sound card problem w/ hp pavilion 6336

[notsosavvy]

I was recently given an hp pav. 6336 that wouldn't boot all the way up. A guy at work who knows a little about comp. said the sound card was bad & to replace it. When I uplugged the on board sound, it booted up fine. I went to an hp site that gave instructions on how to install a new card and proceeded. I installed the new card and restarted & windows detected and prompted for the driver and I installed the driver on the CD that came with it and restarted and it will not boot with the new card. It just starts scrolling down with the word unavailable for a few seconds and then a bunch of numbers for a few more seconds then just stops. I thought I disabled the onboard sound in BIOS but maybe not. Any suggestions?

[confus-ed]

Welcome notsosavvy :) ... let's see if we can make you less so :D

For reference Hp search results 6336 (http://www.hp.com/cgi-bin/cposupport/ccsearch/displayans?qry=6336&lang=en) (that's got all the mannuals & downloads identified, so if we need 'em later they are here on this thread).

Right first off since I'm confus-ed can we remove that from your post if not from me ! ;) - you make reference to removing a sound card to fit the new one, but in the same breath you say you disabled it in bios ? .... if there already was an 'extra' soundcard in addition to the onboard one which seems to be there why would you have to turn it off in bios ? ... surely it would already be off !?!

I take it if you pull this 'new' card & the 'old' card the machine boots with no problems ? ... If so what does it then show in device manager under 'sound,video & game controllers' for any 'sound' items ... if you've disabled it correctly there shouldn't be any sound related devices (including a game port or midi) ... I just want to make sure all the 'onboard' sound cards bits are good and properly off !

[notsosavvy]

Thanks confus-ed. I assume you meant to remove the question mark from my post. If it's not, please let me know! Sorry if I jumbled the facts. When I got the comp., it only had the onboard sound card. It wouldn't boot all the way, it would hang up at SB something so the guy at work said the sound card was probably bad. When I unplugged the wires from it, it booted fine. So I bought a PCI sound card and read somewhere that I would need to disable the onboard sound which I tried to do but am not doing something right because when I remove the devices in Dev. Mgr. and restart, windows keeps detecting the hardware. In the Dev. Mgr., it detects (4) Ctrystal PNP devices audio systems:
1. CODEC
2. Control Registers
3. Joystick
4. MPU-401 Compatable
I guess I'm not reading something right on the hp help page to disable correctly. Thanks!

[DonJ]

Your product specs (http://h20015.www2.hp.com/en/document.jhtml?lc=en&docName=bph04350#P90_1106) says that unit originally came with Crystal Audio Chipset located on the MoBo.

"If computer does have onboard sound, do the following to disable it:

1. Turn on the computer and press F1 at the blue HP screen. "Entering Setup" should appear on the screen.
2. In the Setup screen, press the LEFT and RIGHT ARROW keys to highlight Advanced.
3. Press the DOWN ARROW key until Onboard Audio Options, or I/O Device Configuration is highlighted, press ENTER.
4. Press the DOWN ARROW key until Onboard Audio Codec or Audio Codec is highlighted, press ENTER.
5. Press the DOWN ARROW key until Disabled is highlighted, press ENTER.
6. Press F10, then the Y key, and then ENTER to exit."

The previous quote came from HP Pavilion Desktop PCs - Replacing a Sound Card. (http://h20015.www2.hp.com/en/document.jhtml?lc=en&docName=bph07166&prodId=hppavilion7226)

Hope this all helps you out...Good Luck!

[notsosavvy]

Thanks for responding Don. This makes me feel a lot better 'cause this is what I did originally and Audio Codec appeared & I disabled it. Now it doesn't appear (when I click on advance nor when I click on I/O device config.) The only thing that appears when I click (highlight) on I/O is serial port, parrellel port and floppy disk controller. should I reinstall defaults and try it again? Thanks!

[NooNoo]

If you have turned off the onboard sound in the hp setup and windows is still detecting the onboard sound, yes, try once again with DonJ's instructions.

If windows STILL sees the onboard sound after that, boot to safe mode (press f8 a few times before it begins loading windows - do not have the PCI sound card installed) and go into device manager and remove any and ALL devices listed under sound and multimedia.

