Vista + Gigabyte GA-K8N-SLi = no sound

I'm unsure if this is a Vista problem, driver problem, or configuration, so I'm throwing this into the General Discussion and taking all suggestions.

I recently purchased a pre-owned socket 939 system as follows:

Gigabyte GA-K8N-SLi motherboard w/latest F9 BIOS
AMD 3200 x64
2 GB RAM
EVGA nVidia 128MB 6600GT (had 2 setup in SLi but found 1 was DOA)
80GB WD harddrive
120GB Seagate Barracuda harddrive
Vista Ultimate (x86 version)

As it was wiped clean, I installed Vista Ultimate w/SP1. I've gotten everything up and running well, updated drivers, etc. It runs nicely with little lag.

The only problem I'm having is I cannot get any sound from the on-board AC97. Device Manager shows latest drivers are installed, everything shows as working on the screen, but I can't get it to make a peep of sound. It did come with an old Turtle Beach N270 PCI sound card but I couldn't find any drivers online for it so I yanked it along with the dead 6600GT vid card.

Basically, I'm unsure if this is a Vista vs. Gigabyte issue, mb setting, or some checkbox I'm missing in Vista somewhere. I've scoured through everything I can think of and found nothing. Checked BIOS settings, Device Manager, etc.

I'm beginning to think I should forego Vista and go back to XP, but am really liking Vista, much to my surprise.

If anyone can help, please let me know. If any additional information is needed, leave a response and I'll leave the info.

Much MUCH TIA!!!

rmm64

Message edited by rmm64 on 07-10-2008 at 03:52:00 AM

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The first thing I would do is check the bios to ensure 'Onboard Sound' is enabled. The next is to go into the Sound app in the control panel, on the second tab, right click a blank area and choose to show hidden/disabled devices. You should then be able to enable the onboard.

Or you can pick up a new soundcard... Given that your system is second hand, there's no telling if the onboard actually worked before you bought it.

Message edited by Scotteq on 07-10-2008 at 02:44:28 PM

------------------------------ Which Chip? Well, it depends on which set of thieving b@stardz you choose to support: The ones who use insider trading to enrich themselves while running their company into the ground, or the ones who illegally pay vendors to not support the first group.
Reply to Scotteq

One of the first things I did was check and make sure the sound was enabled in the BIOS, and it is. Checked the right click in Control Panel Sound and the AC97 onboard is enabled. Everything looks fine on screen, click test, volume meter bounces up and down like something is playing, just no sound. Speakers are Altec Lansing 5.1 setup that I had and worked great, so I know that's not the problem.

I did find a post online about jumper settings on the mb for the front audio jacks, checked it and found the front jacks were hooked up (wasn't getting sound from them either), so I disconnected them and put new jumpers back for the default, rear-audio jacks setting. Still nothing. I guess I will have to go get a sound card if I can't get this figured out.

Anyone suggest a good Vista-capable sound card that's fairly cheap?

Still looking for other suggestions until then.

Thanks all
rmm64

Message quoted 1 times

Reply to rmm64

Hi rmm64,

Did you ever find a solution to your problem? I have Vista with a Gigabyte motherboard and did a Windows Update last week. After the update, I lost sound output from the spdif connector on the motherboard. Windows restore does not work! I updated to the latest Realtek HD audio driver but this did not solve the problem. Like on your system, everything looks good on screen.

Thanks.

leekd

rmm64 wrote :

One of the first things I did was check and make sure the sound was enabled in the BIOS, and it is. Checked the right click in Control Panel Sound and the AC97 onboard is enabled. Everything looks fine on screen, click test, volume meter bounces up and down like something is playing, just no sound. Speakers are Altec Lansing 5.1 setup that I had and worked great, so I know that's not the problem.

I did find a post online about jumper settings on the mb for the front audio jacks, checked it and found the front jacks were hooked up (wasn't getting sound from them either), so I disconnected them and put new jumpers back for the default, rear-audio jacks setting. Still nothing. I guess I will have to go get a sound card if I can't get this figured out.

Anyone suggest a good Vista-capable sound card that's fairly cheap?

Still looking for other suggestions until then.

Thanks all
rmm64

Reply to leekd

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