OldJawBone

I have a WinMe system where I can't get any sound out of my CD-players. I have both an IDE- and a SCSI-drive with the same problem. Audio in all forms work fine when played from the HD (I have a Creative sound card).

When I check in device manager I can't change to analog audio cause this option is grayed out although the square for digital audio is checked.

I would be most grateful if anyone could tell me how to unlock this option to be able to use analog audio. I have checked with two analog sound cables between CD-player(s) and sound-card with no luck at all.

Reinstalling the drives does not enable me to choose analog audio.

OldGrayGary

Hi OldJawBone


I'd expect the trouble to lie in your sound drivers, rather than in Windows. Try:

1) In Add/Remove Programs, remove any Creative software.
2) Boot into Safe Mode.
3) In Device Manager, remove all listings in the sound ... category.
4) In Device Manager, remove all listings in the CD category (and if your SCSI device is listed under the SCSI device category, remove that as well).
5) On reboot, allow Windows to redetect the optical drives.
6) Reinstall the Creative drivers - checking online for any versions more recent than the previous drivers you had in place.
7) Have a look in the advanced settings of the Creative drivers to see if analog playback is available.
8) Also check in the Sound category of the Control Panel to make sure that the Creative card is selected as the playback device.
9) Double-check in the Properties for each optical drive that playback is enabled.

See if that does it.
Best of luck
. . . Gary

OldJawBone

OK, fine - I'll start with this as soon as I get back home after easter orgies

Jlp1928

Hi Jaw,

Just a thought: Did it ever work? Older Mother boards required a connection from the CD or DVD in order to play Music. The CD and DVD players have both analog and digital output connectors labeled as such. Newer MBs do not need the cable for Digital sound.

Luck, Jim (High Gary!)

OldJawBone

It has worked earlier although not in this configuration. I have an analog cabel between the CD(s) and motherboard. I don't think digital audio will work on this old MB, as you said. But reading Garys advice I checked the driver and it is not exactley the right one. But elsewhere it works well :-). As a last resort I will replace the sound card. I have lots of old ones. Be back soon, I hope.

OldJawBone

Many thanks to both Gary and Jim for pointing me in the right direction. When I scrutinized my “Soundblaster Live!” card it actually also held the text “Digital”. It seems that my old FIC VB-601 MB is not able to handle digital sound. The only connection (on the sound card) to a CD is a S/PDIF connection which I don’t have. Earlier I have used this sound card on an XP system with a MB that can handle digital audio.

Upon making an inventory among my old sound cards to find a replacement, it turned out that the only working one was an old IDE-card manufactured about back when the steam engine was invented. But all the same, after some (hard) thinking Windows ME correctly identified it and installed SoundBlaster 16 drivers from it’s dungeon.

Now I can play anything ( well, at least Neil Young) I want and as long the old drivers don’t interfere with any other hardware I will stick to this configuration.

I’m reluctant to write that the solution was to install an IDE-card. Better than that the problem was, that I was using newer hardware (the soundcard) on a MB that was too old to handle it. I will mark the thread as solved as soon as I have figured out how.

All good things, Peter

Jlp1928

Hi Jaw,

Glad you got it sorted out and thanks for the thanks, but Gary did all the work.

Jim

Jlp1928

Edit: Hi Jaw, this was intended for another post on another forum. Sorry about that. This 81 yr. old brain aint what it used to be.

Hi Again Jaw,

This may be a lot easier than we thought. Got a brain storm. Used the dumbest player/recorder known to man. Started two instances of SOUND RECORDER. Started record on one and played a wave file from the other. Voila, had a new recording. Your could use any player/recorder the same way or any two different ones you like. That is, if you can't download one that does the whole job.

More Luck, Jim

OldJawBone

OK - I had a hard time figure out what that advice was all about :-). But don't feel sorry, even att 56 you may notice a decrease in brain capacity :-(. That's what I like about computers - new CPU and more memory and suddenly you are reborne! Hals- und beinbroch, Peter

OldJawBone

This is rather embarrassing but when I checked in device manager both CD-players were using digital audio! (Although now the option to use analog audio was not grayed out.) Why this works on an IDE sound card 10 years older then my “Soundblaster Live” card I’m at a loss to explain. Maybe Gary was right after all that it has to do with the drivers. In both cases I’m using the ones shipped with Windows ME. Or is the digital audio using the IDE- (or SCSI-) channel in a different way than the PCI one?

All the same, the problem is gone but if anyone has a clue I’m very curious to find out was is going on!

Jlp1928

Hi Peter,

Don't have a clue. Gary is probably right. My best Electronic Engineer always said " Electronics is capable of 1,000,000 errors per milisecond". My brain problem is that my Rememberer doesn't work very well anymore but my Forgetter is still 100%.

Jim