# Sound card



## Harold_V (Nov 26, 2009)

How about some opinions. 

My computer is quite old. Ten years at the end of this year, in fact. 

It has been fairly reliable, although not without some small problems. One of them, recently, was, apparently, a bad connection with the video card and the mother board. Removing and replacing the card appears to have cleaned the connection, so that is no longer a problem, but one of the times when it failed while in operation, my sound card died. The computer no longer recognizes its presence, so I can only imagine it's because it is dead. 

To insure that the drivers and other important software was in place, I re-installed everything, but nothing changed. I am still without a sound card. 

Because of my limited knowledge, I don't have a clue what to look for in acquiring a replacement. The card I have is a Sound Blaster PCI 128, or so it says on the CD that contains the software. 

Can any of you make a recommendation for a card that would take its place? It need not have all the bells and whistles. I do not use the computer for gaming, just for email and watching youtube stuff. I also listen to a few music channels. 

I'd like something that isn't killer expensive. I expect to replace this computer in the near future, but I'd like to keep it operational even afterwards. 

Any advice that can be offered will be greatly appreciated. 

Harold


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## jimdoc (Nov 27, 2009)

Harold,
I am sure somebody will have one to send you with all the computer recyclers on here. I will check what I have tomorrow, and I have a pile of nicer PIII's that I have been thinking of scrapping since they are pretty much in the unwanted category at this point. I am pretty sure they have creative lab sound cards. I will just have to test one to make sure it works and I can find the right drivers.
Jim

I checked on Ebay and found the Soundblaster 128 card and it looks like the ones I have. Mine, I think have the CT4750 number like this one; 
http://cgi.ebay.com/Creative-Surround-Sound-Blaster-PCI-128-Card-CT4750_W0QQitemZ200255245977QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item2ea0248e99


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## stihl88 (Nov 27, 2009)

Some people add these cards so they can have for example 5.1 surround sound (5 speakers and 1 sub woofer i believe) but If your motherboard has "on board sound" built in then you can just plug your speakers into the motherboard output port and use it like that. That's all ive realy ever done, ive never been big on sound cards as i dont use my PC for loud music or surround sound ect...

Most Motherboards will have on board sound built in if it's 10 years old or newer.

Just make sure you get a PCI card and not the newer PCI express card.


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## Rhodium (Nov 27, 2009)

I know what you mean Harold. I have a old desktop that's about 10 years old from Gateway. One of the best computers i ever bought. At the time it was top of the line with all the bells and whistles. I don't even want to remember what it cost me at the time. It wasn't pretty. Of course at that time the technology was outdated a year later. The funny thing is it works great today. No updates in hardware what so ever just program updates. I have a business class laptop that cost me a small fortune a few month ago and i just want to roll my window down and throw it out going about 70 mph. 

Now where did i leave my keys ? :twisted:


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## jimdoc (Nov 27, 2009)

Harold,
I have about a dozen computers with the same sound card like in the Ebay link. If you want I will send you one, just PM me your address.Your drivers CD will probably work with it, or you could get it online.

I will send you an Ubuntu 9.10 disc with it so you can check that out also. I have been using it since windows messed up on me about a week ago. It is good to have, just in case of problems with windows.
And it is a live disc that you can boot from and try it out without changing anything on your hard drive.

I have a HP laptop that the sound stopped working, so I know what its like to have no sound. At least yours is a desktop so it is easy to replace the card. Its no problem for me to send it to you, they would
probably just get scrapped anyway. With all the stuff I have learned from your posts its the least I can do.
Jim


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## Harold_V (Nov 27, 2009)

My God, you guys are the best. 

Jim, I'll send my data by PM. I hope you know how much I appreciate your kindness. BE happy to reimburse you your expenses, so let me know what I owe you. 

Harold


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## Anonymous (Nov 27, 2009)

To clear up some things about the Ubuntu Live disk.

Live means that you can run the OS from the CD with our physically installing the OS on your computer, once the computer has been shut down and the Ubuntu disk removed from the CD Rom drive there will be no evidence of it having been run on your computer.

Running form the live option, CD Rom a bit slow, Ubuntu running live from a USB stick much quicker.

Also running from live, Ubuntu configures your network with out any intervention from you, other than asking for a network password should you be using an encrypted router.

