Bypassing On-board SoundCard

First of all, thanks to all that chipped in their 2 cents worth involving the automatic rebooting problem. I still haven't figured out what the problem is, or where it's coming from, but from the responses, I now know a little more.

Now, on another subject, sound cards. My sound card is on-board my motherboard and so I was wondering, if/when I purchase a new soundcard, will I need to figure out a way to bypass the on-board one, or will it automatically read the new one?

I'm not too knowledgable on the whole BIOS issue. My friends have instructed me to go into the BIOS and disable the sound there. I'm a little timid about going into the BIOS, seeing how if I make a mistake, uh oh! So, if any of you have any more "change" (2 cents-for the ones that didn't get that) I would appreciate some help. I use Phoenix BIOS.

Thanks again..

yeah well here's what u do.. uninstall your old integrated sound card and install your new one.. :)

either that or your system will recognize both sound cards and you can have an option on which one you want to use..

if u installed your new sound card, it will display in your Device Manager that you have two sound cards.. it doesnt matter really.. its same logic as using 2 Ethernet adapters..

It can matter in some instances, as the inbuilt one can interfere with the new card..

Have a look at your motherboard manual.. It should have something about disabling it... you'll probably just have to switch some jumpers or something...

Before you change some hardware like disabling the sound card with a jumper or from in the BIOS first make sure you deinstalled it in Windows otherwise your windows become unstable. Oh it already was? get Linux. (just kidding):)

The phoenix Bios isn't realy that difficult.

Check the Onboard perhipherals and set onboard sound chip to disbabled.

So that is what you have to do when you doesn't like having 2 soundcards in your system. Although 2 soundcards could be amusing when you use some studioprogs and things like that.

What these guys/gals/others have said is pretty much on the money. Having done a lot of PC work, I'm not too afraid to do anything concerning the BIOS with exception to flashing it (flash the wrong prom and you're buying a new motherboard just about). In the BIOS you'll see a section for 'Integrated peripherals' or something similar and in there you can disable the onboard sound. This will free up an IRQ and other needed resources so your new soundcard shouldn't have any problems. In some instances, two soundcards isn't a problem. In others, it is a problem as they both jockey for the same IRQ, get confused, and you're stuck with nothing. This is especially the case if your soundcard has jumpers for IRQ settings that match what the onboard soundcard has (unless your bios is new enough to change it).

Or if you like playing around with DJ programs you can keep both cards and use mxing programs that require that.
Or just get in the BIOS and disable the onboard sound.

Thanks for all of the suggestions. One thing though:

How does one go about "getting into the BIOS?"

I run Win2k, in case that helps in the least bit. I haven't gotten my card yet so I don't know what conflicts it might arouse, but when I do, I will let you guys know. (knocks on wood)

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first make sure you deinstalled it in Windows otherwise your windows become unstable

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"deinstalled" what? The sound card? I didn't know you could "un-install" things that were on-board? Is it the same as de/un-installing programs and/or drivers?

Reluctantly waiting...

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Originally posted by j0bber

How does one go about "getting into the BIOS?"

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Getting into the BIOS depends on what type of BIOS & Motherboard you have. Some use F2, some use Delete..
You should be able to see it just after you turn on your computer.

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The sound card? I didn't know you could "un-install" things that were on-board? Is it the same as de/un-installing programs and/or drivers?

Reluctantly waiting...

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You can remove the drivers for the sound card from Windows, and tell Windows to ignore the device..

Thank you Matty Cross. That was a dumb question, seeing how everytime I boot up, I'm always on the edge of pressing the F8 key, just to see what all of the "hub-bub" is about.

Should I try the BIOS tip first, before I uninstall the drivers? I don't want to uninstall the drivers and then have no sound, before I check out the BIOS, do I?

<random facts>I apologize for sounding so "new." I'm only 21 and have been around computers for about 5 years now. I would consider myself more knowledgable in the software field, than the hardware/networking field. I'm a computer graphics major with a minor in art, so I usually don't have to worry about the "insides" of a computer, just the programs I use.</random facts>

Sorry for the lifestory. I'm not sure where that came from.
Thanks again...

I could be wrong here, but I think that disabling the device in the BIOS renders the drivers for that device useless, thus, I'd try BIOS first, then remove the drivers after you boot up.

Correct me if I'm wrong, as I don't know how the PnP(Plug 'n Play) feature in Windows works, exactly.

Ouroboros

From my personal experience I've been able to just install the alternate card and the BIOS will disable the onboard sound automatically.

However I have also encountered boards that require you to disable them in the BIOS , just like a few people have already mentioned. :cool:
You dont have to do much in the operating system at all, just remove the drivers because the OS should remove the device, it will not load a device into the device manager if it is not present. ;)

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Originally posted by j0bber

I'm a computer graphics major with a minor in art, so I usually don't have to worry about the "insides" of a computer, just the programs I use.</random facts>

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Matty_Cross mutters something about arts students... hehehe j/k :D

Uh oh, struck a chord inside, huh? Have some deep-seeded issues regarding art students?