Still without the pci sound card installed reboot to normal mode and when windows detects any sound devices allow it to install then go to device manager and click on the properties for each one and check the disable box. This will prevent windows from using the device(s). Having done that you can now shut down and install your pci card knowing that you are not going to get conflicts with the onboard sound.

Good Luck!

[confus-ed]

Cor ... ! confus-ed-ness indeed ... ;)

Let's see if I can get all this straight & add some bits that appear to have been 'overlooked' & explain the whole 'mess' correctly ....

Your original machine had a built in soundcard ... you were getting some 'sb something' errors ... so your 'tech' mate diagnosed a 'broken' s/c ... so you went & bought a new s/c ... then you got errors because the 'broken' s/c was still there ...

So ....
1. Your original advice was probably 'wrong' .... 'sb something' errors would be Sound Blaster errors resuulting from your onboard cards ability to impersonate a soundblaster sound card for legacy emmulation for DOS games. Besides drivers cards that do this insert special instructions in certain files to enable the emmulation. If done 'correctly' the only time these instructions should fire is in dos mode ... often they aren't ! but usually it makes no odds as windows doesn't need this extra emmulated device only dos does (so you get an error but windows just wizzes past it)

2. Follow Dons instructions to completely disable the onboard sound card - this generaly comprises of several 'bits' - gameport, midi port/device, sound device & legacy sound (aforesaid SB emmulation) ... when you open bios you need to make sure you kill all the 'bits' there is more than one entry usually 3 or 4 ...

3. At this point when you open device manager & look at 'sound,video & game controllers' hopefully there's nothing there (unless you have any other devices that have sound bits like modems or video capture devices) if so repeat dons advice ....

4. Noo says if you still have devices showing there disable them in your hardware profile by checking the disable box ... I say Don't ! ... why do I say don't ? well we don't appear to know what version of windows we are using (tell us ! there might still be entries lurking in some files you don't need/want) ... with xp this won't make a blind bit of difference, but with 9x it might ... there's a really long explanation ... but suffice to say it will confuse matters as the resources they will use are still being 'given' by bios to windows whether it uses them or not, this might stop your new card working ... You must make sure they are all off for 9x ... Noo's advice about 'killing' them in safe mode though is still good (it always is ! She just overlooked a bit?)

5. Now you can add the new card & its drivers ... (also check add/remove proggies for any reference to your old s/c & remove(ask if not sure), sometimes there are things there too which will confuse things again)

That's repeated a lot of the advice already given (sorry) but I didn't think it was 'completely' clear (not to say this 'repeat' is !)...

Last word on the subject (hopefully ;) ) ... the original advice about the onboard sound was probably just wrong ! It strikes me as most unusual that just an integrated device should fail on any particular motherboard ... more likely is that you just had the wrong driver version or the legacy sound bit wasn't installed correctly ... however your 'new' card will be better(even if its the cheapest you could find) than any onboard solution because of how they are wired in (another long explanation that I'll skip !) ... so next time you want some 'free' advice you know who to ask !! ;)

BTW from your last post it looks as if you have turned off all the souncard bits successfully this time :)

[NooNoo]

The phrase "when I unplugged the onboard sound" probably means that you unplugged the header - a ribbon cable going to the mother board at one end and a bracket with just the sound inputs on the other?

[confus-ed]

Originally posted by NooNoo
The phrase "when I unplugged the onboard sound" probably means that you unplugged the header - a ribbon cable going to the mother board at one end and a bracket with just the sound inputs on the other?

No critisim intended !;) (I tried to say it as 'nicely' as I'm capable!) ... I see what you are saying here, removing the connection is not disabling the device ... but is that aimed at nososavvy or me?

... even if he unplugs any header the device is still wired in & using resources ... isn't it?

I didn't want some 'new' card to come along & try & use resources still allocated by bios .... (if you tell windows to 'not' use resources in profiling they are still marked as 'used' in bios & therefore won't be offered ... but xp works it out itself so no difference either way, but 9x don't!)

[NooNoo]

Oh yes Confus-ed, I get what you are saying and I AGREE, however turning off the devices in windows prevents windows getting confus-ed about which drivers it's trying to install.

[notsosavvy]

Thanks guys for all the replies. I'm running Win. 98. I guess the 'problem' I need help with now is disabling the onboard sound card. It only showed up in bios the first time I disabled it. I haven't seen it since (in bios) but all 4 keep showing up in device mgr. I'll hold off for now in removing them in hardware profile since that 'might' be a bad idea. Thanks guys!

