Speakers Problem...

[K00L]

So I have this really weird problem. This is on my old, ANCIENT, XP. I have a Rocketfish 5.1 PCI Sound Card soundcard, and the drivers/programs for it. My nVidia graphics card also installed 4 drivers for High Definition Audio. Also among the Hardware section of the 'Sounds and Audio Devices Properties':

Media Control Devices

Unknown - Which was disabled (it might be my speakers so I am restarting to find out. Its Realtek...)

Audio Codecs

Legacy Audio Drivers

Media Control Devices

 

My Sound Playback says its from the Modem. The Volume tab says there is no audio device... However my speakers do play sounds in some things. The majority of games I've tried, Media Player (or Quicktime, at least one of the two had it), and at least the Google Chrome Browser has sound. There is no sound on the desktop. And most recently in Synthesia (trying to play MIDI for fun :P). Its been like this for a while...

 

Oh also down where you normally get the little tannish speaker for volume (which is missing) I have a white square with a blue speaker that, when double clicked, says the application failed to start.

 

 

Edit: Here's the links to other places I've posted.

Geeks To Go

Microsoft Answers

Rocketfish Products

Edited July 31, 2012 by K00L

[K00L]

I think I'll just have to put up with this. My computer (the nice one, with the nice graphics card and Vista) won't turn on as of this morning, so I'm stuck playing the old games that run on the $60 graphics card in this one. That always happens when I let my brothers use it. They break it somehow.... :wallbash:

Still don't know why its doing this sound thing but, its really particular about what things have sound. I used to think things in fullscreen had sound, but that's not the case. I can run some things in a window with sound, and some things still don't have sound full screen.

[K00L]

Okay... So it also works in screensavers with sounds, but it doesn't work in The Sims Medieval. lol This is so confusing. (Oh and the other computer, it was the cord for the power that went bad... Don't know how.)

The default soundcard (Realtek) driver shows up as "Unknown" and my speakers do not work at all through that. The Rocketfish sound card is the one causing the funky plays sometimes but not everywhere... I went through and looked for something. Under Hardware and Sharing\Conflicts the spot is shared with Microsoft UAA Bus Driver for HD Audio but I'm pretty sure that's just the default stuff for the slot. I'm running Microsoft Fix It, to see if that finds anything. Oh! Nothing! Great...

Edit: So I decided to just switch PSUs, I can't screw it into the newer computer, and for some reason, it doesn't sound like anything inside the computer is turning on. It is getting power, the little green light is on the back and the power button lights up when I push it. The monitor says there is no signal though. So I guess I'll just be playing without sound. The over 100-110 Fahrenheit heat (about 38 Celsius for all you in other countries, us silly Americans and having to measure EVERYTHING differently... And weirdly at that. I mean why 32 for freezing? And why do our intervals have to be so random? 12 inches in a foot and three feet in a yard and 1,760 yards in a mile... Come on, why can't we learn a system based on tens? Much much simpler.) Anyway, I seriously am having horrible luck with computers right now. My XP is actually better than my Vista. It has 4 spots for RAM, the cooling fan can be replaced... Well I guess there is the sound problem, but at least it turns on. I guess I will have to return to the Mass Effect trilogy on the Xbox... Blegh... Unfortunately. Not because of ME, but because of Xbox.

Edit Edit: I tried re-installing both drivers. The one that showed up as "unknown" is now gone completely. And the Rocketfish card still won't play sound for everything. I disabled all 4 nVidia HD Audio drivers with no change. I disabled the on-board audio in BIOS without any luck as well. I really don't know what else to try. I contacted their customer support, but I don't think I will get a reply as the card is no longer supplied and I have read somethings were people said that they don't really help. I don't want to have to spend money on sending it to someone at like Bestbuy or something. Its really just frustrating. Normally I am pretty good about solving these things on my own, but this is so... I don't even know what to do... About any of these things. Something is clearly wrong with my XP's sound and the Vista as a whole.

