Sound card may cause various problems from the day you using it, including hardware and software problems. Here we will offer solutions to some of the most typical problems, hoping that you can solve practical problems depending on actual situation by yourself.

If the sound card has been installed properly and the device can be identified normally, generally, the possibility of hardware problems is very small. You can check every aspect and find out the problem by following the step by step instructions.

How to do it:
Step1: Check whether you have a right connection to sound box or earphone.

Step2: Check whether the sound box or earphone is in good working.

Step4: Check whether the audio channels in the Windows Volume Control have been screened.

If all mentioned is ok, but still no sound, try to install a newer driver. Bear in mind to install the latest patches for the main board or sound card.

Sound cards work in gear when you listen to MP3 files and play games, but you can not play MIDI file. Principally, the sound cards are fine, problem may lies in the settings.

How to do it:
Step1: Check the Speakers. (Make sure your speakers are plugged in and turned on.

Step2: Check the Mixer.

It is possible that any option that may have been muted. Check the settings in the Windows Volume Control (or your sound card mixer), under the Sounds, Speech, and Audio Devices icon in Control Panel to see what the preferred device is. To check the mute status of the playback devices in the Windows Volume Control, proceed as follows:

1. Click Start, and then click Run.
2. In the Open text box, type sndvol32.exe.
3. Ensure that any Wave/Mp3 and MIDI mixer items are not muted.

Step3: Check the MIDI file.

If the sound card has its own mixer but there is still no sound, check MIDI file is broken or not.

Sound card problems can be debarred if there is sound when playing MP3. It is the crappy connection of the CD audio cables possibly causing such troubles.

Common CD-ROMs can decode CD directly through 4 component wires (presented with CD-ROM when you buy) connecting with the sound card. One of the wires ends contacts with the ANALOG audio output on the CD-ROM, while the other end contacts with the CD IN on the integrated sound card. CD-IN usually can be found around on-board audio chips. Pay attention that audio wires have big ends and small ends; you should select the exact audio wires to match the CD-IN.

It is commonly happen when there is more than one audio device on your computer.

How to do it:

In Windows 95/98 or Windows ME
Step1: Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.

Step2: In Control Panel, double-click Sounds, Speech, and Audio Devices or Multimedia.

Step4: In the Recording box, click the playback device that you want to use in the Preferred Device list, and then move the Volume slider to the value you want.

Step5: Verify that your speakers are properly connected to the sound card, and that the speakers are turned on.

If all mentioned is ok, but still no sound, try to install a newer driver. Bear in mind to install the latest patches for the main board or sound card.

In Windows XP
Step1: On Control Panel, click Sounds, Speech and Audio Devices  to enter the Sound and Audio Devices Properties.

Step2: In the Sound and Audio Devices Properties, select Audio to see an Audio tab. Look at the top section called Sound Playback.

SNR is usually the possible culprit to make noise; Computers with on-board audio in particular is interrupted by background noise. However, with the enhancement of SNR parameter, most integrated cards’ SNR is over 75bB and some high-class products’ goes so far as to reach 95bB, noise disturbance is getting less and less. Except SNR problems, clutter EMI (Electro Magnetic Interference) becomes the only reason for noise. Regarding cards using cheap APU—their poor making and rough material makes matters even worse; their SNR is far below the medium and high grade motherboards’ SNR standard, noise comes out naturally then.

Because Speaker out adopts APU on the sound adapter to exaggerate signal, though large signal outputs hurriedly, SNR is quiet low. Whereas, Line out sends signal on transmission lines directly to the sound box bypassing the APU on the audio card; try this way if background noise occurs, and things will be much better, but if your sound box is a jerry one, things would not change much.

Since built-in soft sound adapter depends on CPU to handle digital audio, snaps, crackles and pops may appear when your computer configuration is too low.

Step1: Open Control Panel, click Performance and Maintenance and System.

Step2:  Click Hardward and Device Manager.

Step4: Click Advanced Settings and tansferl the DMA mode.

Note : But then the system function will be low down when DMA data port is shut; installing the latest motherboard patches and sound card patches or updating drivers can also solve the exploded sound problem.

You may have no sound after installed a new Direct X.

The incompatibility between some audio adapters and the new Direct X may be the problem.

In case no sound after installing a new Direct X, set a new driver for your audio adapter, or you can make use of some tools like “Direct X uninstaller” to unload and reinstall your original card drive.

Direct X diagnostic tool (Dxdiag.exe) shows that “Your audio card does not support hardware buffering”. You may configure the amount of memory that MCI Waveform driver will use buffering audio data during playback or record. By default, MCI Waveform driver will allocate enough memory for 4 seconds of audio. Your software buffer zone is probably too small resulting in the soundless. You can change it to 9 seconds.

How to do it
Step1: Open Control Panel, click the icon of Sounds, Speech, and Audio Devices.

Step2: Select Sounds and Audio Devices, click Hardware and Media Control Devices.

Step3: Click Properties to open (MCI) Sound and click settings to open Waveform Audio.

