A Windows 98 & ME forum. Win98banter

If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Go Back   Home » Win98banter forum » Windows 98 » General
Site Map Home Authors List Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read Web Partners

Wrong audio drivers persistent



 
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old June 9th 04, 01:52 PM
Mike Easter
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Wrong audio drivers persistent

Fundamental: sound doesn't work - none, MS recorder shows graphic of
..wav but no sound. Analog CD no sound.

Complicating: Win98se won't let me change drivers.

MSI KT266 mobo with Via chipset with onboard AC97 sound system uses
mfr's install program to install audio drivers. Different drivers for
different boards.

I mistakenly installed the Realtek drivers which were for the Pro-2U
instead of the Via drivers for the Pro-2A. All of these drivers have
similar names that have to do with Avance and Via, so I'm calling these
two different install setups Realtek and Via 'because' that's part of
how they are labeled at msi.com.tw

Now, when I try to remove the Realtek drivers from system devices so as
to install the Via ones, I can't keep Win from reinstalling the
Realteks. It doesn't ask, it just discovers the hardware and reinstalls
and I can't stop the process. I've even disabled PnP in the BIOS.

The only way I can keep Win from installing the Realteks is to disable
the audio in the BIOS, but whenever I enable it, Win installs the
Realteks. I've gone to the folder Win/inf/other where there are 2
apparent Via audio drivers and 'hidden' them in another folder, but that
didn't solve the problem.

I'm getting some useful help in
alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.msi-microstar, such as the .inf instructions
above, but I'm beginning to think I might need to muck about in the
registry.

--
Mike Easter | http://www.verifiedvoting.org
Voter-Verified Paper Trail for 2004 Elections

  #2  
Old June 9th 04, 02:49 PM
Mostly Me (MM)
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Wrong audio drivers persistent

Mike Easter wrote:

Fundamental: sound doesn't work - none, MS recorder shows graphic of
.wav but no sound. Analog CD no sound.

Complicating: Win98se won't let me change drivers.

MSI KT266 mobo with Via chipset with onboard AC97 sound system uses
mfr's install program to install audio drivers. Different drivers for
different boards.

I mistakenly installed the Realtek drivers which were for the Pro-2U
instead of the Via drivers for the Pro-2A. All of these drivers have
similar names that have to do with Avance and Via, so I'm calling these
two different install setups Realtek and Via 'because' that's part of
how they are labeled at msi.com.tw

Now, when I try to remove the Realtek drivers from system devices so as
to install the Via ones, I can't keep Win from reinstalling the
Realteks. It doesn't ask, it just discovers the hardware and reinstalls
and I can't stop the process. I've even disabled PnP in the BIOS.

The only way I can keep Win from installing the Realteks is to disable
the audio in the BIOS, but whenever I enable it, Win installs the
Realteks. I've gone to the folder Win/inf/other where there are 2
apparent Via audio drivers and 'hidden' them in another folder, but that
didn't solve the problem.

I'm getting some useful help in
alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.msi-microstar, such as the .inf instructions
above, but I'm beginning to think I might need to muck about in the
registry.


Hi,
If you are certain of the mobo model number, then you do not need the
Realtek drivers for any reason. Download the VIA audio drivers and the
4-1 chipset drivers.

Boot into safe mode (press F8 at boot-right away, before the Windows
logo-select safe mode from the Startup Menu). Go to device manager,
remove everything listed under Sound\game controllers. Don't reboot yet,
instead, find all the Realtek stuff and delete it from your system.

Reboot, go into your BIOS and disable the on-board audio, then boot into
Windows. Windows should not attempt to install the audio device.
Disable any anti-virus software and install the 4-1 drivers, *not* the
audio drivers. Reboot, let Windows fully load. Reboot once again to get
into BIOS and enable the on-board audio. Let Windows load and cancel the
"add new hardware wizard". Disable your anti-virus software and run the
VIA audio driver setup program. Reboot if directed.

