I formatted my hard drive!!! (1 Viewer)

[Andrew S]

My internet in my bedroom computer hasn't been working for the longest time, so my ISP customer support person told me that it was probably a problem with Internet Explorer. I tried and tried to reinstall Internet explorer and that never worked, so I figured the thing to do would be to format my hard drive. I did that and installed windows 98 again which works fine. The problem is that now my sound card doesn't work (because I don't think it's installed) and I'm not sure how to install it again. My dad bought me this computer used so no software came with it and I don't know what kind of sound card I have. Is there any way to find this out? I'm having the same problem with my video card, so the same question applies.

Thanks.

Andrew

 

[Vince Maskeeper]

Andrew,

Your video card and sound card need drivers in order to function. If you right click on MY COMPUTER and select PROPERTIES and then click the DEVICE MANAGER tab, you will probably see little yellow flags next to these two devices.

In order to find the drivers- you need to find who made them. Sometimes this is easy- if this is a brand name computer like Compaq/Dell/Acer/Emachine whatever- chances are it is a stock package and you can find the drivers by model number on their website (Say you have a Compaq Presario 1244, you can go to compaq's site and get each driver for that system).

If this is a DIY job, or an off brand- you will be stuck looking inside the machine for the card and seeing if there is a name anywhere on the card. Often offbrand device will not have a name listed- and sometimes you will only find the name of the chipset- so it will be 3 weeks of trying different drivers from cards using the same chip before you find one that works!!

I would double check to see if any discs came with the computer when you got it (or when Dad got it). Most people are responsible enough to at least include driver discs when they sell a PC (not to mention the fact that you should have had a copy of the OS you were running-- I assume you had your own copy which you used after you reformatted the drive?).

Happy hunting!

-Vince

 

[Peter S]

Over the years, when I have been in this same situation, opening up the box and looking physically on the sound and video cards for markings has often given me an idea what kinds of cards they were. Once I knew this, finding drivers for the cards was much easier.

 

[Andrew S]

Thanks for replying guys.

I've already done the device manager thing and looked at those little yellow flags. I guess what I really need to do is locate my drivers. I've taken quick looks at the sound and video cards when I installed my modem. I've never really seen a video or sound card before so I'm not sure what they're supposed to look like, but these didn't look like cards at all. They were basically just cables with outputs on one end (screwed to a metal plate at the back of computer) with the other end plugged into the motherboard (I think it was the mother board anyway). Oh well.. like you said it's probably just a matter of going through a million different drivers to see which one works. Thanks again for your response.

 

[Vince Maskeeper]

LOL- you're right they don't really look like "cards" at all!

What you saw is the right thing. The "card" name comes from the nature of the physical appearance of the main body of the device. They kind look like a letter "T", with the back plate that faces the rear of your PC that has all the connections- and then the body which slides into slots in the board. You should be able, from the connectors on the back- to determine which card is which once you're looking inside the case.

In case you can't see a brand name and model on the card- you can simply remove it and take a closer look- write down all the info you can find on the card.

If you look on the side of that back plate, you most likely see a screw. If you remove that screw- you can remove the card and look more closely at it. Obviously the machine should be off when you do this- and pay extra close attention to how it comes out so you can put it back in again.

Reseating the card should be like putting a game cartridge in a video game machine- just line up the card with the slot (make sure it is lines up along the back plate) and slide it back into place.

Using the info on the card you should be able to find a driver. When I said above about experiementing with different drivers-- this should only be done if you can't determine the brand and can only find the chipset (I had a modem once that had no info on it other than the PCTEL chip name- so I tried a dozen modem drivers that used PCTEL chips until I found one that worked).

If you're going to guess randomly, you probably never find a driver!

-Vince

 

[Bill Catherall]

Actually it sounds like the sound and video are on the motherboard with the outputs located seperately (extended from the motherboard via cables onto plates attached to the case). In which case you're going to need the software for the motherboard. It should have the drivers for the sound and video hardware.

Edited to fix a stupid mistake that totally screwed up my meaning.

 

[Vince Maskeeper]

Bill,

Good point- in rereading his post- that might be the case as well ("plugged in to the motherboard" could have several interpretations).

-Vince

 

[Kimmo Jaskari]

Intel among others make integrated solutions with built-in video and audio; most of the Compaq desktop machines we have at work use Intel.

Perhaps the first step should be to open up the case of the machine and go over the entire motherboard to see if it has any markings and text on it. Based on that we should be able to at least point you in the right direction for drivers.

 

[Juan Castillo]

What this sounds like to me is an old AT style mobo, since most motherboards with on board sound and video, are just that. There are actual ports on the mother board to plug the peripherals directly into, not cables attatched to mounting brackets. Its prolly an old school lower pentium grade. I suggest you get the model of the motherboard, and go to google or other search engine. Enter the model of the motherboard and look at the sites it comes up with. Try to find the manual for this board. It will give you valuable information on its specs, and jumper settings, along with Bios information that may be useful. If no drivers are found with the manual, then go to driverguide.com its free to register and use, unlike windrivers.com and if you know the manufacturer, most times you can find old outdated drivers in the driversfound links on each manufacturers channels. This area on that site is where people like you and me find and post hard to find drivers for all the rest of us to use if needed. This is not a promotion for this site, just a friendly suggestion as I have used it many times in the past with good results.

