Driver Installation Problem for Yamaha YMF744B Audio

**sabotenda** · August 29th, 2007, 11:44 PM

Hi,

I have a Sony notebook model "VAIO PCG-XE17". I re-install the

notebook with a Windows 98 first edition and get problem on the

sound card driver.

As shown in the specification, the sound card is "Yamaha DS-XG

PCI Audio (WDM)". I also run an exploring PC inforamtion software

that the sound chip is "YMF744B".

I tried many drivers from the web but get the same result :

The driver installation looks fine, and asked me to reboot the

PC. After PC reboot, it shows a prompt window showing a question

mark by the multimedia audio device. So I click on it to install

the driver I just downloaded. However, it says it can't find one

for it. And finally I still got a "multimedia audio device" in

the device list but no sound.

Anyone can help?

**sabotenda** · August 30th, 2007, 02:19 AM

I had also installed the Windows XP Home to this notebook for trial, the sound is worked OK. But it doesn't work in 98

**CCT** · August 30th, 2007, 05:23 AM

Sony doesn't want to bother letting customers download needed drivers it seems. They have this site for accessing that model:

http://www.sony.com.au/support/produ...tegoryId=21635

I was able to find XP upgrade downloads BUT no original O/S downloads through the Global site search. But, there they say: "This website contains only upgrade drivers for Operating Systems and software patches. Original drivers are available in the Recovery CD-ROM that is supplied with the VAIO Computer."

Your alternative would be to run Everest or a similar program and report here the chipsets used and any sound device info you have and look for a Win98 driver that way.

http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4181.html

**CCT** · August 30th, 2007, 06:27 AM

After some further checking, this site has them apparently:

http://www.yamaha.co.jp/english/prod...downloads.html

**sabotenda** · August 30th, 2007, 01:29 PM

Thank you for your reply. I tried the download from Yamaha website. After installation and reboot, I still got the multimedia audio device message asking for the driver. After I select the directory where I put the Yamaha driver, the system still notify me that there is no driver for this hardware.

Here is the report after running Everest :

--------[ EVEREST Home Edition (c) 2003-2005 Lavalys, Inc. ]------------------------------------------------------------

版本 EVEREST v2.20.405/tw
首頁 http://www.lavalys.com/
報告類型快速報告
電腦 SONYNOTE (SONYNOTEBOOK)
產生器 sonynotebook
作業系統 Microsoft Windows 98 4.10.1998 (Win98 Retail)
日期 2007-08-31
時間 02:17

--------[ PCI / PnP 音訊 ]----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yamaha Native DS1 Audio CODEC PCI
Sound Blaster Pro PnP

Any idea?

**CCT** · August 30th, 2007, 01:49 PM

I may NOT have an answer but I have lots of data - lol

site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creativ..._Model_Numbers

Lists all the Sound Blaster cards - your closest match there I think is "Sound Blaster PRO SONY CT1690 "

site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_B...eo_and_16_bits

" Sound Blaster Pro
The Sound Blaster Pro (May 1991) was the first significant redesign of the card's core features: It could record and play back digitized sound at faster sampling rates (recording up to 22 kHz, playback up to 45 kHz), could do so in stereo (up to 22 kHz), and added a "mixer" which allowed independent volume control of the various subsystems on the card as well as enable a crude highpass or lowpass filter. The first version of the Pro also used two YM3812 chips (one for left audio channel and the other one for the right one; both chips had to be programmed identically to get mono sound if not using the AdLib compatible interface). Version 2.0 switched to the improved Yamaha YMF262 chip, also known as OPL3. MIDI support became full-duplex and offered time stamping features, but was not yet industry-standard MPU-401 compatible.

The Sound Blaster Pro was the first Creative sound card to have a built-in CD-ROM interface. Most had an interface for a Panasonic (Matsu****a MKE) drive, prior to the popularity of IDE CD-ROM drives. After the release of the Sound Blaster Pro, Creative also began to sell Multimedia Upgrade Kits, typically including a sound card, Matsu****a CD-ROM drive (model 531 for single-speed, or 562/3 for the later double-speed (2x) drives), and a large selection of multimedia software titles on the revolutionary CD-ROM media. One such kit, named "OmniCD", included the 2x Matsu****a drive along with an ISA controller card and software, including Software Toolworks Encyclopedia and Aldus PhotoStyler SE. It was compliant with the MPC Level 2 standard.

Sound Blaster cards were also sold to PC manufacturers and third-parties. Many of these so-called OEM cards have different types of CD-ROM interfaces or other unusual features."

edit: you can try this site for an automated SB update:

http://au.creative.com/support/downloads/

or try to find your driver there through searches.

**sabotenda** · September 1st, 2007, 03:07 PM

I still can't get the right driver for my notebook. Here is a more detail about what I found after installing the driver.