BTW, the "Plug-n-Play OS: yes\no option in BIOS does not disable
Plug-n-Play, it just determines what assigns resources, the BIOS (No) or
Windows (Yes).

mm




  #3  
Old June 9th 04, 03:14 PM
Mostly Me (MM)
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Wrong audio drivers persistent

Mostly Me (MM) wrote:


Hi,
If you are certain of the mobo model number, then you do not need the
Realtek drivers for any reason. Download the VIA audio drivers and the
4-1 chipset drivers.

Boot into safe mode (press F8 at boot-right away, before the Windows
logo-select safe mode from the Startup Menu). Go to device manager,
remove everything listed under Sound\game controllers. Don't reboot yet,
instead, find all the Realtek stuff and delete it from your system.

Reboot, go into your BIOS and disable the on-board audio, then boot into
Windows. Windows should not attempt to install the audio device.
Disable any anti-virus software and install the 4-1 drivers, *not* the
audio drivers. Reboot, let Windows fully load. Reboot once again to get
into BIOS and enable the on-board audio. Let Windows load and cancel the
"add new hardware wizard". Disable your anti-virus software and run the
VIA audio driver setup program. Reboot if directed.

BTW, the "Plug-n-Play OS: yes\no option in BIOS does not disable
Plug-n-Play, it just determines what assigns resources, the BIOS (No) or
Windows (Yes).

mm



One more thing, I do recall once that the audio drivers I downloaded for
a VIA device came in a folder (instead of a single .exe program); inside
that folder were numerous files including a setup.exe file. For whatever
reason, setup.exe didn't work, so I had to use the add new hardware
wizard and manually browse to the folder containing the downloaded files
to get it to install the drivers. So, if it's a folder full of files
instead of a single .exe file, you may just want to go ahead and use the
add new hardware wizard that comes up when you boot after enabling the
on-board audio and just point to that folder.

mm
  #4  
Old June 9th 04, 04:09 PM
Mike Easter
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Wrong audio drivers persistent

Mostly Me (MM) wrote:
Boot into safe mode (press F8 at boot-right away, before the Windows
logo-select safe mode from the Startup Menu). Go to device manager,
remove everything listed under Sound\game controllers. Don't reboot
yet, instead, find all the Realtek stuff and delete it from your
system.


That sounds like a good plan; let me mention that this is what is
listed as Realtek in the system audio device drivers' properties:

ALCXWDM.SYS - S32\DR
VMM32.VXD (ntkem.vxd)
MMDEVLDR.VXD
RTLCPAPI.DLL
AUDIO3D.DLL
CRLDS3D.DLL
ALCXSENS.SYS - S32\DR
RTLCPL.EXE
ALSNDMGR.WAV
ALSNDMGR.CPL
SOUNDMAN.EXE - W:

where the 2 'S32\DR' ones are in Windows\System32\Drivers and the 'W:'
one is in Windows and all of the rest are in Windows\System.

It seems like maybe I ought to leave that vmm32.vxd in there - I don't
know about any others.

--
Mike Easter | http://www.verifiedvoting.org
Voter-Verified Paper Trail for 2004 Elections

  #5  
Old June 9th 04, 04:34 PM
Mostly Me (MM)
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Wrong audio drivers persistent

Mike Easter wrote:
Mostly Me (MM) wrote:

Boot into safe mode (press F8 at boot-right away, before the Windows
logo-select safe mode from the Startup Menu). Go to device manager,
remove everything listed under Sound\game controllers. Don't reboot
yet, instead, find all the Realtek stuff and delete it from your
system.



That sounds like a good plan; let me mention that this is what is
listed as Realtek in the system audio device drivers' properties:

ALCXWDM.SYS - S32\DR
VMM32.VXD (ntkem.vxd)
MMDEVLDR.VXD
RTLCPAPI.DLL
AUDIO3D.DLL
CRLDS3D.DLL
ALCXSENS.SYS - S32\DR
RTLCPL.EXE
ALSNDMGR.WAV
ALSNDMGR.CPL
SOUNDMAN.EXE - W:

where the 2 'S32\DR' ones are in Windows\System32\Drivers and the 'W:'
one is in Windows and all of the rest are in Windows\System.

It seems like maybe I ought to leave that vmm32.vxd in there - I don't
know about any others.

