Telling Windows What Sound Card to Use?

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

<mcbacon@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1111741905.382796.101260@l41g2000cwc.googlegroups.com
> Hi, I've recently bought a set of surround sound speakers and a
sound
> card from Hercules. I'm having some problems though. Windows did a
> fine job of finding the right driver for me using its auto-find
> service, but I am getting no sound on websites, and getting system
> sounds for error messages.
>
> In Winamp, in the settings, there is a "Direct Sound Output"
> config. In there I can choose the device. Primary sound device has
the
> message "error getting device info (device in use ?)", but If I
> choose C-Media Wave Device I can here the sound fine.
>
> Is there a way of telling Windows "this is my sound card and
> speakers, nothing else!!"?
>
> Thank you for reading. I'll be more than happy to answer any
> questions that may help you solve my frustrating problem.

In XP you set this at Start Button, Control Panel, Sounds and Audio
Devices, Audio, Playback, Default Device

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

<mcbacon@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1111746577.076300.130940@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com

> Thanks, but it seems all of these settings are greyed out : /
>
> (Oh, and I am using Win XP)

That most likely means that the driver for your audio interface is not
loading properly.

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

<mcbacon@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1111762540.067950.165150@l41g2000cwc.googlegroups.com

> That is very likely, but this is the only driver I have i'm afraid

There's a common situation where the C-Media Wave device driver gets
half-loaded in when some other driver is the correct one.

If this is an on-motherboard sound system, find out the make and model
of the motherboard (usually silk-screened on the motherboard) and see
if you can get a better driver match by downloading a driver from the
motherboard manufacturer's web site.

If you need any more help once you get a few relevant facts, just post
your next question here.