Newly Installed Sound Card Crashes (Hangs) System


I've got this system:
http://www.pcqanda.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=2&topic_id=439515#449303


M/B onboard sound went cracklin' & has finally died.


Digging through ancient past (circa 1999), I found:

"(Hi-Val) Vortex BA88ST20A PCI Sound card"
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?sku=GL3-BA88ST20A02


Go into the BIOS, disable onboard sound, plug the card in, Windows (XP) finds it, install drivers for it. (No intervention on my part. As this is an OLD card & Aureal is long gone, a "new" driver could be questionable.) Done.

Music to my ears :-).


But ... I've hung (not BSOD) twice after putting the card in. I've since removed it.

Reliability is more important then sound, but sound would be nice.


I have any number of PCI slots available. I'm in the next to the bottom slot (so not next to any other cards).


Nothing of significance in Event Viewer.


Ideas I might try to get the card to work without crashing?

Try another slot, could be an IRQ conflict.

Like Shelly said, try a different Pci slot. I am also wondering if perhaps there is more going on with that Board. The onboard sound went out and that is tied to the Pci system in the computer. Do you have anything else plugged into the Pci slots? Is there anything else you can plug in just to test your pci's.

Video is AGP.
Pretty sure no other PCI slots in use.

> I am also wondering if perhaps there is more going on with that Board

You are right to wonder, & you are right.

Some time ago one of the sound channels died (i.e. I was only getting sound from the left or right speaker).
And before that one of the DIMM slots died.

Other then that, & since those happenings, it has run just fine.

So I'm just riding it to its end, I know that.

I've tried two more PCI slots.
Every time, it has been detected fine, installed automatically, plays fine.

But then after about 10 minutes, the system hangs.

One more slot to try, but I know what the outcome would be.

Maybe I'll see if I can't find an inexpensive USB sound card.

That 10 minute delay sure sounds like a thermal problem.

Of the soundcard?
Not a whole lot to it. Just a bunch of cans, a chip here, a chip there. Could be a bum card? Or could be a general M/B problem & any PCI device would cause trouble? (Previously had nothing in any of the PCI slots.)

Certainly not my system (temps).

The heat would come from the video chip itself or the ramdac.

"USB Virtual 7.1 Channel Sound Adapter, Black"
http://www.meritline.com/usb-sound-adapter---p-41144.aspx

$3.69, manufactured (in China), packaged, delivered - direct from Singapore (Paravion) :-).


Ordered on 6-14, delivered a few minutes ago.
Plugged it in, Windows (XP) finds it & sets it up. (Detected as C-Media.)

Couldn't be happier.

Quote:

Because it's USB (I suppose) no "volume control" displays in the System Tray. (Volume control on the player works just fine.)

Simply needed to toggle the setting in 'Sounds & Audio Devices Properties'.


Much smaller the the picture may seem to indicate. More about the size of a small USB NIC.


Where would I be without Arthur Brown's Kingdom Come, Galactic Zoo Dossier!


(Oh, I'm sure it needs powered speakers.)