Ubuntu comes preloaded with Open Office word processor which will import/export to MS Office, Macintosh, and many more file extensions plus save a doc to a pdf, same for the spreadsheet with the exception of saving to a pdf file.

Ubuntu pre loaded with graphics editors, html editors, email client, web browser.

To add or remove an application much easier than using the MS Windows program manager from the Windows control panel, from the attached picture top left hand corner you you see an applications tab. From this tab at the bottom is add remove applications which opened a new window showing on the right hand side of the picture.

Gimp the photo editor will even open a PDF file as an image for editing.

Regarding MS Windows updates, these are rather dated before they're released to the public. Corporate America moves slow. 

Ubuntu updates and critical patches are very quick to be released. 

Should you decided to install Ubuntu, you can do this from a hard boot, by having the disk with the OS resident in your cd drive, or you can install from with in MS windows. Ubuntu wil then co reside on the hard drive, when the computer boots on the next start up you will have two choices boot into windows or Ubuntu.

If you fail to toggle down to the Ubuntu selection your computer by default will boot into windows.


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## Noxx (Nov 27, 2009)

You can get an ''older'' sound cards that runs nicely on ebay for like a buck...


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## jimdoc (Nov 27, 2009)

I sent him one already. I hope it solves the problem.
Jim


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## Anonymous (Nov 27, 2009)

jimdoc said:


> I sent him one already. I hope it solves the problem.
> Jim



Jim did you include the Ubuntu live cd for Harold to try out.


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## jimdoc (Nov 27, 2009)

Yes, I sent him the Ubuntu 9.10 disc also.
Jim


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## Harold_V (Nov 27, 2009)

Thanks to both of you. I appreciate your willingness to help, and hope you have patience with me as I explore Ubuntu. Computers don't come easy for me-----but given enough time, I can usually figure out what is required. 

Funny------a call goes out for help and people step up to the plate. I'm fortunate to have some reliable and responsible people to rely on. So many in life are flakes that provide lip service and nothing more. 

Harold


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## Harold_V (Nov 27, 2009)

Noxx said:


> You can get an ''older'' sound cards that runs nicely on ebay for like a buck...


My problem is not knowing what is compatible with what equipment I have. That's the reason for my post. I am not able to discern that which will work from that which will not. 

So many of these guys appear to have knowledge I could only hope to achieve that I figured I'd get the right answer. I also had no idea that the card I am using might still be available, so I hadn't even considered that I might be able to buy an exact replacement. 

What I have learned from this entire experience is that we have some outstanding people on this board. I am eternally grateful for each and every one of them. 

Harold


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## shyknee (Nov 27, 2009)

Harold 
We all are in debt to you
I wish you lived close i 'd be over to help , for now just advise
the battery on the mainboard may have died causeing the bios to reset to default
this often is a reason sound cards stop being reconised by the mainboard
ten year battery is purdy good.
do you know how to change or check mainboard settings ?


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## Harold_V (Nov 28, 2009)

shyknee said:


> Harold
> We all are in debt to you
> I wish you lived close i 'd be over to help , for now just advise
> the battery on the mainboard may have died causeing the bios to reset to default
> ...



Thanks for the very kind words :!: 
Hmmm! I hadn't considered that, due in part to nothing else giving trouble. 

As far as checking settings, I just went through that with an old DOS computer I had before we got this one. I have a few things on it that I check occasionally. The battery had died completely, so I had to enter setup and reintroduce some information. Pretty easy on that one, as was replacing the dead battery, which I had done a few times. I don't have a clue on this one. I'm rather timid where it comes to messing with it.. I hate to find myself in a mess I can't undo, which is why I move cautiously. 

Do you think I could have an isolated problem with the sound card alone? That's the conclusion I've drawn, based on the fact that everything else works as it should. 

See what's wrong with a guy that knows just enough to get in trouble? I've been second guessing this damned thing for a couple weeks now. 

I am open to suggestion. I don't know if I'm smart enough to follow them, however!  

