(no subject)

[deckardcanine]

Crud. I installed my new ATI Radeon HT 2600 XT, and now I can't get any sound, even with a new headset. The Net tells me this is a common problem, the solution to which is to have a second video card engaged alongside it. Unfortunately, I'd already followed advice to uninstall the default graphics card driver (no hardware removal), so I can find no trace of it on my system. Does this mean I have to buy yet another?

Comments

[stevenroy.livejournal.com]

How is your sound connected? Are you using HDMI, or speakers plugged into onboard sound or a separate sound device?

According to this, the card apparently routes audio to its DVI port so it'll play through a TV. I have yet to find info on -how- it does that, though. There may be a device driver that handles this, and/or an option under "Sound / Multimedia" in the control panel... or something, somewhere, that'll need to be either enabled or disabled or something...

[carlfoxmarten]

It could even be that you have to physically patch the audio from the sound card to the video card with a cable inside the computer.

I do not, however, understand why you had to uninstall drivers to get your new hardware working, Deckard.

Normally, when plugging in a graphics card, the BIOS automatically disables the integrated graphics unit so there's no chance of a conflict, and you may have accidentally uninstalled the driver for your sound card as well.

Despite all its current flaws, Windows is smart enough to know that when a device is removed, the driver isn't needed either.
(it won't uninstall the driver, but it won't be loaded into memory either)

[deckardcanine.livejournal.com]

Then I shouldn't have trusted CNET.com. Maybe their advice didn't have default graphics cards in mind.

[deckardcanine.livejournal.com]

The speaker is embedded in the monitor. I guess that's HDMI.

I did get an adapter that looks like that, but I have nothing that fits in the slot. The included wires go nowhere that I can tell. No way am I rearranging the furniture so it reaches the TV.

[stevenroy.livejournal.com]

It's HDMI if there's a port that's less than an inch long and only a couple of mm wide. That's the interface used by HD TVs to connect Blu-Ray players and other HD devices. Most modern video cards support that too, though some may need a DVI-to-HDMI adapter.

DVI is the port type that most LCD computer monitors have. That's the one that looks like the wider and rectangular version of the classic VGA port.

So, the question is: Does your monitor have an HDMI port? If so, you'll want to use that adapter, and you'll need an HDMI cable. If not, you probably have a DVI port, in which case you won't need that adapter, just a DVI cable... and you might, or might not, need separate audio cables to connect your monitor's audio to where you normally plug in speakers.

[deckardcanine.livejournal.com]

I can now confirm that it's HDMI. I'll see about getting a cable this evening.