Topic: Soundless in Asus!

[Tabbler]

Hi. Just signed-up; nice site!

Here's a strange one - for me, anyway. It concerns that old bugbear ...... sound; or in my case, the lack of it.

I've just bought a new PC, which features an ASUS A7N266-VM motherboard, with an AMD Athlon XP2200+ processor. Socket A. Chipset is North Bridge nVidia 220D GeForce MX Integrated / South Bridge nVidia nForce MCP-D. I'm trying! BIOS is Award Software's REV 1005. Another source says it's 'Award Medallion BIOS v6.0'. I hate that when it happens. I run ME.

I *think* the onboard sound-thingie is described as 'nVidia nForce MCP-D - 5.1'. Part of the motherboard; not a separate card.

'Add/Remove Programs' has the following 2 entries as regards sound ......

(1) NVIDIA Audio Driver
(2) NVIDIA nForce APU1 Utilities

If I open the Device Manager, view 'Devices by Type', and access 'Sound, Video and Game Controllers' these 2 objects are listed, and described as "working properly" ......

(1) NVIDIA(R) nForce(TM) Audio Codec Interface
(2) NVIDIA(R) nForce(TM) MCP Audio Processing Unit (Dolby(R) Digital)

However, under 'Other Devices', the following object has a gruesome question/exclamation mark associated with it ......

NVIDIA(R) nForce(TM) Audio Device.

If I view 'Devices by Connection', this object seems to be part (?) of the Audio Codec Interface mentioned above. 'Problem Devices' reports an error-number of 28.

The 'Sounds and Multimedia' button (Devices / Audio Devices) in the control panel strangely (?) make no mention of nVidia; instead, the sole entry there is 'Audio for Intel(R) 536EP Serial Wave Device'. But then, what do *I* know?!

As it happens, there's a 'NVIDIA nForce APU1' icon in the control panel, but it won't open. Likewise, there's an 'APU' icon on the bottom-right of the Windows desktop that won't open either.

If I open the 'Add New Hardware' wizard, the Audio Device, above, complete with question/exclamation marks, is featured. It then tells me that it's installed, but has a problem. The solution - reinstall drivers. But I can't!

As you can probably tell, this sort of thing does my head in!

The upshot is - my PC is silent. No sound from Audio CD's; no sounds from MP3 players. Media Player gives a '0x8007001F: Cannot perform the requested operation' report (A device attached to the system is not functioning). Right!

I've tried adding/updating the relevant (?) driver/s, but Windows can't seem to find it/them on the accompanying CD. Bloody Bill Gates!

Does ANYONE have any idea of what's going on?! Cos Muggins here don't! Damn!

[Clive]

 Tabbler!  I'm sure one of our techies will be on the case very soon and try to help out.  Hope you enjoy your stay here and have fun too.

[Sandra]

Hi Tabbler welcome aboard.

I assume that you have actually got the onboard sound enabled in BIOS  
Can you hit the PAUSE/BREAK key as its booting up and freeze the screen so that you can see which BIOS it is actaully using at the top of the screen before it detects the memory and other stuff?
Have you got a program such as Si Soft Sandra or similar which could possibly help identify the BIOS version and also exactly what the on board audio is?

[Sandra]

Found this,not sure if theres anything in your manual that has been updated to show the jumpers in the correct place but it looks as if there was a problem towards the end of last year :

 
 
Re: HELP!!! ASUS A7N266-VM
What the manual says for jumper settings are wrong. I don't know if you can go to their website to get the correct information or not. All I know is that the default settings are 133:133, but are in the opposite position than what the manual says.

Problem #1: When I first got the board, I tried it with 512 MB of DDR 2100 RAM and an AMD T-Bird 900 Mhz CPU. The documentation is vague on this, but it seemed that it would work - but nothing. No beep, just nothing.

I then installed the AMD XP1900 chip when it finally came, and it worked great.

Problem #2: However, I had XP OS on my hard drive, and it would boot fine, but when it came to loading the OS from the hard drive, the OS gave me a blue screen saying something about "windows detected an error and stopped the operation to prevent damage, press a key to reboot". Thanks windows! I then used the OS CD to re-install using the REPAIR option. Once that completed I was able to boot normally. All my data was there, but Windows updated drivers and settings for the new MOBO.

