Somebody please help me with my sound problems.

[ralpha6]

I just bought Altec Lansing 251's and a Creative sound blaster audigy sound card. After installation of the necessary drivers and a reboot, all I get out of my speakers is static from the surround speakers (center, left rear, and right rear) and just a low hum from the sub and left/right speakers. Help me figure out what is wrong.

[Tuffie]

Ralph,what OS you using?It sounds like a driver issue,if I recall you have XP,did you go to the site for the latest drivers?

[ralpha6]

Yep you guessed it Tuffie Win XP Pro SP1. My next step is to go to the site for updates. Now why didn't I think of that. D'oh. Gonna check win update as well.

[Mad dog]

What kind of connections are you using? Is it three analoge outs between two speaker, or is it a digital DIN to decoder?

[ralpha6]

I'm not exactly sure I follow you MD. I know nothing about sound cards and this was an oem with no instructions. I have 5 satelites hooked up to the sub and the sub has 3 connections plugged into the sound card. Is this what you wanted. I have no idea what DIN is.

[Tuffie]

It sounds as though you have the connections right,I know the drivers are out of date on any of the CD'S.Update the drivers, and as you said the MS site also,let us know Ralph :D

[floppybootstomp]

Have you actually had the system working at any time or have they never worked at all with your system?

[ralpha6]

MS had nothing but I'm downloading the latest driver from Creative. What's with the downloading Que I've been noticing lateley?

[Tuffie]

I think your talking about the Q-3D,which is part of the sound system.The little black Q right :D

Edit: Once you get the update Ralph,you might want to do the sound test.Go to Acc/Tools/Sys Info/Tools/Direct X diag !

[ralpha6]

No the que thing I'm referring to is when I just downloaded the file from creative they put me in a que where I waited to be the #1 spot for the download. Started out as #169. Weirdest thing.

Back on topic: Installed the newest drivers from creative, rebooted to BSOD and computer rebooted so fast that I couldn't read the error message. Came back to screen asking me to start windows normally or last known good config. Chose normally and comptuer rebooted again this time without the BSOD. Chose last known good config and once windows finally loaded got the error message that my drivers weren't completely uninstalled and to reboot. Rebooted back in to win xp and the static is gone but i'm not sure if my surround speakers are working or not. Gonna try the sound test you suggested Tuffie. Thanks. BRB with a report.

[ralpha6]

Never worked FBS I just bought them. Actually when I first hooked them up and booted up the computer XP recognized the new card and installed the drivers. Then I installed the CD and installed the drivers. Hey maybe this is where I went wrong. D'oh.

[ralpha6]

I can't seem to find the test you spoke of Tuffie.

[floppybootstomp]

OK, try uninstalling the drivers from Device Manager then rebooting and let WIN XP install it's own drivers.

Then play a DVD or Audio CD and confirm you have sound.

Then let's take it from there .

[ralpha6]

K I've uninstalled the 2 obvious ones but there's other ones that I don't know if they go with the onboard sound or the sound card. Should I just uninstall all of them and let XP reinstall all of them?

[floppybootstomp]

Onboard sound?

Does your motherboard have onboard sound?

If so, you'll have to enter the BIOS and disable that before your sound card may work.

If you could supply a few more details about your system, it may help :)

[ralpha6]

My mobo is a shuttle AK35GTR with onboard Sound:

H/W Audio
C-Media 8738
Support 5.1 speakers
C3DX positional audio in 6 CH speaker mode
HRTF-3D positional audio
supporting Direct Sound 3D and A3D interface

I dont' know what else you need but here's a link to the specs.
http://www.shuttleonline.com/spec.php3?model=ak35gt

EDIT: BTW I did enter the bios and disable the sound. That was the first thing I did.

[floppybootstomp]

I'd try a reboot now, see if XP installs sound card drivers and test it. What's the ATI drivers for, btw?

[ralpha6]

Video card is the only thing I have by ATI.

I rebooted and XP wouldn't install the PCI controller but got that from the creative cd.

Sound works but only 2 main speakers and sub. Nothing coming from the 3 surround speakers.

[floppybootstomp]

ATI, sorry Ralph, brain not fully functional, it 2am here. Presuming that's DVD playback stuff?

So you've got some sound now, that's good. I'd install the Creative software now and from the menu there, select the 5.1 setup, if it doesn't do it automatically.

[ralpha6]

I think it's DVD play back stuff
Any idea how to make my 3 surround speakers work?