Harold


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## shyknee (Nov 29, 2009)

> Do you think I could have an isolated problem with the sound card alone? That's the conclusion I've drawn, based on the fact that everything else works as it should.


yes
this is why it is good to have an old computer around to test parts or a friend with one to test the sound card
yes this sound card is cheaply available on ebay but it can still be a mainboard problem
example : I pulled hair out replacing a card once on a friends computer when the problem was with the pci slot .It stoped working the slot next to it worked fine !? go figure ? ( so may I ask if you tried this )
good luck Harold


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## Anonymous (Dec 1, 2009)

Have any of you IT and computer technicians ever had a virus play havoc with com ports and irq's in turn disrupting hardware. 

I mean like look what happened over conficker, it disrupted whole navy's, the banking system and even hospitals. So maybe Harold's sound card is victim to the Trojan being hosted on the Gold Forum. My two cents.

Google search supports my two cents, "Virus Sound Card" http://tinyurl.com/yjzro3x


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## Harold_V (Dec 2, 2009)

Well, the cards Jim sent arrived today. I spent a couple hours screwing around with the computer, reloaded the software and tried everything I have at my disposal. No joy. I still have no sound, and the computer fails to recognize that there is a card installed. 

While I wouldn't discount the possibility of having lost sound to an infection of sorts, it was the direct result of the video card having lost its connection. How the two might be related I don't know, but when the computer was rebooted after finding the problem with the bad connection, I had no sound. At this point I am abandoning any hopes of getting it running. A new computer will take its place, then in due time I'll get it operational again and use it for running ACAD. 

My thanks to everyone that has tried to help. It was a good learning experience for me, and exposed the good nature of many of the readers. 

Harold

edit: changed a word to clarify meaning. No change in contents othewise.


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## lazersteve (Dec 2, 2009)

Harold,

Can you post a photo of the inside of your tower?

Please include photos of the power connectors, and motherboard.

I'll check through my spares and see if I have a donor that will benefit you.

Steve


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## Harold_V (Dec 3, 2009)

Thanks, Steve. That's a very kind offer, although I question if it should consume any of your time. I am replacing the computer with a new one, a HP Pavilion p6140f. If I'm to continue moderating, I need something that is reliable and not so slow. 

On the other hand, now that it has a considerable amount of memory, it's possible it will be a good fit for running ACAD and Mastercam, so I can eventually put my CNC mill to use. I have an older release of ACAD---14, which should work fine. It already has a 3½" drive, which makes it easy to transfer programs from Mastercam to the mill, which also has a 3½" drive. 

Here's a picture of the mother board, but I don't know that it's what you need to see. I have the cover off, so I can take more pictures if desirable. Let me know, and I won't be disappointed if you'd rather bag the idea. 

Harold


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## glorycloud (Dec 3, 2009)

Harold,

From what I can see the "caps" appear to be OK (not swollen). A simple fix that
I have tried over the years has been to move the suspect card to a different PCI slot
in your computer. Why not try and move your sound card to one of the open slots
to the left of where it is seated now and see it perhaps it will be recognized in
it's "new home". 8)


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## shyknee (Dec 3, 2009)

if the cause was a virus
a simple system restore to a resent restore point would help ,by replacing the corrupfiles .
Moveing it to another pci slot is "sound" advise but some mainboards need to reset the bios when things change otherwise it still won't know it's there .


good luck Harold


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## lazersteve (Dec 3, 2009)

Harold,

I noticed a dark colored spot next to one of the capacitors near the power supply fan as seen in the attached photo.

Is this spot a stain, shadow, or something else?

Also If you post the exact model of your sound card (taken from the silk screened info on the card) I'll dig you up a driver disk for it.

Moving the card to another slot is a possible fix, depending on your bios settings and the version of drivers you are using you may or may not get results. 

If in the past you *upgraded* the operating system directly from windows 98 to Win XP without reinstalling you may still be using 'set Blaster' device drivers which require you to specify the IRQ, DMA, and other settings that must exactly match the sound cards settings in bios. If you are running a copy of Win XP that was a fresh install to a clean hard drive this is most likely not the case.

There are aslo several utilities for configuring the EEPROM chip on Creative 128PCI cards that control the IRQ, DMA, etc. 

Lastly, you may be able to fix the problem by entering your BIOS at strart up and enabling the 'Reset PCI Configuation Data' entry, then saving changes and rebooting. This will force the BIOS to rebuild the IRQ and memory addressing information it has stored. 

Steve


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## Harold_V (Dec 4, 2009)

glorycloud said:


> Harold,
> 
> From what I can see the "caps" appear to be OK (not swollen). A simple fix that
> I have tried over the years has been to move the suspect card to a different PCI slot
> ...