Problem #3: I have a Geforce3 Ti-200 card. It turns out that you have to use different drivers for the Geforce3 on the A7N266-VM MOBO. Download the nForce drivers from nvidia.com. It is important that you do NOT use the nForce drivers on the CD if you have your own Sound Card. If you do, your video card will work right, but your sound will be seriously messed up. I also disabled onboard sound settings in the BIOS. I used the normal sound drivers from Creative.com for my Sound Blaster Audigy and all is fine. I messed up my drivers before I realized all this, and decided to start with a clean slate and format and reinstall everything - things are smooth now. Remember, you have to use nForce drivers on this board.

Lastly, I used 3DMark 2001 from madonion.com to benchmark the system and make sure it was running good - I score close to 7000 - big improvement from my PC133 900Mhz system! I get over 166 frames per second on some of the tests.

All in all, this is a great board for an awesome price - but I would do a fresh install if I were you.

I love my new system. Battlefield 1942 runs amazing with all setting on High - and I have no lag in EQ with this system.


 
 
 
Re: HELP!!! ASUS A7N266-VM
Ok, the manual is wrong, and there's NO correct PDF version on asus website as well. So if you are similiar to me using AMD 2000+. Then BOTH jumpers should be on the LEFT(AGP port below the jumpers).
--------------------------------------------------------------
Cant see anything specifically about onboard audio problems yet  

[Sandra]

Theres a new BIOS update out this month so it may be worth trying that so that you know which one you actaully have.
Available from here :

http://www.asus.com.tw/support/download/item.aspx?ModelName=A7N266-VM

Type FileName Version Date Description   Download
  106nvm.zip  1006  2003/05/08 A7N266-VM BIOS 1006    

I would be tempted to update the BIOS,delete anything listed in DV manager for audio and reboot and see what windows finds  

[Adept]

Hi tabbler

Sounds to me like the audio drivers haven't loaded properly. The Intel device is probably your modem's wave driver.

You should have had a driver CD with the motherboard. I would use this to re-install the drivers before going any further.

Let us know how you get on

[Tabbler]

Hi, Clive. Sandra - thanks for the reply. The BIOS reported on the boot-up page is 'REV 1005'.

> I assume that you have actually got the onboard sound enabled in BIOS

.... I was thinking of this! My old PC-CHIPS motherboard (M758LMR), and accompanying BIOS, had this entry in its 'Features Setup Page' (Onboard Audio/Modem Enable/Disable) .... in THIS setup, there's an entry in the 'Chip Configuration' screen named 'MCP Audio Controller' which has 2 options - Auto & Disable. It's set to 'Auto'. Note that there doesn't seem to be an 'Enable', as such.

> Have you got a program such as Si Soft Sandra

.... Yep; got quite a lot of info from it, but nothing really tangible.

> not sure if theres anything in your manual that has been updated to show the jumpers in the correct place but it looks as if there was a problem towards the end of last year

.... The manual has a date of January 2003 (Revised Edition V3). You know, I *have* had a bit of a trawl through various web-pages which have discussed my motherboard, and I've noticed comments like those which you've quoted. I did manage to find a page of corrections on the ASUS (I think) site, which I downloaded for perusal.

====================================================

A problem I seem to be experiencing is a bit of information overload! As I said, I've read quite a few comments on this motherboard, all of it rather confusing/contradictory!

I read somewhere (from another sound sufferer) that a PCI card shouldn't be installed in the first PCI slot. Lo and behold, there's a V92 modem fitted. I don't really need it, as I have ADSL, and use an external ADSL modem. I'll think about removing it to see if it helps.... not looking forward to it!

I'll certainly consider updating the BIOS (after all, it's REV 1006 - newer than my 1005), and try deleting all references to sound from the system and attempt a re-install.

But.... somehow...!

Adept :
> You should have had a driver CD with the motherboard

I did; that's the prob! The system seems to have difficulty detecting the drivers on it. Go figure!

[Sandra]

Just read your last bit about the CD.
I had a PC some months back that I was setting up for someone,I had a job getting the sound to work on that.Eventually I found that the drivers were indeed on the WIN 98SE CD but for some reason were unable to be loaded directly from it.
I found a site that had explained this and it said "Explore the CD,copy the drivers to the hard drive then install from there".
I did that and it worked fine so it may be having a simialr problem but as there will be a lot less info on the motherboard driver cd it probably wont be that easy  

[Sandra]

Lots more information overload for you (Sorry Tabbler,but some of it may be new to you),theres a similar problem with the ASUS A7S333 to so may be worth trolling through those that I have included too.
The ones I found to be the weirdest possibilities are the last 4 or so that mention problems due to memory working better in some slots or indeed singularly  

