Okay, so here's the thing. My sound card won't work on one of my computers. Surprise, surprise, I know. The deal is, is that everything seems to CHECK out. Device drivers, the whole 9 yards. I've unintalled, and reinstalled several times. I've even done a clean install of the OS. Nothing has helped. It's not that big of a deal, I can just use one of the other computers to do what I need, but I'm real *censored* about everything I own working correctly. I'm thinking it's just bad onboard sound card. Any suggestions? I'm running Windows XP SP2, and it's RealTek AC'97 Audio.

Thanks for any advice.You said it on board yeah .... hmmmm

Is it possiable to download the lastest drivers off the internet rather than an install cd...

But i think you right dud sound card Onboard and sound card are 2 different things...you either have 1 or the other.
If it's onboard sound...might as well just get a new sound card.

patio's right...onboard means it's build right onto your motherboard. a sound card is a discrete PCB board that goes (usually) into a PCI slot.RealTek AC'97 Audio is an onboard chipset.
So, you are saying, there are no errors listed in Device Manager? Updated drivers?SORRY, for my typographical error I made earlier about sound card. I was really tired when I typed that. Anyway, yes it IS onboard sound, and yes there are no errors in the device manager, and yes I have the latest drivers. My only concern is, well actually two, is that one, if I get a sound card it won't work for whatever reason. And two I don't want to spend money on something I might not need. So if there is a solution to my problem other than buying a sound card, I would like to know.only thing i can recommend is to check the BIOS settings, but, i can say from experience, the RealTek AC97 system is prone to failure. especially when used with an SiS chipset motherboard, the SiS chipset in and of its self sucks, and is a total nightmare, when combined with the AC97 audio, its just a freaking joke, its not hardly usable, trust me, if you have an SiS chipset motherboard, which i am hoping isn't the case, your going to have A LOT more PROBLEMS with it. only thing i can recommend is to find a PCI or USB sound card to test it with, if nothing else, buy one from www.newegg.com
Couple of question.
Have your sound EVER worked?
How old is your computer, and what OS are you with?
Now...
If you go into the device manager, double-click on the AC''97 sound driver and open the properties tab. Expand the "Audio Devices" node and double-click on your audio device. Doesn't it say: "Driver is enabled but has not been started"?marco: ( just in case this is a really simple solution).... you checked to make sure that your volume isn't muted anywhere, right? Not being condescending, just making sure you've taken all the right steps and are sure you are getting no sound.Not to try and sound mean myself, no, I am not that dumb, the sound is not muted anywhere. Yes, my sound has worked before, but perhaps I did something to it when I took everything out of it. Maybe I should mention that I put this computer back together from spare parts laying around. Though device manager SAYS everything is peachy. The only thing that does not work is sound. I don't think the OS is the problem, because I've reinstalled everything from 2000, to Vista x86. Nothing, nada, zip. At any rate it is a Gigabyte board, that is NVIDIA nForce 3 250 series, ver 1.2, if that helps any. I think I will try and hunt down a sound card to test with and see if that helps in the mean time. If I can get it to work, it's probably the onboard sound is bad.Quote

I think I will try and hunt down a sound card to test with and see if that helps in the mean time. If I can get it to work, it's probably the onboard sound is bad.