Edit: When I try to run some applications for the card it says "The audio device supported is not detected. This application will exit." And when I try to test Windows sounds, such as the Windows XP Error sound, it says it cannot play the sound and that my sound card may be in use. I know the card works, because I just switched PCI slots and it was detected and so I re-installed everything from the CD. Same problems still.

 

Edit AGAIN: I posted to the Rocketfish forums and the Bestbuy Q&A for the sound card so hopefully if no one here knows or has any advice I can get some there. I just tried uninstalling and re-isntalling again, but it still didn't work.

 

Edit one more time: The Rocketfish "Specialist" just told me it sounds like I have multiple sound cards on, but I deactivated the onboard one in BIOs already. He also told me to call Geek Squad... -_- Great help, especially since I said I'd like to not spend money to get it fixed. But I guess I should try

 

Okay another edit: Sound in Skyrim sounds like its set up for more speakers. I made sure when I installed the Rocketfish stuff I set it for 2.1

Anyway I get no sound when I look at what is emitting the sound. Like when people talk I have to have them on the left or right of me... I either need to know how to set Skyrim to mono, or get some help fixing this dumb LOVELY card.

 

Edit yet again: So I was checking the drivers folder and I have RtkHDAud and a SysAudio. I did not see anything that looked like a Rocketfish sound card driver of any kind. I checked the CD and one if its drivers is mididef which is not in there. Oops nevermind I found MIDIDEF in just the Windows folder. And in the Rocketfish folder. I guess those are in the right places then, but I also just tried using Repair from the setup with no effect.

Edited July 5, 2012 by K00L

[K00L]

Happy Edit: While my sound card is still not working properly, Skyrim's sound is! It made some awful crackly noise when I first opened my inventory, then after that I could hear people when I looked at them.

 

Edit of my happy edit: Oops didn't mean to click reply -_- Just wanted to add on to my last post

Edited July 5, 2012 by K00L

[K00L]

Okay more stuff that might make a difference. Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. I get sound in the companies intros and in the new game intro but not anywhere actually in game or at the menu.

[K00L]

Okay I have an idea but I need an answer to a question first.

What type of audio do the following games have (don't need an answer for all, just one or two will do)?

• Dead Island
  
• Skyrim
  
• Oblivion
  
• Civilization 5
  
• Two Worlds 2
  
• Metro 2033
  
• Saint's Row The Third
  

 

Now how about these games:

• Fallout New Vegas
  
• Borderlands
  
• Guild Wars 1 & 2
  
• Dawn of War II
  
• The Sims Medieval
  

 

(The reason is because sound works in the first list, but the games from the second it doesn't work. It may not be the type of audio file, but perhaps this can help explain part of the problem)

[Iv000]

Have you actually tried switching the speakers/headphones you're using?

That sounds more like a hardware problem than a software problem.

[K00L]

Yep! I've tried two different sets of speakers and two different headphones. All do the same thing. I'm almost 100% certain its something within my computer. I suppose the onboard audio may have kicked it and is just barely working. 7 years is probably about time for an upgrade.

 

Okay just tried another game, and this time I got a Runtime error because it couldn't load a sound. I've been reading that this could be a device error or something keeping the game from loading sound. I read that could be caused by system damage from something like a virus. I did clear this computer of a virus not too long ago. And I think some of it still remains, not the virus-y (I ran safe mode and deleted all of virus folders so it couldn't reproduce like it did in normal start up) part but I think it damaged somethings and that one of those may have been sound. If I had a Windows CD for this somewhere (along with the key) I would simply delete everything and reinstall.

Edited July 22, 2012 by K00L

[Iv000]

:confused:

I'm sorry I can't help with that. I don't have any experience with sound problems.

[K00L]

Haha its fine :P

I can fix most things on my own now, but this... I don't have any idea. There's absolutely nothing on Google, and the experts from other websites can't seem to help either. xD