Anyone know much about installing hardware?

[Darkstar]

I have a little problem involving my soundcard, motherboard, and modem. My motherboard has onboard sound, which was the base sound program on my comp. My cd burner is hooked to it, as well as my speakers, but i cant get any sound at all. So then I noticed the same plugs on my modem, so I plugged em in. Surprisingly one or the other works, but not at the same time (i.e one can only be plugged in, speakers or player) so I bought a soundcard so I could use both. Well, I have it installed (its a soundblaster 5.1 live) and i have tried every single way possible to hook the cdrom and speakers up, but neither work! Also, when I was installing, it came up with an error and said EAX.dll or something couldnt be installed, would this have anything to do with it? Plz someone help me, I need to be able to play warcraft3 and burn cds at the same time!

 

[rkoelsch]

definitely need to know what operating system you have. also how old is your motherboard.? some of the older ones had isa slots that the new boards don't work in. not a real specialist when it comes to hardware.

 

[Svenmonkey]

I'm not entirely sure on what to connect to what, but, with each setup you try, make sure the sound card you're installing is being used by going to Sounds and Audio Devices in the Control Panel and (in the Audio tab) switching each Default to the sound card you're installing. I remember I had to do this after installing my sound card to get most audio to play.

 

[Ura]

Its very simple, what kind of motherboard do you have, all the answers lie there.
Where you plug the speakers in is irrelevant since the soundcard your putting in only has a single speaker port on it. Its external and usually has a little speaker symbol engraved by it.
The cdrom audio feed will plug directly into the motherboard most likely as most motherboards have 2 - 3 plugs specifically for that purpose. I don't think I've actually ever seen anyone directly wire a cdrom's audio line to a soundcard, but stranger things have happened.
The problem depends on the make of motherboard and model number. Some designs are rather hostile about having modems, soundcards and video cards plugged into them, the old ATI all in one-der boards come to mind.
Your modem shouldn't have anything to do with being able to hear sound or not.

 

[Darkstar]

Its a brandnew board. and ECS I think. Ive got everything set up right, except under the sound devices manager theres a small lil red x over my creative labs icon. That and I have win 98 2nd ed.

 

[Ura]

then its a driver error, try uninstalling the creative card and its drivers and then reinstalling it. If that still doesn't help make sure you check the creative labs website for driver updates. There aren't any major problems with the 5.1 live that I'm aware of

 

[Ed Sullivan]

I don't think I've actually ever seen anyone directly wire a cdrom's audio line to a soundcard

Every computer I've seen has it setup like that. My new computer has an SB Audigy, a Plextor burner and a DVD-ROM. I have the SPDIF output on the Audigy running to the Plextor and the regular analog CD-ROM out running to the Toshiba. I can listen to CDs in both drives that way.

AFAIK, the ports on the mobo that do the same thing are for any integrated audio.

 

[Mikeymike]

Could be any number of things.

First thing you need to do is get the make and model # of your computer so you can get a spec sheet on it online, where you can probably troubleshoot it also.

Before you went to install your new Audio Card, did you go into your Device Manager (right-click on My Computer/Properties/Device Manager) and disable your old sound card? After its Disabled it should have a big red stop sign (or something like that) over the icon.

If yes you shouldn't really be having any issues installing and its probably a bad driver set or something is conflicted with your new Audio card. Also, if your speakers/CD-ROM are plugged into the OLD sound card, its turned off you shouldn't be hearing anything. Your 5.1 should have the little internal 4-prong jacks for the ROM as well as the external jacks for your speakers, and it should run fine.

If no then you are confusing the hell out of your computer by giving it 2 primary soundcards.

Also, check the volume icon in the lower-right corner of your browser bar by the clock (also located in Start/Programs/Accessories/Entertainment I think). Make sure all of your sound channels are at decent levels and none are muted. You wouldn't believe how many times that little icon is the source of all Sound related PC problems.