[DonJ]

If you followed my link above for Replacing a Sound Card, the first thing it says to do, after gathering your tools, is to remove the sound drivers and then follow the step-by-step procedure. It shouldn't be this difficult unless the sound card being installed is defective or has corrupt drivers.

Concerning the Audio Codec not showing up in Setup, keep trying...as the confus-ed one said. It may take a couple of tries to get going. Of course, you need to power off after each time...don't just hit the Reset button.

Anyway, keep us up on what's going on.

[confus-ed]

This is in danger of becoming a saga ... :D

First do as Noo suggested .... start in safe mode(press f8 a lot as you turn on) & remove any reference to sound items from 'sound video & game controllers' in device manager (you can zap everything in that category if you like - if we kill anything that really wants to be there windows will helpfully re-find it for us later). This is without the 'new' s/c fitted ....

Here are the instructions for diabling onboard sound I 'lifted' from the HP site ...

"To enable/disable the onboard sound chipset follow these instructions:

Power the PC on.
When the Blue HP Invent screen appears, press the F1 key repeatedly until Entering Setup... appears.
Use the cursor keys to go to Advanced.
Using the cursor keys, go to Onboard Audio Options, or I/O Device Configuration, press ENTER.
Using the cursor keys, go to Onboard Audio Codec or Audio Codec.
Perform the following steps to enable or disable the sound:
To enable, select Enable or Enabled and press ENTER.
To disable, select Disable or Disabled and press ENTER
To exit and continue, press the F10 key, press the Y key, and then press ENTER. "

But errm they don't seem to say just where stuff might be ... which is the problem !!

When you 'open' bios (press f1 or del like 'mad') You ought to get a screen like this ...
http://www.extremeoverclocking.com/reviews/motherboards/images/MSI845PEMax2_9.jpg

Then we want 'integrated peripherals' (but if you look above they say 'advanced') like this ...
http://www.extremeoverclocking.com/reviews/motherboards/images/MSI845PEMax2_17.jpg

Its fairly obvious, but I'll say it anyway, we want anything 'sound' connected off / disabled ... you'll need to look in all the options for any references to 'midi' or 'gameport' & check those are off too ... then hopefully all these references in device manager will be 'really' gone.

Note these are 'generic' bios screenshots ... I couldn't find any for your particular bios ... there will be differences !

[notsosavvy]

Thanks so much for all of your responses. I've tried all of them twice but there is stilll nothing showing up in BIOS that says it's associated with audio, sound or anything else even close in Advanced or anywhere else! When I go to I/O configuration, there is nothing there associated with the aforementioned systems. I even read somewhere that if the modem is using some of these systems, it will have to be disabled as well. I even tried that. My BIOS says PHEONIX BIOS, I doubt that makes any difference but thought I'd mention it. If ya'll are ready to give up on this, I'll understand. Thanks for your quick and informative responses.

[notsosavvy]

Sorry, I didn't mention that each time I've removed all of the bits in sound in the device manager (and also did this while in safe mode) and 'shut down', not restarted, windows 98 keeps detecting them and installing them.

[DonJ]

OK, originally you were getting Audio Codec showing up in your BIOS and now you're getting nothing...and, you're still having problems with Win98 detecting it and trying to load drivers for it (your onboard audio.)

I would try loading the BIOS Default Settings and starting all over again. Pavilion BIOS Setup. (http://h20015.www2.hp.com/en/document.jhtml?lc=en&docName=bph04848&prodId=hppavilion7226)

Also, your BIOS upgrade, version 1.10. (http://h20015.www2.hp.com/en/softwareDownloadIndex.jhtml?lc=en&softitem=pv183en&sw_lang=en&prodId=hppavilion7226)

If you don't give up, we won't either. Keep at it!

[confus-ed]

Originally posted by DonJ
If you don't give up, we won't either. Keep at it!

Indeedy doody Don ! :D ...fix it or die ! ... :eek2: ;) :D

However it occurs to me .... there isn't a jumper to do this is there ?(turn on board sound off) As well as any bios setting (that we can't find !?!) ....

The other thing that occurs is also do we have any mysterious pci cards which might be another s/c we haven't considered (remote I know ... but still possible...)??? (we are definately trying all this without the new card ??? Definately ? (Just checkin');)