Hercules CMI8738 soundcard problem

I have tried different PCI slots.
OS is Windows 2000 SP4
This card worked a month ago in this computer.
I also tried different versions of sound drivers.
ASUS Mobo does NOT have onboard sound.

I'm trying to troubleshoot a soundcard problem. The card is a Hercules Gamesurround Muse LT (CMI8738), I get the card installed without a problem but the soundcard will not playback any audio. In sound properties in Windows the card's there and installed but the only option selection is for recording (which doesn't work), the playback area is greyed out. The game port causes an error (cannot find driver) upon install but the audio device installs fine. There ARE errors when uninstalling the driver. Explorer crashes and says mixer.exe has generated errors, blah, blah, blah when uninstalling the driver but the driver seems to uninstall and asks for the "mandatory" reboot. After it reboots, it finds the card again asks for drivers, I install drivers and it turns into a horrendous cycle of no work-um from which I cannot escape.

So. Playback is not an option. I tried another soundcard, it's a CMI8738 as well and the same thing happened. I believe it's a driver issue. I guess what I need to know is how can I remove all sound driver history (completely) from windows 2000 and start from scratch with this soundcard. Any help is appreciated.

Thanks,
John H

 

You MIGHT be able to uninstall the sound drivers through the Device Manager; locate the card in the Device Manager and look for a radio button which will allow you to uninstall the drivers. If the uninstall causes problems, try to REinstall the drivers, then try to uninstall them again. A corrupted driver installation can interfere with the uninstall process...

If that doesn't work, you can manually scan through the WINNT\INF folder for the CMI .INF files; if you can identify one CMI .INF file, any others are likely to have the same date, which would be a good clue. I would URGE you to first COPY the entire INF folder (which is normally hidden) to another location (I have a VAULT folder on my system which holds a complete copy of the INF folder), just in case you delete a file you need.

I can't guarantee you'll find every related file (they might not all be inside the WINNT\INF folder), but you can always use Search to scan through ALL the files in the WINNT folder, and use the "Containing text:" option to look for files that mention "CMI8738" to help you.

Next, boot into Safe Mode, open the Device Manager, and delete any references to the soundcard; make sure you are thorough about this.

Then, shut down, unplug the system, and physically remove the card from the system.

After that, plug the system back in, and boot up. Enter the CMOS Setup program (usually by pressing DEL during POST); then, look for an option to "Reset the Configuration Data", or "Reset ESCD", or "Reset DMI", or something to that effect. Doing that will wipe the previous hardware entries from the DMI table within the CMOS, and force the CMOS to redetect / re-poll the existing hardware at POST. You will probably have the chance to "ENABLE" the "Reset ..." option, so look CAREFULLY through the CMOS settings.

It is possible you won't find ANY "Reset ..." option; in that case, look for a setting to "Clear NVRAM", which will have the same effect as resetting the configuration data. "NVRAM" is the non-volatile RAM within the CMOS, used for the settings that don't change very often (such as the list of installed hardware). Change the "Clear NVRAM" setting from "NO' or "DISABLE" to "YES" or "ENABLE", or whatever it might be, then save your settings when you exit the CMOS, and reboot the system.

Making this change will force the CMOS to redetect the installed hardware; save the settings on exit, reboot the system into Windows, and check the Device Manager. If you're lucky, you won't find any sign of the soundcard listed there; if you do, you've overlooked something, or there is a setting deep within Windows which still holds information about the soundcard.

If the system is CLEAN, you can shut down, unplug, and physically install the soundcard. When you reboot, Windows should find it and ask for the driver, but you should be working from a (relatively) clean slate, and that might allow you to get everything working properly again.

Good luck; take your time with this, and let us know how things turn out.

 

The Windows install was having major (corruption) issues, and I would call it partially broken. I was unable to add or uninstall Windows components in Add/Remove Programs. All sorts of odd errors and failures in event viewer. Harddrive was starting to click a little and SMART was reporting errors. I decided not to waste more time than necessary. I backed up the important files, installed a new/used master hdd, slaved the old drive and reinstalled Windows 2000.

EDIT: Sounds works fine now

 

SMART is an EXCELLENT piece of technology; IIRC, it was developed by Quantum, and in all the years since it became available, I've NEVER seen it misdiagnose problems with a harddrive. EVERY one of them identified as having issues (reported by SMART) has failed, sometimes within minutes after I booted a system sent in to us for repair. We can't always save the data, but we make every effort to do so...

Glad to know you're back in business...