I ran the driver Install program for DS/XG (yamaha_dsxg_driver.exe), system ask for reboot.

After reboot, system prompt a wizard for searching the driver program for : "PCI Multimedia Audio Device", after pressing Next, Next.., it saids "Windows cannot find the driver program for this device". Then this device becomes "Unknown Device" in Windows.

However, in "Add/Remove Program" under Control Panel, there is an item called "YAMAHA DS-XG Driver". I think the driver is installed OK, but it is not working and there is no sound.

I used a program called "ASTRA32" to view the system information. Under "Diagnostics" section, I found a "Problem Device 1" with the following Details :

Device Type : PCI/AGP Device
Vendor (1073h) : YAMAHA Corp
Device (0010h) : YMF744B DS-1S Audio
Subsys Vendor (104Dh) : Sony Corp
Subsystem ID (804Eh) : Unknown
Class (04h) : Multimedia
SubClass (01h) : Audio
Revision : 02h
Driver Status : The drivers for this device are not installed (28)
Device Description : PCI Multimedia Audio Device
Device Class : Unknown
Hardware ID : PCI\VEN_1073&DEV_0010&SUBSYS_804E104D&REV_02
Compatible ID : PCI\VEN_1073&DEV_0010&REV_02

Also, I didn't find any other sound chip (other than YMF744B) under "Sound Summary", so I think the sound chip is mis-detected by WIndows as Sound Blaster Pro.

For the PCI Multimedia Audio Device, I found the following information :
Memory Range : FEDF0000 - FEDF7FFF
Input/Output Range : FC40-FC7F
Input/Output Range : FCEC-FCEF

Any idea how to install the driver? Has anyone with similar experience with a solution?

**CCT** · September 1st, 2007, 05:44 PM

The last person with a 'similar' experience (Biker Chick) took hers to a shop and was diagnosed with a bad sound chip onboard.

I am out of ideas so gl to ya.

**sabotenda** · September 2nd, 2007, 10:05 AM

Originally Posted by CCT

The last person with a 'similar' experience (Biker Chick) took hers to a shop and was diagnosed with a bad sound chip onboard.

I am out of ideas so gl to ya.

Thanks for your generous help. Much appreciated. I think I will try the XP driver to see if it would work. (Since when I install XP for trial, the sound works OK). Hope I will be successful so that I can share my experience to others.

**NooNoo** · September 3rd, 2007, 06:24 AM

On 98, which driver did you download? The one you want is http://www.yamaha.co.jp/english/prod...sxg_driver.exe

**sabotenda** · September 4th, 2007, 11:53 PM

Originally Posted by NooNoo

On 98, which driver did you download? The one you want is http://www.yamaha.co.jp/english/prod...sxg_driver.exe

Hi NooNoo,

I had tried the driver in your reply before but it still doesn't work. I tried both WMD and VxD drivers (many of them) but all have the same result. Yesterday I tried two VxD Drivers for YMF744 and Yamaha DS/XG, and the install process OK without error, but after reboot, the system still cannot recognize my sound card. (Although a new icon "Yamaha DS-XG Audio Config" was shown in Control Panel, still no sound).

I even tried the driver for DOS. It works with 8 Bit but not 16 Bit. (but of course, in dos mode)

Any other idea what to do next?

**NooNoo** · September 5th, 2007, 03:46 AM

OK, so you get sound using a dos driver.
98 first edition is renowned for getting wmd in a pickle. You definitely want to use the VxD drivers. You may also need to get the chipset drivers installed first.

When you say "it doesn't recognise my sound card" can you tell me exactly what is shown in device manager? What other unknown devices do you have? Any with !?

Boot to safe mode (batter the f8 key before the windows screen comes up and choose option 3). Look in device manager, do you have more than one entry for the same device?

If you do, for every device that has more than one copy, remove every entry. So if you have two keyboards, remove both; if you have 3 mice, remove all 3.

Once done, reboot to normal mode and reinstall the drivers. Hopefully, it will only put one in this time. If it doesn't, you may need to start from scratch with all your drivers. To do this, open regedit in safe mode and navigate to H_KEY Local Machine/Enum. Right click on the enum file and delete it. When you reboot to normal mode, every driver will have to be reinstalled, so make sure you have all the drivers handy.

**sabotenda** · September 6th, 2007, 10:14 PM

Finally I got a working sound card driver in my notebook!!!

Sound! How Great!!!

I would like to share my experience.

I used a software "Driver Genius Professional Edition 2007" to advise the driver. (There is a 15-days trial period, although it will not allow you to download drivers for the trial version.)

I copy the information on the suggested driver (the driver name and version), and use google to search, and finally find the one suitable.

Thank you for all of you that help. Much appreicated.