A while I go I formatted my computer at work because of some new hardware I had to install and, because I thought I had all the software I needed with me, I didn't back up any of the drivers. I had all important documents with me, and had formatted my home computer so many times before, what could possibly go wrong?

Well, it seems everything is working just fine, except for the sound card... and I don't even know what sound card is inside this computer That was really silly of me, I know, but before opening the computer case and taking a peek inside it, there are two things I'd like to ask:

• Do I really need to open my computer in order to find out what sound card is in there, or can I find this information somewhere on that device management thingy? (I'm using Windows XP, by the way)
  
  
• Will I really find this info written somewhere on the sound card?
  

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Are you using onboard sound or a discrete sound card?

I can recommend finding a copy of Everest Home Edition. It will tell you many of the specifics regarding your motherboard's chipset, etc. This might save you some time.

depends on the type of sound. you should have a motherboard disk with drivers included if it's onboard. um to find out do this

right click my computer icon

select manage

Device Management

it'll list everything & if theres no drivers for the soundcard it'll probably have a question mark on it, that means it'll need some. u can then right click on it & maybe search for drivers or google the name of the device & find them on the company website

You formatted your hard drive to install some new hardware?



download aida here http://www.majorgeeks.com/download181.html

itll tell you exactly what hardware is inside the box. google the name of the sound component and dl whatever drivers you need.

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Also, if it's a PC made from a major manufacturer, you can often look up your stock configuration on the website.

(For example, support.dell.com allows you to look up your system by its "service tag" and then will show you all the hardware that shipped in your machine.)

It doesn't tell me much about the sound card, Ian:

quote:

Originally posted by CleverName You formatted your hard drive to install some new hardware?

Yeah, for some reason, the copy machine was not willing to communicate with my computer because of some conflict. Not even the guy from the support service knew what was going on so we all decided it would be a nice idea to just format the damn thing

I'll check the software you guys recommended

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quote:

Originally posted by david.michael Also, if it's a PC made from a major manufacturer, you can often look up your stock configuration on the website. (For example, support.dell.com allows you to look up your system by its "service tag" and then will show you all the hardware that shipped in your machine.)

It isn't

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well under control panel you can check if it is on the mobo or PCI, but if its the latter, that wont help much...i suggest pulling the card and looking for brand names, numbers that you can google with 'driver' some where in the search.

for motherboard and cpu related info i like CPU-Z, it gives you info to search for if you have onboard sound.

ps...

you could also just use the default windows sound drivers until you find something better|

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quote:

Originally posted by Lira It isn't

let windows search for the best default driver, it should work...


if not, pull the card and look for something that might tell you what to search for|

(its PCI)

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quote:

Originally posted by Lira It doesn't tell me much about the sound card, Ian:

the question marks are there though which signals there's no driver installed I'm sure if you google the question marks you might find something

You could try using Windows update...under the "advanced" tab, then "hardware", it will likely find a driver to use.

The safest and most reliable method of course is to google the exact model number. Just turn the computer off, take it out and read the back of the card. It should take about 30 seconds to find the brand and model. Google that and get the proper driver from the manufacturer.

Off topic:
You're THAT well versed in Japanese? Awesome.

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