Step4: Change the default 4 seconds software buffer capacity to the longest 9 seconds.

Overclocking brings on pops or silence while some on-board audios clock works not in a normal clock rate.

Overclocking is not encouraged for the purpose of keeping your audio card working smoothly. If must, try to work in a standard clock rate in attempt to ensure your audio adapter to work as usual in the normal clock rate.

A majority of the built-in audio cards are full-duplex cards; it’s quite rare only the taping damaged.

How to do it:
Step1: Ensure that you have plugged the microphone cord (green) into the microphone jack.

Step2: Check the settings.

1. Double click the “Trumpet” icon on the System Tray and  select Options to open Properties
2. Select your Mixer device of the Input to jump Recording, and then check whether the settings.

If you still can not record, see the next.

Step3: Go to “Control Panel and click Sounds, Speech, and Audio Devices.

Step4: Open Sounds and Audio Devices Properties.

Step5: Adjust “Mixer device” and “Line in device” settings and make these deivces available.

Step6: Click "Audio"  to select your preferred device of record.

Step7: From Start, go to Programs, Accessories, Entertainment, and then click the Sound Recorder.

If the little microphone icon goes gray, try to unload and reinstall the audio adapter.

Note: Slap-up recording device is unable to be driven by the integrated sound card, for such a card usually has no amplifier chip. Consequently, it can not tape. In this case, attempt another higher-grade card or motherboard. My Apple MIC only works on the ASUS mainboard or SB LIVE audio card. Surely, if you don’t care about the MIC effects, replacing with a low-end MIC is feasible.

Problems may possibly be hidden in settings and drivers since the integrated card already sounds.

If in the process of overclocking, Underclock the computer firstly and then shut down the audio card Acceleration. In case it goes flooey, load mainboard patches and sound card patches, as well as a new driver.

Some built-in cards phonate normally, but the Quadraphony is not available, probably it is still a setting problem.

Bunch of audio cards utilize software to simulate quadraphony that simply duplicates sound from the Front Speaker to the Rear Speaker. All situations like that when playing MP3 files or CD are using quadraphony, but such four-channel sound can not play 3D games or DVD. In another word, the audio adapter is not the true quadraphony.

Actually, rather than a sound card trouble, it is the bandwidth can not transmit audio signal smoothly due to traffic limitation.

Keep from doing large flow-rate operations like opening large programs or downloading when chatting. If possible to transform the network accessing manner and augment the bandwidth that will be a troubleshooting tweak once and for all.

Windows prompts hard driver can not be found after changing audio cards several times and resetting an integrated card.

Such faults usually because the first loaded driver has not been completed properly, or an audio adapter already run in CONFIG.SYS, AUTOEXEC.BAT and DOSSTART.BAT files.

Problem can be fixed by deleting one of these running drivers’ files; surely, deleting all these three files is also viable. If no document exists in these files and the driver can not be installed, you need to revise the Registry by clicking “Start” menu – “Run”, inputting “regedit” and pressing Enter, deleting the items about sound adapter. For example, the ALc650 sound card, select “Edit” – “Find” in the Registry entry and input ALS300, delete the bytes you find, and then press F3 to find next, delete all you find one by one.

Users who are not familiar with BIOS have shielded the Onboard Audio by mistake.

Enter BIOS, select I/O Device configuration ? Onboard AC97 Audio Controller, select ENANLE or AUTO. This procedure can go on my ASUS motherboard; operation on other boards is similar. If it is Award BIOS, enter BIOS “Integrated Peripherals”, and then select “AC97 Audio”, revise “Auto" to “Disable” and save it.

You may have no sound after installing a net card or extra peripherals. This is a fairly typical issue mostly due to compatibility and IRQ conflict.

Updating drivers for each device can cushily tackle drivers’ incompatibility, while the issue caused by IRQ (Interrupt Requests) conflicts is really a headache.

How to Fix IRQ:

In Windows XP

Note that if your computer is as modern as one that is ACPI-compliant, you are not allowed to manually change the IRQ settings in Windows XP. You’d better to move one of the devices (either the new device or the old device it is conflicting with) to a new PCI slot in order to force Win XP to automatically assign either device a new IRQ. At worst, you may be forced to remove one of the devices from your system or simply live with an IRQ conflict.

To fine the conflicts, you can

Step1: Click Start, point to Settings, and click Control Panel.

Step2: Double-click the System icon, and click the Device Manager tab.

Step3: In the Device Manager, Windows displays a black exclamation mark within a yellow circle to the left of the device name when come across IRQ conflicts.

In Win9x, you can manually change IRQ settings for a device by the instructions below:

Step1: Click Start ? Settings ? Control Panel.

Step2: Double-click the System icon and then click Device Manager.

Step3: In Device Manager, double-click the branch that corresponds to the affected device to expand it and then double-click the entry for the affected device.

Step4: Click the Resources tab and then clear the Use Automatic Settings checkbox by clicking it.

Step5: In the Settings Based On selection box, click a configuration containing an IRQ that doesn’t conflict with any other device.