problem - no sound card

[steelstripes]

hey
i'm having a problem using voice chat on messengers it says I have no sound card. I never used to get this problem its just happened recently I dont get no sounds what so ever on messengers I can play music and watch films fine though. can someone please help me out?
thanks
ben

[Edit:] Please use text formatting for high lighting purposes only. Thanks.

[detn8r]

Have you tried doing a full uninstall/reinstall?

[David]

Also have you tried updating yoru sound card with a new drive from your MFG, or WindowsUpdate?

[steelstripes]

Yeh I get all the automatic updates from windows and I have tried a clean install a few times, by the way I get it with every messenger. Yahoo! says my audio output is in use by another application and MSN says I have no sound card I cannot think what the audio output 1 is onabout hmmmmmm thanks anyway

[shifter]

Does your computer play any audio at all? Can you play music with WMP? You will likely need to get updated drivers from the sound cards manufacturer site, not Windows Update.

[steelstripes]

ok I can play wmp stuff and radio streams basically everything except messenger sounds and voice chat. someone has being playin around with my pc because I no longer have the volume control in my tray near the clock!!! whats the best free soundcard I could get for xp home adition

[Sjoerd]

That volume control icon is most likely gone because the "Place volume icon in the taskbar" checkbox at your "Sound and Audio Devices" is unchecked. Sound and Audio Devices can be found at your Control Panel.
If it is checked your sound icon might be hidden, just click the button with a < in it then.

[David]

quote:Originally posted by shifter

Does your computer play any audio at all? Can you play music with WMP? You will likely need to get updated drivers from the sound cards manufacturer site, not Windows Update.

Sometimes the drivers the manufacturer driver doesn't work properly with windows, thus WU might have a driver that works.

[shifter]

quote:Originally posted by David

Sometimes the drivers the manufacturer driver doesn't work properly with windows, thus WU might have a driver that works.

Very true, but it appears he has already tried Window Update for the driver. Since he likely has not gone to the manufacturers site for the latest driver, I thought that would be a better recommendation.

quote:Originally posted by steelstripes

whats the best free soundcard I could get for xp home adition

Soundcards are hardware that is generally included with your system. You can purchase replacements from your local computer store an have them installed but I would recommend first trying to update your drivers before buying a new soundcard.

Steelstripes - What soundcard is currently installed in your system?

You should be able to find out by going to Start > Run > type "dxdiag" > then look under the Sound tab for your device name. We can then point you to the correct location for updated soundcard drivers.

[Ice³]

I had a similar problem like this with an on board sound card on an old PC. Some software just hated the chipset that was built in and no amount of driver updates helped. if it's an onbaord chipset I recommend buying a stand alone card and install it. they aren't very expensive at all now days.