sound card

jolynyk · Post by **jolynyk** » 28 Feb 2005 8:49 pm

One more question.. I installed a new motherboard.. it has an onboard soundcard, & it sounds real good.. very acceptable, BUT it has no midi inputs or synths.. In my other computer I have Soundblaster that also has a part, that fits in the 5 1/2" bay in front of the computer.. very good card, & in front it has optical in/out, earphone jack, midi in/out, line in/out.. If I install this Soundblaster card in this computer with the built in sound will there be a conflict? or will I be able to use both, or will Soundblaster automatically take over as default sound.. I also have Roland VSC installed.. Thanks in advance..
John

Bobby Sparks · Post by **Bobby Sparks** » 28 Feb 2005 9:19 pm

John,

Assuming that Windows is your operating system, you should first go into your device manager and disable your existing sound card, then there will be no conflicts with the new card.

Hope this helps, BNS

Jim Phelps · Post by **Jim Phelps** » 28 Feb 2005 9:49 pm

I would check in the BIOS setup first.

jolynyk · Post by **jolynyk** » 1 Mar 2005 1:57 pm

OK thanks for the help....Jim do you mean to disable it in the BIOSD, before or after I install Soundblaster?? John[This message was edited by jolynyk on 01 March 2005 at 02:01 PM.]

Jim Phelps · Post by **Jim Phelps** » 1 Mar 2005 9:55 pm

John, if you're sure you want the soundcard in the computer, I'd go ahead and install it. Make sure your computer is turned off and unplugged before you do it, just to be safe.

Then after it's in, turn your computer on, and go into the BIOS setup. You probably know how to get there, but if you don't, hitting the DELETE key as soon as the "checking RAM", "Detecting Drives" screens go away usually does it. You can hit the DELETE key several times to make sure you got it at the right time and no harm done. Some computers are kind enough to say on the screen, "Press the DELETE key to enter setup", and of course that's when you do it.

Then after you're in the BIOS screen, find the setting for on-board sound chip. I'm not sure where you'll find it in your BIOS since they're all different but you definately won't find it in Boot setup or Passwords... When you find it, hit whatever key your BIOS says to toggle it to DISABLE. Exit and save.

The computer will continue to boot up and will detect the sound card and will either configure a driver for it or prompt you to install the driver from CD or whatever.

You didn't say what operating system your computer has. Windows XP is quite good at detecting common hardware and configuring drivers automatically. If you have a Soundblaster CD that came with the card, even if Windows configures a driver for it, you can still install the drivers and other software from the CD.

If you go into BIOS and there's no DISABLE toggle for the on-board soundchip, you can just put the card in (shut down and turn off the power to the computer first!!!) and then install the drivers for the card from the CD. Then go into the device drivers screen and disable the on-board sound chip. I'd prefer it to be done in BIOS if possible, but if not, whatever you have to do to disable it.

I did this same thing with this computer, disabled the onboard sound in BIOS and put my Soundblaster in when I first got it and it worked fine, but then I took a better look and found that it has a MIDI port for the onboard chip so I took the card back out and enabled the onboard sound and it works fine.

Let us know if you have any problems.
[This message was edited by Jim Phelps on 01 March 2005 at 10:33 PM.]

jolynyk · Post by **jolynyk** » 2 Mar 2005 3:26 am

Thanks Jim... Yes the reason I want to install the sound card is that the onboard sound has no midi in or out, & I want to play with BIAB. maybe get my son to run some MIDI keyboard into it. Also there are no Synths in it.. The onboard one does sound real good however.. could I get around it by using a cable I have that plugs into the game port? this cable has 2 pigtails with midi in & out. Then I wouldn't need the SoundBlaster .. John

P.S.. I'm running Windows XP Pro, 3.2 CPU, 1 gig memory..[This message was edited by jolynyk on 02 March 2005 at 03:28 AM.]