I think my sound card is dead




Posted by Crazy K

I can't seem to listen to music or anything. I was trying to see if my speakers were to blame, but my computer froze for an odd reason. Anyways when I opened Winamp and clicked on a song it stated this error

"Bad DirectSoundDriver. Please install proper drivers or select another device in configuration Error code: 88780078"

Also when I Print Screen the error message, and try to paste it on a paint program, it says this "The clipboard doesn't contain an image."

Could my sound card be dead? Could it be my speakers? Could it be that I used Windows Media player earlier, and I've been using winamp player for a few weeks now? Any help is greatly appreciated.

Ok, I just opened WMPlayer, and it stated this when I tried to play a song: "Windows Media Player cannot play the file because there is a problem with your sound device. There might not be a sound device installed on your computer, it might be in use by another program, or it might not be functioning properly."

So I for sure have to get a new sound card? How much do they usually run for?




Posted by Borealis

No... um, what soundcard do you have?




Posted by Roger Smith

Just switch to onboard sound for the time being.




Posted by Crazy K

[quote=Borealis;777740]No... um, what soundcard do you have?

I have no idea, I bought this current computer from a friend for $50. I'll have to check tomorrow.

[quote=Roger Smith;777742]Just switch to onboard sound for the time being.

How do you do that?




Posted by Vampiro V. Empire

Go to winamp preferences, plungins, output, directsound output, driver tab and see if the device is actually your soundcard. If that doesn't work, control panel, sound and audio, audio tab, and make sure the device is listed as your soundcard.

if that doesn't work, update your drivers, update DirectX, close winamp, reboot.

If that doesn't work, idk, you're probably ****ed.




Posted by Vampiro V. Empire

Also, I assume you rebooted. This **** usually fixes itself.




Posted by Crazy K

Yeah, after it froze I just turned it off. After that the errors started coming up.




Posted by Borealis

Find out what your sound card is, if it's a stock board, then I'm not entirely sure, but if it's brand (like CREATIVE Audigy etc), you may be able to go to their website and search for any recent drivers/updates you may install, since that's what the error your getting seems to imply. If it's Audigy, I can probably assist further, but uh... my drivers are fine so I dunno.




Posted by Roger Smith


Quoting Crazy K:
How do you do that?


Go into your BIOS and configure from there. F2 after the memory test, Advanced > Peripheral Configuration menu and enable onboard.



Posted by Crazy K

I'll have to do that tomorrow. But if the sound card is dead, how much would a cheap one go for?

Also here's what I found out under the control panel.

[IMG]http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/2001/62474305ec2.png[/IMG]




Posted by Apathetic

Wouldnt it just be deleting the drivers and reinstalling them? Sorry if I didnt catch that you did this already.




Posted by Roger Smith


Quoting Crazy K: I'll have to do that tomorrow. But if the sound card is dead, how much would a cheap one go for?

Also here's what I found out under the control panel.

[IMG]http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/2001/62474305ec2.png[/IMG]


Cheap sound cards are a bad deal. You probably have a cheap sound card in your system right now. It's actually a better idea to just use onboard ATM and save up to get a good sound card, like Blaster or something.

Also, another thing you can do. Start>Run> dxdiag, that'll bring up your system diagnostics. Click the Sound and Music tabs and look at the bottom and see if it's reporting any problems.



Posted by Crazy K

It says no sound card is installed. If one is expected, you should install a sound driver provided by the hardware manufacturer




Posted by Roger Smith

lol, well either you really have no sound card or the sound card you have is busted and dead. Pry your PC open and take a look inside.




Posted by Crazy K

I'll do that tomorrow. My friend might have a good working sound card, I'll ask him tomorrow as well.

What do good sound cards usually fetch up to in cost?




Posted by Roger Smith

K then.




Posted by Crazy K

I might be able to use my recent computers sound card, since I never use it, and it's a fairly new computer.




Posted by Crazy K

Would you suggest I get this sound card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829102010

Here is the sound card that I currently have

Creative Sound Blaster Live Model CT4760




Posted by Roger Smith

You do realize that card isn't for normal cases right? That's what "low-profile" means, micro. Unless you want to get some pliers and pull the bracket back to make it fit lol.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829102002

Boom.




Posted by Crazy K

So you suggest I get that one instead?




Posted by Roger Smith

If you wanna spend a few extra bucks.




Posted by Crazy K

Sure why not, I'll get my parents to pay half way, since it's their computer too.




Posted by Crazy K

Yeah I bought the sound card, got it today, but then found out I ordered a 24 bit one when I didn't know I had 16 bit PCI slots. **** am I ****ed. Suggest a good 16 bit Sound card.

Never mind, my old sound card started to work again.