[floppybootstomp]

Yep, first install the Creative software that came with the Audigy card and then as Spezi said.

[ralpha6]

Ok I adjusted the settings for 5.1 and still can't get the surround to work. Off to investigate some more. :(

[ralpha6]

OK I have checked all the speakers themselves and all are ok there. I checked the control panel and everything is set there. Device manager is set too.

I installed the software from the cd and now the static is back on my surround speakers like before. During installation I got some "unsigned driver" issue, but it was related to USB controller or something. What now?

[ralpha6]

I've downloaded the newest XP drivers from soundblaster and after installation, my computer reboots like it's supposed to but crashes when windows loads and I have to boot to "last known good config" It just happened again. Except this time after the crash and restart and last known... I get "the sound card is not properly installed. Reinstall the sound card." I know the card itself is seated properly. How can a sound card be so hard to install. :( :cursing:

[ralpha6]

Thanks so much for your help Spezi. The card is an OEM so no instuctions. The software on the cd has to be the culprit per the unsigned xp issue. I just don't understand the crashing of my system with the most current drivers from soundblaster's site. I spent way too much money on my sound to only have 2.1. I want 5.1 dagnabit!!

[James]

Windows :swords: Creative

[floppybootstomp]

I tried Ralph, I tried, but I just had to go to bed last night.

Go back to the beginning, then when you install the Creative software, when you get to the install drivers part, DON'T install the drivers off the Creative CD, skip that bit. Just use the drivers WIN XP loaded and only the software off the CD.

Try that.

[[ GK ]]

Ralph,
In the past, there was a notable issue with Soundblaster Live! cards and Via chipsets, usually seen as BSOD's and a generally unstable system. I don't know if current Via chipsets are still affected, but it might be worth looking into.

[Tuffie]

Well good morning Ralph :D,I hope you got the sound working,they can be a pain.The test I was talking about,just go to Start/Run and type dxdiag then hit ok.It will take a few seconds,but it will bring up a box that checks your audio/video etc.Good luck and if your still having problems post back,we'll fix the sucker :lol:

[ralpha6]

I just unistalled everything again and let win xp reinstall everything. when I try to install the software, I didn't see an option to NOT install the drivers which it did again. Right now my 2 main speakers and sub work but not the surround. There is a software that was part of the package called "Surround Mixer" But when I try to open it a window opens breifly but then closes again without any error.

After running the dxdiag as Tuffie recomended all looks ok except: under the sound tab it says:
"The file e10kx2k.sys is not digitally signed, which means that it has not been tested by Microsoft's Windows Hardware Quality Labs. You may be able to get a signed driver from the manufacturer of the hardware device"
Does the 2k at the end mean it's a driver designed for win 2000? Off to do a google search.

[floppybootstomp]

So is it all working, 5.1 and all? Hope so :)

I wouldn't worry if the drivers aren't 'digitally signed' by Microsoft, it just means Creative haven't bothered to submit them to Microsoft for their aproval. No big deal at all and I wouldn't worry about it.

[ralpha6]

What can I play to test the 5.1 sound cuz no sound what so ever come from the rear or center speaker. I read in a forum somewhere that I have to run the surround mixer program and tell it to use 5.1 but as I have said it won't open.

As of right now I only hear sound from the 2 front speakers and sub but not the 2 rear or center. I paid way too much for these 5.1's to not be using all 5 of them. :)

[AmStoned]

I'm telling you, all these MS approved drivers are so old, they'll 'cause more harm than good. Check out 3dss.com. They have the most updated drivers for all the sound cards on the market. Hell, I'm using this beta driver for my PAE that's not even on Philip's support page. Not a prob here.

Now on to your prob. No center/LFE and surround usually means the wires were not connected correctly. That's what I would check first. But as w/ all SB Live products, sometimes they just crap out on you for no apparent reason. Isn't there a test program for your sound card that allows to you test the surround sound by sending signals to all channels in a circle?

Sorry can't help, as I've been a Philips Acoustic Edge user for so long, I don't even know what the SB sounds anymore. If you could, I've definitely return the SB and get the PAE.

[ralpha6]

I just finished trying to just reinstall only the surround mixer as it seems that's the only thing not working and everything is working masterfully. I have gotta say these speakers rock. Time to go play some games. ;)

Thanks for the help everyone.

AS I went to that site and the driver section pointed me back to creative's site. Unless I missed something......