows Media Player V-11 and it's back to OK. I suppose somewhere I entered mis-matched settings for something which caused the problem.

At that time, I was beginning to try and understand the media player model and relationships between actual files and directories to playlists and albums and the GUI display. I understand feature creep when you're doing something, "This would be cool, I'll throw that in, etc." but it makes me nuts if the basic function of a GUI-presentation disappears. If I could sit with the person who wrote Windows Media Player, I'd ask "How do I -1) put music away? -2) How do I organize that storage? 3) How do I retrieve that music to play or write to CD" and if those functions aren't obvious, go back and re-do the GUI. Right now, #2 is the problem, (I may not be doing #1 right) and that spills over to making #3 a problem.

It's like cell phone ads where "It plays music, it has voice mail, it enables 3-way calls, etc.". And you, the user, want to ask "Does it work really well, reliably, and simply as a phone?". Sometimes the primary function gets lost.

I used to work for a guy who'd say "Success is the residue of good design". I think the multi-functioned, feature-rich media player GUI's lack good design.

I'm just complaining, but thank you again.