Intel DG965RY onboard sound problems

[rmbelson]

My system:

CPU - Intel(R) Pentium(R) D 3.20GHz
MOBO - Intel Corporation DG965RY
RAM - 2X 1GB KINGSTON SDRAM 1GB/64 @ 667Mt/s
VIDEO - Radeon X1300 Series
OS - XP/2002 Home SR2
AUDIO - 6-channel (5.1) audio subsystem using the SigmaTel* STAC9227 audio codec
HD-1 - WD 180G Sata drive
HD-2 - Seagate 320G Sata drive

My new system has been troubled in the sound dept since built. I started out with another Intel board, D946GZIS. Put 2 of those in but neither could run the microphone either through the front or rear connections. Just switched to the DG965RY, same problem, sometimes mic works but too low to be heard, sometimes doesn't register sound at all. This seems to be a well known problem with these boards. All use the same Sigmatel system. Sounds play without problem, just can't record through mic or use Skype.

My bios and drivers are up to date. On the earlier boards, I tested the mic on a drive that had Win XP and nothing else, and still had mic failure, so I don't think the problem is a corrupted registry, but I could be wrong somehow.

Called Intel help and they say because my OS was set up first with the DG946GZIS I must format primary drive and reinstall XP to run new board without problem, they say the new board is somehow looking for the old board drivers, hence my continued mic problem. Is this true?

The shop that built my PC says not necessary, that Intel always makes you format just to rule out Win issues. Shop suggests we put in a decent sound card and disable the onboard sound. Plan B is to switch in a different MOBO that does not use Sigmatel.

Any advice much appreciated. I want to avoid a format and reinstall if I can as I always seem to lose something, mostly time and patience.

Thanks for letting me ramble.

Belson

 

[g-paw]

You should definitely always do a clean install of Windows, i.e., a full format, after installing a new mobo. You can sometimes run Windows with the old set up but likely to have problems sooner mainly because of the onboard drivers

 

[rmbelson]

I found a doc by an MS MVP suggesting a Repair Install of XP as being sufficient. It will detect all hardware again but keep data. Have any experience with this?

 

[g-paw]

The main problem is that you currently have drivers for the old mobo installed and even it you do a repair have to reinstall all the drivers it's likely there are residual files from the old board, Windows always leaves old files around somewhere usually in the registry. A clean install is absolutely the best way to go. I know it's time consuming and a pain in the a$$ but when all is said and done it will save you futures issues

 

[rmbelson]

Thanks for the advice. I may try the repair install first to see how things feel on the system, I can always continue with the full wipe/install later. Meanwhile I am backing up everything I can, just in case. Last time I had to do a format I thought I had everything nicely tucked away, and tons got vanished. (I think I ended up with a folder named 'backup' on my C drive as well as one with the same name on the secondary drive, and as XP doesn't make clear always the full path, I was backing up stuff to the same drive I was about to wipe out.) Duh, I know, but I am gunshy about reinstalling all. I run a zillion programs, plus there are settings not always easy to backup that take a lot of time to reestablish.

BTW - I may choose to install a sound card anyway, even if I get my onboard sound back.

Belson

 

[g-paw]

Know what you mean about setting everything up and installing programs, usually takes me 3 days to get everything the way I want it. If you put in a sound card, best to disable the onboard sound in the BIOS Good Luck