-------------------------------------------------------------
Some probs setting this board up.. Manual on page 19 is incorrect for CPU/DIMM settings,,,
Also with Windows 98SE,, you have to set each driver separately for the Nvidia chip sets to work,,
They dont load from the disc,, the disc gives you instructions only,, Otherwise it's a fair board,,
 I've been to a few forums and really dont like what I'm hearing,
,Asus support is non-existent,, and hard to get answers,,
 You cant update BIOS because their website is still under construction 4 months after the board has been on the market
,,I am not a gamer so I really can't say how it would perform with intense gaming ,,
 


 
Re: ASUS A7S333 Sound Problems
I am not familiar with this mobo, but did anybody ever think about flashing the bios?
This goes especially for you, Shiba. I had the same problem with the a7n266 on Win XP.
 After a flash to the latest bios, everything worked perfectly.


Re: ASUS A7S333 Sound Problems
Ok guys..the jumper setting thing worked perfectly for a long time,
 but then last night it finally quit again. So I went back to the manual.
I was looking at all the audio crap and I saw something about the 6ch sound and
it said to refer to the Software chapter of the manual. I looked and saw that there
is a program that comes on the ASUS support cd that deals only with the CMI Media PCI
audio chip that is on the motherboard. I have to say, I installed it and the sound is amazing now..
it sounds better than before. We'll just have to wait to see if it corrects my problem.
But one thing....in the speaker settings in the qudio cotrol panel for the C-Media device.
.now instead of saying 6 speakers it now says 5.1...which is what I have.. Hopefully this helps.



Re: ASUS a7n266 == junk??
Apparently, asus knows about the sound problems.
They blame nvidia for poor drivers (even though I bought this
from ASUS!) There are different problems with *every* Operating
System. I've found over 100 posts about this problem from
*customers* who are unhappy.


 
HERES A FIX FOR ALOT OF YOUR PROBLEMS WITH A7N266-E
GO TO THE NVIDA WEBSITE..GO TO THE DRIVER DOWNLOAD
SECTION AND DOWNLOAD THE NFORCE DETONATOR DRIVERS AND INSTALL THEM! I HAVE SEEN THESE DRIVERS CONVERT THIS
DONKYASSED BOARD TO A GAMESCREEMING RACEHORSE!!!
IT IS A GAMEZILLA NOW!! NVIDA CLAIMS YOU WILL GET A 50% INCREASE IN PREFORMANCE..AND I HAVE SEEN IT WORK!!
THESE DRIVERS CONTAIN SOUND AND VIDEO BOOST...
GOOD LUCK ...
OH..THE GUY THAT THE SYSTEM WONT BOOT.. TAKE OUT ALL BUT
ONE MEMEMORY STICK.. AND MAKE SURE THE ONE THATS LEFT IS IN THE LEFT BANK.. THEN BOOT...
 


IVE BEEN WRESTLING WITH MY OWN ASUS BEAST.. ILL TELL YOU ABOUT IT BUT FIRST WANT TO HELP YOU WITH WHAT I KNOW..
1. THE BIOS OF THE A7N266-E SUCKS...ITS PATHETIC...there are several problems with it that are FRIGGIN WEIRD...
.for instance..
if you disable pci slot 1/5 in the bios..IT ALSO DISABLES YOUR 2DN IDE
HDD CONTROLER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
2. their are many hidden sub menus..and alot of the functions are dual used...so if you change one parameter.
.it whack something else!!!!!!!!!
2. it offers the wrong CPU/MEMMORY timing for DDR...
3. THE MEMMORY FREQUENCY ADJ IS HIDDEN.. FINALLY FOUND IT
LISTED AS "AUTO TURBO" AND SOME INDIVIDUAL SETTINGS.. BUT THERE IS NOTHING TO TELL YOU IF IT ACTUALLY WORKING..
4. IF YOU PUT ANY KIND OF MEMMORY IN THIS BOARD THAT IT DOESNT LIKE.. THIS BOAD WILL PULL SOME BIZZARE DO-DO ON YOU..
 MOST OF THE PROBLEMS WITH THIS BOARD ARE MEMMORY RELATED !
5. NOW.. heres a good one! ... my system..
new a7n266-e, new athanlon 1.7cpu, 2 new sticks of 512mb ddr-sdram pc2100 cl2 ..........
 no other card in the system at all...
the system runs fine..with one stick of ram.. add a second stick..and
you get a choice of 2 evils.. its either safe mode or dead screen..
the memmory is good..each stick works independantly ... the mother board is good..
 its even been changed out.. SAME PROBLEM...
every time a 2nd memmory stick is added..it whacks the video card from the system completly
( thats the onboard nvida) .......BUT..THIS SYSTEM ... RUNNING WIN ME..
 WILL RUN COOL AND TOTALLY STABLE AT 2.3 GHZ.. OVERCLOCKED... IT RUNS LIKE A CHEETA..
ITS A SCREEMIN GAMER.. BUT IT WILL NOT TAKE 2 STICKS OF MEMMORY!


