Re: How do you reinstall Windows sound drivers?

Dora Smith wrote:
If you removed the Windows sound drivers trying to get a sound
card to work, because instructions said to remove ALL sound
drivers and devices, how do you reinstall them?

Shenan Stanley wrote:
Well - you download the latest revision from the manufacturer's
(of the sound card) web page and you run their setup...
And/or you go into the Device Manager and find the "unknown"
device (if it exists) and you choose to install drivers for it
from there.
Chances are - if you uninstalled drivers and rebooted - it
automagically reinstalled the drivers for you.

Dora Smith wrote:
No - how do I reinstall the WINDOWS sound drivers?

You know, those things your sound card works with, that I've been
trying to get people on this list to explain just how for two weeks
now.

Those are the Windows Sound Drivers.

Microsoft did not manufacture your sound card (more than likely - although I
actually do have an old ISA Microsoft Sound System card floating around..) -
so they do not make the drivers that Windows XP (or any other Operating
System) uses to access it and make it play sounds. The manufacturer for
said sound card does.

They are called "Windows" drivers because they are __for__ the Windows
operating system. They are manufactured/written by those who produced your
sound card and you should visit those people's web page and download the
Windows XP sound card drivers for your particular sound card and install it
on your Windows XP system. I have no idea what sound card you have...

What I am telling you right now is that the drivers for your sound card
(called windows sound drivers because the drivers - written by the
manufacturer of the hardware - are made for the Windows Operating System)
can be found on the web site for the manufacturer of your sound hardware.
Probably in their support/drivers download section.

You must know what sound card you have. Look on your receipt/invoice for
the computer - ask the people you bought the system from, open it up and
look, etc.

There are applications out there that can identify what hardware you have,
but I think they all depend on a properly installed system - as I think they
pull the information from the registry. Perhaps they do not - so I will
recommend you try one..

Belarc Advisor
http://belarc.com/free_download.html

Once you know what you have, what next? Go get the latest driver for your
hardware/OS from the manufacturer's web page. For example, let's say you
have an NVidia chipset video card or ATI video card, perhaps a Creative
Labs sound card or C-Media chipset sound card...

NVidia Video Card Drivers
http://www.nvidia.com/content/drivers/drivers.asp

ATI Video Card Drivers
http://www.atitech.com/support/driver.html

Creative Labs Sound Device
http://us.creative.com/support/downloads/

C-Media Sound Device
http://www.cmedia.com.tw/e_download_01.htm


--
Shenan Stanley
MS-MVP
--
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html


.

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