 

[Mike__D]

Here's the first thing you want to do... although the Device manager is nice, we'll need more specific information. Since you have Windows 98, you can use the utility called System information.

I'm using Windows 2000, but I think 98 is similar. I'll check tommorow at work, my laptop is dual boot and has 98 on it.

Click the start menu, then got to Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools and select System Information.

System Information should be higlighted. The right plane will show you your system information. You can save that info as a text file, then cut & paste it in here so we can see what you have. Under Win2K, you go to Action, the save as text file... not sure if win98 is same. Like I said, I can double check tommorow.

It's hard to make assumptions about the pc he is using. Many newer, lower end models do have onboard video and audio. A quick check to see if you have a newer pc is to look at your ports on the back of the PC (were your mouse, keyboard and printer are plugged in). If they are different colors, you PC is newer, if they are all black, it's a few years old.

Get back to us with you info when you can...

Mike D.

UPDATE:

I checked Win98, and it doesn't provide with all the info Win2K does. Just look for the Processor name... it'll say something like "GenuineIntel x86....." That should give us an idea of how old or new your PC is.

 

[brentl]

You may want to check out the FcC #. It will tell you lots.
http://www.fcc.gov/oet/fccid/
Brent
P.s. it's the white label with the FCC logo

 

[Andrew S]

Thank you very much for all the replies. I haven't been able to look at this post in a while since my dad has been working on the computer a lot, so I haven't had the chance to follow a lot of your suggestions yet. I did look at the sound and video cards again, but there is no writing on them whatsoever.

What Juan says seems to sound correct to me. The computer I think is an OLD 486 upgraded to a pentium 333.

Thank you very much for the replies. The help a person can receive on this forum is unbelievable.

Andrew

 

[Andrew S]

I checked my system information and copied this information like Mike_D suggested:

UNDER SYSTEM INFORMATION

Microsoft Windows 98 4.10.1998

Upgrade using Full OEM CD /SrcDir=D:WIN98 /IQ /U:xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

IE 4.0 4.72.3110

Uptime: 0:00:10:27

Normal mode

On "ANDREW" as "Andrew"

GenuineIntel Pentium(r) II Processor Intel MMX(TM) Technology

32MB RAM

90% system resources free

Windows-managed swap file on drive C (705MB free)

Available space on drive C: 705MB of 1037MB (FAT)

UNDER PROBLEM DEVICES IN UNDER HARDWARE RESOURCES:

Intel 82371AB/EB PCI to USB Universal Host Controller

USB

This Device Has a Problem: Code=29 (0x1D)

This device has been disabled in the hardware. In order to use this device,

you must re-enable the hardware. See your hardware documentation for details.

Registry Key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINEenumPCIVEN_8086&DEV_7112&SUBSYS_00000000&REV_01BUS_00&DEV_07&FUNC_02

Alloc resources: None

Forced resources: None

Boot resources: None

Filtered resources: None

Basic resources: Logical Configuration 0

IO Range: Base=x6000 End=x601F Min=x0000 Max=xFFFF Alias=xFF, Decode=x00

HW Revision: 001

Driver: USB000

Driver Date: 5-11-1998

Driver: usbhub.sys

File Size: 26768 (0x6890)

File Date: 5/11/1998 8:1 AM

Company Name: Microsoft Corporation

File Version: 4.10.1998

Driver: usbd.sys

File Size: 16960 (0x4240)

File Date: 5/11/1998 8:1 AM

Company Name: Microsoft Corporation

File Version: 4.10.1998

Driver: uhcd.sys

File Size: 25712 (0x6470)

File Date: 5/11/1998 8:1 AM

Company Name: Microsoft Corporation

File Version: 4.10.1998

CMI8330/C3D Audio Adapter

Unknown

This Device Has a Problem: Code=28 (0x1C)

The drivers for this device are not installed correctly. To install the driver

for this device, click the Driver tab, and then click Update Driver.