Tried that, too. Nothing. When I access the control panel and click on the Sounds and Audio Devices icon, it says No Audio Device.. 

Sigh! 

I swear, it was there before! 

Harold


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## Harold_V (Dec 4, 2009)

lazersteve said:


> Harold,
> 
> I noticed a dark colored spot next to one of the capacitors near the power supply fan as seen in the attached photo.
> 
> Is this spot a stain, shadow, or something else?


I examined the board closely. I see nothing on the board that sends up a red flag. I'm somewhat familiar with what an over-heated component might look like, having opened up two failed power supplies. It was obvious where the smoke got out in that case. 



> Also If you post the exact model of your sound card (taken from the silk screened info on the card) I'll dig you up a driver disk for it.


Not sure that there is that information. What I have is a card with an adhesive label. It says: Trade Name: Creative Labs Model Number CT4750. On the same face, opposite end from the fingers, I see a small number stamped in black, 514PT110A

For the record, Jim sent me two identical cards, one with the same number as above, the other with the number 511A21Q4A 975



> Moving the card to another slot is a possible fix, depending on your bios settings and the version of drivers you are using you may or may not get results.


I got no results. 



> If in the past you *upgraded* the operating system directly from windows 98 to Win XP without reinstalling you may still be using 'set Blaster' device drivers which require you to specify the IRQ, DMA, and other settings that must exactly match the sound cards settings in bios. If you are running a copy of Win XP that was a fresh install to a clean hard drive this is most likely not the case.


I had run Windows Me for years. Only when I was forced to upgrade did I do so (to XP Home). While I had some problems when I did, they were not related to the sound card, which remained in perfect working order until I had the problem with the video card. When it lost connection, which was infrequently, the computer would not always have to reboot. The last time it did so, it shut down. After removing and re-inserting the video card, it rebooted fine, but from that moment forward there has been no sound. It is for that reason I have not seriously considered a virus. 



> There are aslo several utilities for configuring the EEPROM chip on Creative 128PCI cards that control the IRQ, DMA, etc.
> 
> Lastly, you may be able to fix the problem by entering your BIOS at strart up and enabling the 'Reset PCI Configuation Data' entry, then saving changes and rebooting. This will force the BIOS to rebuild the IRQ and memory addressing information it has stored.
> 
> Steve


Heh! That sounds like a winner. Is that beyond my ability? If not, I will give it a go. 

Here's my logic right now. The computer runs, and I have the new one waiting, but I'm waiting for the shipment of W7 so I don't have to go through a dual learning curve. Things like that don't come easily for neither of us, so we feel that's the wisest choice we can make. I will get the new computer online, functioning, then I'll transfer pertinent data from the old one. When I am satisfied that there is nothing of value on the old computer, and I screw it up so it won't run, no big deal. 

Thanks, Steve. Please don't waste too much time on this thing--I know how busy you are. 

Harold


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## Harold_V (Dec 4, 2009)

shyknee said:


> if the cause was a virus
> a simple system restore to a resent restore point would help ,by replacing the corrupfiles .
> Moveing it to another pci slot is "sound" advise but some mainboards need to reset the bios when things change otherwise it still won't know it's there .


Heh! Not knowing it's there appears to be the theme! 
I have used the restore function, but it never occured to me to try it when this problem arose. I've been putting up with it long enough, now, that I can't remember when we had the failure, so I'm not sure of a reliable restore date. I'll explore and see how far back we can go. Thanks for the idea. 



> good luck Harold


I could use a little of that right now! Thanks!

Harold


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## lazersteve (Dec 4, 2009)

Harold,

Here's the manufacturer's web page for the model you posted:

CT4750

Be sure you remove all existing Creative sound blaster software from the Control Panel-->Add/Remove programs list and delete any existing sound blaster, SB PCI128, or creative sound card hardware from Control Panel-->System-->Hardware--> Device Manager before running any new driver software.

Next Read the 'Show Details' link and download the second driver (Sound Blaster PCI128 (Drivers Only - Windows 2000, ME and XP) ) on the list of 'Latest Drivers'. 

If you need a walk through of any of the processes I mentioned, just ask.

If this fails you likely have motherboard issues.

Steve


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