Biostar mobo not recognising soundblaster cards

[Guest]

Hi all,

Just moved a whole lotta bits from a Dell XPS420 over to a new mobo/case/psu setup. Full kit list now:

Biostar TPower I45
Intel Q6600, with Arctic Cooler Freezer 7 pro
3Gb RAM
2x750Gb HD
Generic (Dell) GeForce 8800GT, with Thermaltake HR-03GT
2x DVD Writers
Antec 300 Case, with 2 additional Akasa 120mm red LED fans in front.
Be Quiet! Dark Power Pro 550W psu
Akasa internal card reader.
Sound Blaster Audigy (SB0570)
Vista Home Premium.

Okay, most things worked fine when I built it. I didn't reinstall the OS, just booted from the hard drive. I just had to load the drivers for the Biostar website for chipset, LAN.

Only device that wasn't recognised was the Sound Blaster. I'd disabled on board sound in the BIOS. I thought this odd, as the SB had worked on the old PC, so I knew the drivers worked under Vista. I re-downloaded the drivers and tried to reinstall, just in case. The driver install claimed no compatable hardware installed and quit.

I checked the BIOS/Manual for any way to enable/disable PCI slots, in case this was the issue, no joy. I then tried an old PCI network card in both PCI slots, just to see if it was mobo or card. The NIC was recognised straight away. At this point, I assumed I'd done something stupid and blown teh sound card. Oh well, get another one, slight upgrade to enable me to us the HDA front audio sockets on the case, which would be handy.

So bought a SB X-Fi Extreme (PCI) card. Installed... and same effect - card not detected. Tried new drivers, tried both slots, nothing. Put the NIC back in - recognised. Either SB card - nada.

Tried driversweep to remove all traces of Creative sound card drivers - nothing.

Tried on-board audio, this works... but DoW II and Red Alert 3 stutter badly, which is what I got from the on-board audio on the Dell XPS420, and prompted me to go sound card in the first place!

I even tried the most extreme option - wipe hard drives and reload Vista from scratch. Still wouldn't locate them (I've reverted back to my original Vista build now, from a Windows Home Server backup image).

Gonna try the SB cards in other PCs at work this week just to confirm if they are working... but the chances of both a previously working card and a brand new one both being broke seem remote...

So help! I'm not sure what else I'm missing - something obscure in the BIOS I've missed? Some fundamental incompatibility?

Really frustrating, because I dare not start over clocking with this mobo until I've got the sound issue sorted...

 

[mamw93]

That's why you don't buy Biostar. It a problem with compatabiltiy. Try to manually Add New Hardware and see what you get.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for responding. Add new hardware finds nothing new. If i go down the 'add manually/have disk' option, it still won't see the cards.

I'm interested in your comment regarding compatability; it's not something I saw any mention of when researching the board. Can you send me any links to more information on potential compatability problems - one thing I've considered is returning the new card and picking up a PCI-Express model instead...

 

[pat]

. I didn't reinstall the OS, just booted from the hard drive. I just had to load the drivers for the Biostar website for chipset, LAN.

I think your problem is just there...

 

[Guest]

Thanks Pat... I had that thought too, which is why

I even tried the most extreme option - wipe hard drives and reload Vista from scratch. Still wouldn't locate them (I've reverted back to my original Vista build now, from a Windows Home Server backup image).

Just to clarify: device manager does not see these cards _at all_. Also, small update: I've tried plugging the original Audigy into another PC (Dell Optiplex 280, currently running Win7 beta build 7000) and it recognised it and loaded drivers immediately.

Also: I tried resetting BIOS to optimised defaults and failsafe defaults, just to see. No change.

 

[pat]

I missed that part from your long post... Try with just one stick of memory. memory problem can cause strange problem.

 

[Guest]

Thanks Pat. Tried this, with two different sticks (512Mb and 1Gb), and same effect.

Any mroe ideas anyone? Has anyone expereinced anything similar with other motherboards?

 

[IndyMcQueen]

Did you have any joy fixing this, I have an issue with an X-Fi music, mine recognises it's there and even says it's working correctly in device manager but when I plug my speakers in I get nothing? Any help would be appreciated. Did you say you disabled on board audio? I couldn't see that option in my BIOS.