PCTech Forums

Ok, I bought this soundcard off of ebay like 6 months ago, and never got it to work. I've been using my onboard sound. It's a generic card, not sure of the brand, the installation disk says VGA Sound Modem drivers and utilities.The card itself has a Vortex2 chipset. It's a 4 channel card.

The problem is, I install the card, try to turn off my onboard sound, but it doesn't seem to work. I go to the device manager, and under Sound, Video, and Game controllers, there are conflicting devices, even when I "thought" I turned off my onboard sound. I need to know how to properly turn off the onboard sound so that when I install this sound card, there won't be anything conflicting. Here is a screen shot of my Device Manager (without the card installed) and my system specs:

--------[ EVEREST Home Edition (c) 2003, 2004 Lavalys, Inc. ]-----------------------------------------------------------

Version EVEREST v1.51.195
Homepage http://www.lavalys.com/
Report Type Report Wizard
Computer DAVID
Generator default
Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition 5.1.2600 (WinXP Retail)
Date 2005-01-13
Time 14:05


--------[ Summary ]-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Computer:
Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
OS Service Pack Service Pack 2
Internet Explorer 6.0.2900.2180 (IE 6.0 SP2)
DirectX 4.09.00.0904 (DirectX 9.0c)
Computer Name DAVID
User Name default

Motherboard:
CPU Type Intel Celeron II, 700 MHz (10.5 x 67)
Motherboard Name GVC DR742E (3 PCI, 1 AMR, 2 DIMM, Audio, Video)
Motherboard Chipset Intel Whitney i810E
System Memory 384 MB (SDRAM)
BIOS Type AMI (06/09/00)
Communication Port Communications Port (COM1)
Communication Port ECP Printer Port (LPT1)

Display:
Video Adapter Intel(R) 82810E Graphics Controller (Microsoft Corporation) (32 MB)
Video Adapter RADEON 9200 - Secondary (128 MB)
Video Adapter RADEON 9200 (128 MB)
3D Accelerator ATI Radeon 9200 (RV280)
3D Accelerator Intel i752
Monitor AcerView 77e [17" CRT] (8465571)

Multimedia:
Audio Adapter Intel 82801AA I/O Controller Hub - AC'97 Audio Adapter

Storage:
IDE Controller Intel(r) 82801AA Bus Master IDE Controller
Floppy Drive Floppy disk drive
Disk Drive SAMSUNG SV3064D (28 GB, 5400 RPM, Ultra-ATA/66)
Optical Drive SAMSUNG DVD-ROM SD-608 (8x/40x DVD-ROM)
Optical Drive SONY CD-RW CRX140E (8x/4x/32x CD-RW)
SMART Hard Disks Status OK

Partitions:
C: (FAT32) 29166 MB (15197 MB free)

Input:
Keyboard Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural PS/2 Keyboard
Mouse Microsoft PS/2 Mouse

Network:
Network Adapter D-Link DFE-530TX+ PCI Adapter (192.168.254.4)

Peripherals:
Printer HP DeskJet 850C
USB1 Controller Intel 82801AA I/O Controller Hub - USB Controller

You will need to disable your onboard sound in the BIOS.

How do I do that? I know how to get into the BIOS, but after that I'm lost on how to disable the sound....

Once you get into the BIOS arrow key down to the chipset setup and press enter
look for the AC'97 Audio Adapter using the arrow keys
it could also be in the advanced section of the BIOS
Once you find it when it is highlighted press enter and arrow down to select diable and press enter now press f10 type y and enter

Alright. Do I do this before I put the soundcard into my computer? Or can I put in the soundcard, then on startup disable the audio, and after it starts up install the software?

Here's what I have under Peripheral Setup in the BIOS...is there anything else I need to disable besides OnBoard Audio? I tried disabling that already with no success in the past.

OnBoard Audio Enabled
OnBoard IDE Both
OnBoard FDC Auto
OnBoard Serial Port A Auto
OnBoard Parallel Port Auto
Parallel Port Mode ECP
Parallel Port IRQ Auto
Parallel Port DMA Channel Auto
OnBoard Midi Port 292
Midi IRQ Select 9
OnBoard Game Port 208

Ok, that's odd.....I shut off the pc, put in the sound card, then on startup I disabled onboard audio. I started up the computer, and windows recognized the brand of the card and everything and said " you hardware was installed successsfully and is ready to use", and it works! I didn't even have to install drivers.....

And the audio sounds beautiful. My sub woofer actually puts out some bass!