I'm sure you've tried this already but do you have the two sticks in slots 1 and 2
 (as labled on the board, not the two slots right next to each other as you'd assume)..
. I had my two Kingston 256 sticks in the two nearby slots and has some weird probs until
i corrected the placement; now all works great except that all vid files .avi .mpg .mpeg etc
play way too fast like they're skipping; still trying to figure that one out grrr


Go to this link and download
Windows XP WHQL Certified
Version: 1.05

http://www.nvidia.com/view.asp?PAGE=nforce_drivers

That should do it. It took me messing around some even after I installed this update but
it was only a matter of settings with the audio. Sorry, but I cant remember exactly the
 spot where these settings are but it has to do with setting one to stereo and the other
to dolby digital, NOT dolby digital on both like I would think, shrug.

About the RAM...make sure the two sticks of RAM you are using in DIMM 1 and 2
are the EXACT SAME EVERYTHING....also these two sticks of RAM MUST be double sided/banked,
 not single sided/banked. If you have a single banked stick of RAM it can only be used in DIMM 3.
-------------------------------------------------------------

Out of curiosity what is you memory and how is it set up Tabbler  

[Tabbler]

Sandra. I only have the one stick of DDR memory, as supplied (256Mb).

Well, I uninstalled all the sound-based material, then re-installed .... and no difference. Everything's still as described in the first post. It's a puzzle!

What's weird is that I *can* install the 'Audio Device' stuff (see first post), and the system doesn't give any errors (ie, it doesn't say that installation has been unsuccessful, etc).

But - there's still a question/exclamation mark beside the damned device in the Device Manager! All is still quiet....

.... And there's even an updated audio driver in Windows Update which I downloaded/installed.... nada.

Next stage is an attempt at fitting a new BIOS update. I've taken a copy of the original, just in case. I feel a bit unsteady about doing this, as I've heard that BIOS updating can be fraught with danger. I'll maybe wait a bit till I try it!

In the end, d'ya think I'd be better off uninstalling EVERYTHING to do with onboard audio, and buying a separate sound card?

I read an article submitted by Bat69 which featured a 5.1 card at around a tenner. Can't say fairer than that.

[Camstop]

I ain't no techie..but have you checked that the speakers are plugged in to the right socket...coz thats the sort of thing i'd do.. :-[

[Sandra]

Well reading through the stuff I have seen about your mobo it appears that the graphics card seems to cure distorted sound,didnt come across no sound being cured by it.Cant see why an AGP card should do that but a few people said it did.
Maybe it freed up something from elsewhere and alowed it to function properly without any conflicts.
Seems a shame to spend money on a card when its got what should be a good onboard one especially as you dont have too many PCI slots available for other stuff later that you may need.
I take it that you havent had any luck from ASUS support either as many others have reported that they arent very helpful.
Did you try your stick of memory in a different slot as someone stated worked on my last reply?
Did you explore the mobo cd to see if the drivers were on it but unaccessable while on the cd and transferred them to your hard drive so that they could be found when updating them manually ?

[Tabbler]

I ain't no techie..but have you checked that the speakers are plugged in to the right socket...coz thats the sort of thing i'd do.. :-[

Damn your black heart, Capstan! Just kiddin'!

Yes - speaker setup is OK, though I usually feed sound through my HI-FI amp. I've also tried headphones. But I'm getting error-messages from MP3-players, and the like, so it's not the case that there *is* sound, and it's not getting through to me. There's *no* sound at all.

I've now read through a *lot* of comments on this motherboard (on other sites, I mean), and I've come to the conclusion that there are *so* many factors to take into consideration - memory, IRQ's, blah - that I'd be better off just going for a seperate card.

That'll show it!

[Adept]

Camstop, I've done that too. Was my face red :-[

Tabbler, is it possible that a PCI card you have in your PC is conflicting with the address/IRQ used by the mobo's sound?

It may also be worth checking that Plug and Play is enabled in the BIOS.

[Sandra]

I think he said he only had the modem one in and was removing it Adept,I think its a crap mobo from reading what I have this afternoon.Strange as I always thought of ASUS as being quite good