Actually, I meant delete any Realtek setup files, not to go into the
driver locations and delete them. I should have been more clear about
that. My apologies. I think that you can uninstall Soundman using
add\remove programs, or perhaps it's listed under "Realtek" there. In
any event, uninstall anything in add\remove pertaining to Soundman or
Realtek.

Other than that, removing the devices from the device manager should be
enough. Do not delete the vmm32.vxd file.

mm
  #6  
Old June 9th 04, 05:09 PM
Mike Easter
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Wrong audio drivers persistent

Mostly Me (MM) wrote:
Actually, I meant delete any Realtek setup files, not to go into the
driver locations and delete them.


Okey dokey.

Other than that, removing the devices from the device manager should
be enough.


I'm not very registry savvy, but I'm 'hearing about' devices being
registered in the PnP enumerator subtree; and I'm wondering if I need
to go in there to trim that Realtek stuff out.

Thanking you for hanging in here with me.


--
Mike Easter | http://www.verifiedvoting.org
Voter-Verified Paper Trail for 2004 Elections

  #7  
Old June 9th 04, 05:24 PM
Mostly Me (MM)
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Wrong audio drivers persistent

Mike Easter wrote:

Mostly Me (MM) wrote:

Actually, I meant delete any Realtek setup files, not to go into the
driver locations and delete them.



Okey dokey.


Other than that, removing the devices from the device manager should
be enough.



I'm not very registry savvy, but I'm 'hearing about' devices being
registered in the PnP enumerator subtree; and I'm wondering if I need
to go in there to trim that Realtek stuff out.

Thanking you for hanging in here with me.


Hi,

I'm not registry savvy either, especially on systems I haven't seen or
worked on, but I've changed countless audio devices and haven't had to
go there to get a different one to function. Before tinkering around
with the registry, I would get the audio up and running, then consider
pruning the registry of "unneeded" entries. But before you do that, post
your question here regarding cleaning out the registry, there are many
people here who are much more qualified than me to give advice on that.
For now, just let the sleeping dog lie there.

mm
  #8  
Old June 9th 04, 07:51 PM
Gary S. Terhune
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Wrong audio drivers persistent

With *very* few exceptions, it's much easier and safer to remove the
pertinent Registry entries by simply booting into Safe Mode and doing it
from Device Manager there. Safe Mode Device Manager shows all drivers that
have been installed, whereas Normal Mode shows only those that managed to
load for the current session (or which have been disabled.)

Removing a device in Safe Mode removes the pertaining Registry entries,
though the drivers files themselves remain in place. However, in most cases
this allows PnP to find them and reinstall them if the device is redetected.
Thus it is usually better to install *new* drivers from Normal Mode rather
than remove old drivers before installing new. But, again, this situation
gets muddied when the previous drivers installation package also included
device management software (as is often the case with sound and video). In
those situations, uninstall the software, then install the new drivers. If
things aren't perfect after that, go into Safe Mode, remove the device(s) in
Device Manager, then reboot and see if PnP will this time install the
correct drivers. If not, install them again.

Beyond that, if you aren't familiar with Registry cleaning, best stay away.
A little garbage doesn't usually hurt anything, and it only takes two
mistakes to trash a system (the mistake that actually trashes it and the
mistake that prevents restoring the Registry to its previous state.)

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP for Win9x

"Mike Easter" wrote in message
link.net...
Mostly Me (MM) wrote:
Actually, I meant delete any Realtek setup files, not to go into the
driver locations and delete them.


Okey dokey.

Other than that, removing the devices from the device manager should
be enough.


I'm not very registry savvy, but I'm 'hearing about' devices being
registered in the PnP enumerator subtree; and I'm wondering if I need
to go in there to trim that Realtek stuff out.

Thanking you for hanging in here with me.


--
Mike Easter | http://www.verifiedvoting.org
Voter-Verified Paper Trail for 2004 Elections


  #9  
Old June 9th 04, 09:23 PM
Mike Easter
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Wrong audio drivers persistent

Mostly Me (MM) wrote:
Before tinkering around
with the registry, I would get the audio up and running, then consider
pruning the registry of "unneeded" entries.


The current situation...