Registry Key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINEenumISAPNPCMI0001_DEV000010 00100

Alloc resources: None

Forced resources: None

Boot resources: None

Filtered resources: None

Basic resources: Logical Configuration 0

IRQ: 0 Mask: x0800

DMA: 0 Mask: x0001

IO Range: Base=x0000 End=x0000 Min=x0530 Max=x0537 Alias=x00, Decode=x00

Base=x0000 End=x0000 Min=x0388 Max=x038F Alias=x00, Decode=x00

Logical Configuration 1

IRQ: 0 Mask: x1EA0

DMA: 0 Mask: x000B

IO Range: Base=x0000 End=x0000 Min=x0530 Max=x0537 Alias=x00, Decode=x00

Base=x0000 End=x0000 Min=x0388 Max=x038F Alias=x00, Decode=x00

Logical Configuration 2

IRQ: 0 Mask: x1EA0

DMA: 0 Mask: x000B

IO Range: Base=x0000 End=x0000 Min=x0530 Max=x0FE7 Alias=x00, Decode=x00

Base=x0000 End=x0000 Min=x0388 Max=x038F Min=x0398 Max=x039F Min=x03A8 Max=x03AF Min=x03B8 Max=x03BF Min=x03C8 Max=x03CF Min=x03D8 Max=x03DF Min=x03E8 Max=x03EF Min=x03F8 Max=x03FF Alias=x00, Decode=x00

HW Revision: 1.0.00

Driver: Driver Not Installed

CMI8330/C3D Audio Adapter

Unknown

This Device Has a Problem: Code=28 (0x1C)

The drivers for this device are not installed correctly. To install the driver

for this device, click the Driver tab, and then click Update Driver.

Registry Key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINEenumISAPNPCMI0001_DEV000110 00100

Alloc resources: None

Forced resources: None

Boot resources: None

Filtered resources: None

Basic resources: Logical Configuration 0

IRQ: 0 Mask: x0200

IO Range: Base=x0000 End=x0000 Min=x0330 Max=x0331 Alias=x00, Decode=x00

Logical Configuration 1

IRQ: 0 Mask: x1EA0

IO Range: Base=x0000 End=x0000 Min=x0300 Max=x0331 Alias=x00, Decode=x00

HW Revision: 1.0.00

Driver: Driver Not Installed

Sorry if this post is getting too long, just didn't know how much of it to copy. Thanks again.

Andrew

 

[Juan Castillo]

I guess I will take a shot, well, since it is an older mobo, and you installed 98?.. it also added usb support for a motherboard that does not have usb ports, so ... that is acceptable. You have the device disabled, but wondering if removing it will prompt windows to look for it again at next reboot? May be something you want to try just to make that annoying little yellow ! go away under device manager.

Second, it just seems like you need to reinstall the drivers for that sound processor on your mobo. Now, since you seem to have a antiquated (spelling?) motherboard, finding these drivers will be a pain in the arse.. I would suggest disabling these drivers, and buying/installing a new card. Only problem I see, is whether or not your mobo has any PCI slots or all ISA. I have not seen an ISA soundcard in quite awhile. Actually only seen them on older systems like yours : ).. IF not, read my previous post, and try out the search engines on your mobo, or PC, for the user manual, and then try driverguide.com for drivers. Good Luck!@

 

[Jack D E]

The fix that works quickest for me is this:
1) Get the MODEL NUMBER off of the card. It's usually some long-winded number.
2) Go to a search tool and enter the model number and the word "driver". In most cases, the link to the download is right in front of your face.
Just my experience.

 

[Kimmo Jaskari]

It's not that ancient, it's a Pentium II. Those are a few years old now but not that ancient as you seem to think. It clearly seems to have PCI slots at least, probably an AGP graphics slot too (but I'm guessing).
Google search on the audio adapter:
Link Removed
No info there on what graphics card you have.

 

[Jack D E]

Using the procedure I document above (in Google) I got this page as the number 1 result.
http://www.cmedia.com.tw/edl8330.htm

 

[Andrew S]

Thank you very much... I tried looking on google but for some reason I didn't find any results. I guess I need to brush up on my google skills
Thank you very much again, I'll have to try that as soon as I can.
Oh, and I don't even know if this is worth adding now, but I looked at the motherboard and there was a little chip that said, "Soundpro" on it.. I don't know if that's relant now that I have that google link, but it's still something .
Thanks
Andrew
P.S. About the graphics... I don't even know if the problem is the video card not installed. The problem is that in my settings I only get the option of 16 colour mode or 2 colour mode. If anyone could chime in about that I would appreciate it very much.
Andrew

 

[Wayne Bundrick]

If your video is built into the motherboard then the best way to find the driver might be to identify the brand and model number of the motherboard. If you can't identify the motherboard, then maybe you can determine which chip on the motherboard is the graphics chip (it might be the one nearest the connector) and get the brand and model number of the chip.

 

[Sam E. Torres]

this reminds me of my situation...but my problem is that i know what kind of ethernet card i have, it is called AMP. my problem is that when the roadrunner guy came to set everything up, everything worked perfectly and he left a little disc for the drivers. well, i had to reformat and i went ahead and updated to win2000...i tried to use the disk, and it will not work. i think my card is outdated, but i have checked on their website for information and i cannot figure anything out...Link Removed if you guys can figure anything out with all of this, other than getting a new card, which i am about to do...let me know. oh yeah,and i tried checking to see how to disconnect the card, and i don't see a way to take it out, it almost looks impossible...no screws or anything. if you guys can help me out, i would appreciate it.