I have successfully removed the Realtek drivers. I have installed the
'latest' Via 4in1 drivers according to my decision to use the latest
non-Hyperion ones. The MSI disk contained v.4.4.2 Via non-Hyperion and
the Via site has 4.4.3 non-Hyperion, along with language saying that
some Win9x users preferred the non-Hyperion. Hyperion 4in1s are now at
4.5.1. The drivers at my board's section at msi.com.tw are the Hyperion
4.51/s.

I have installed the Via AC97 drivers which were available at
msi.com.tw, which wasn't easy. The setup program still 'insisted' that
the AC97 wasn't enabled, which it is, so it wasn't possible to use
setup.exe. So, I installed using the Win install wizard and pointing it
at the folder containing the WDM drivers for the Via setup..

The problem is that sound still doesn't work. The conditions are the
same, I can see a .wav file playing in MS Recorder, but no sound comes
from the lineout speakers. The mobo configurations are that there are
jumpers on the mobo for front panel audio - ie absent front panel audio,
2 pairs need to be jumpered, which are. The BIOS is AC97 enabled.

The system devices now say Via Enhanced Audio Controller (WDM) with no
conflicts. There were alternate .inf choices in the WDM folder, 2 pairs
of identicals. I chose enhanced as above over Via Audio Controller, but
there were no istructions as to what .inf file would be the best
choice... the whole thing was designed around the setup.exe, which
doesn't work right

I guess my next step is using a sound card. Or, I suppose I coul
uninstall my current 4in1 and install the Hyperion instead, but I don't
think that's going to help with the sound situation.

--
Mike Easter | http://www.verifiedvoting.org
Voter-Verified Paper Trail for 2004 Elections

  #10  
Old June 9th 04, 09:43 PM
Mostly Me (MM)
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Wrong audio drivers persistent

Mike Easter wrote:
Mostly Me (MM) wrote:

Before tinkering around
with the registry, I would get the audio up and running, then consider
pruning the registry of "unneeded" entries.



The current situation...

I have successfully removed the Realtek drivers. I have installed the
'latest' Via 4in1 drivers according to my decision to use the latest
non-Hyperion ones. The MSI disk contained v.4.4.2 Via non-Hyperion and
the Via site has 4.4.3 non-Hyperion, along with language saying that
some Win9x users preferred the non-Hyperion. Hyperion 4in1s are now at
4.5.1. The drivers at my board's section at msi.com.tw are the Hyperion
4.51/s.

I have installed the Via AC97 drivers which were available at
msi.com.tw, which wasn't easy. The setup program still 'insisted' that
the AC97 wasn't enabled, which it is, so it wasn't possible to use
setup.exe. So, I installed using the Win install wizard and pointing it
at the folder containing the WDM drivers for the Via setup..

The problem is that sound still doesn't work. The conditions are the
same, I can see a .wav file playing in MS Recorder, but no sound comes
from the lineout speakers. The mobo configurations are that there are
jumpers on the mobo for front panel audio - ie absent front panel audio,
2 pairs need to be jumpered, which are. The BIOS is AC97 enabled.

The system devices now say Via Enhanced Audio Controller (WDM) with no
conflicts. There were alternate .inf choices in the WDM folder, 2 pairs
of identicals. I chose enhanced as above over Via Audio Controller, but
there were no istructions as to what .inf file would be the best
choice... the whole thing was designed around the setup.exe, which
doesn't work right

I guess my next step is using a sound card. Or, I suppose I coul
uninstall my current 4in1 and install the Hyperion instead, but I don't
think that's going to help with the sound situation.

Hi,

It seems the drivers are installed correctly, so the problem lies
elsewhere. This is sounding just like the last time I installed this
same set of drivers on a system, which work fine now and are listed in
device manager just as you described.

Double check all the physical connections and switches on the speakers.

Also, right click the speaker icon in your system tray and open the
volume controls; on occasion I have seen the slider controls set all the
way down or even the mute box checked. If the icon isn't visible, go to
control panelmultimedia; place a check in the "show volume control on
task bar" option box and click OK. You can remove it later if you don't
want it in the system tray on a permanent basis.

And yes, MSI's servers are less than ideal.

mm

 




Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 02:11 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2024 Win98banter.
The comments are property of their posters.