We aren't all bad, but it only takes a few to ruin it for the rest of us. That's kind of like the whole "bad guy" syndrome.

When girls go through a bad experience with some jerk, they tend to over-generalize and spout off on how "all guys are jerks!" Not all art students are <insert explative here>.

And yes, I did see the "j/k" and the smiley, so I know it's all in fun. Just wanted to put that, because I have seen where things have been taken too seriously and before you know it, a post will have gotten 45 "Oh yeah, well F*** you too!" replies.
Interesting, huh?

A minor point about Pnp. Making a lot of assumtions here, but if you run a version of Windows prior to XP, and you want the DOS compatability driver to work (sound blaster emulation), then you may need to fiddle with the IRQ settings in the BIOS. Typically this can be done by setting IRQ10 to 'reserved' in Award BIOS -don't know what the equivalent is for Pheonix BIOS. Well it worked for me, anyway!
All completely irrelevant unless you play games that require DOS support, like for example most of the emulators out there.

Oh yeah, one thing I just remembered from darkes' post. If sound blaster emulation is on and something important like your network card steals the IRQ, you won't get too far into your windows startup as it'll freeze entirely. Solution: go into safe mode, get into device manager (right-click on My Computer -> Properties -> Device Manager tab), find the soundblaster emulation, and disable that device). This is recourse for that IF you're freezing up or you just don't want DOS emulation (chances are, you don't need it, it's there for legacy support).

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Originally posted by Ouroboros
I could be wrong here, but I think that disabling the device in the BIOS renders the drivers for that device useless, thus, I'd try BIOS first, then remove the drivers after you boot up.

Correct me if I'm wrong, as I don't know how the PnP(Plug 'n Play) feature in Windows works, exactly.

Ouroboros

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I you make device drivers useless by disabling them in the Bios, Windowz (earlier then XP) isn't smart enough to get that so you could end up with a frozen system.

To prove: if you have some ISA or PCI soundblaster in your pc remove it without first disabling the drivers. Your system will behave strange, I bet on it.
The same goes for network devices.

Sometimes probs occur with NIC and sound cards: cause lot of soundcards try to get IRQ 5 or 10 and many NIC's also do that so you have to change the NIC settings or the soundcard. (I changed the soundcard IRQ to 7 on an old box I have here, and everything works fine. This sure differs from box to box)

Common keys to get in the BIOS is pushing Del, F2, Ctrl-Esc, F10 or F1 for some IBM and compaq boxes during POST (Power On Self Test).
If you don't know the key: search on the net for your manufacturer or use a trick: shutdown pc, disconnect keyboard, startup, your pc makes a beep and says "no keyboard present press [the key to use BIOS] or resume". shutdown put the keyboard back in, you can now alter the bios by pressing the key that the system showed you.

(this works only if "halt on all errors is on", if not the pc won't stop and go on without keyboard. I have tried it only on DIN and PS2 keyboards so I don't know for USB)


If your new card is PCI: no prob change your Bios IRQ config settings like earlier said this will free some IRQ for it.

If your conflicting card is ISA PnP you have to disable drivers shutdown take the card out, restart, shutdown, put the card in, restart, now the PnP settings are reset and you see the install driver screen from windows again. It worked several times for me. For the onboard sound: remove the driver in Windows like you would remove any other device. then restart with your new soundcard in your pc it should be recognized by Windowz.

I have a mo-bo with a rubish card and an only slightly less rubish PCI card. In my experience both co-existed happily and in Windows you can use the multimedia setting (in control panel) to set which device is used. It should be possible to have one deal with WAV and one with MIDI. I think the same is true for linux (but I've disbled the onboard sound now), you should be able to compile both modules and insert the one you need by editing /etc/modules.conf (I think).

Great info, VictorKaum, thanks!

You have to be careful about removing drivers if its a "yamaha" onboard sound card. Some of those put an entry in "add remove programs" If you strip the drivers out of device manager without using that option you could be in for a format/reinstall(this happens at Dell all the time). crystal on board drivers can usally be taken right out of device manager.

larryjs is right about this (caution !) :

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You have to be careful about removing drivers if its a "yamaha" onboard

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Indeed this **** happens with DELL. I forgot about it, I had the same going on with a DELL pc. So Ouroburos if you use a DELL and did something what screwed it up, I'am sorry for it.

thnx for the thnx
:)

Why do you need to un-install your in built sound card. Get your new sound card put it in install the software plug the speakers into the new sound card and it should work fine. simple.

RED FRACTION if it was simple this thread wouldn't be so long. It can be simple sometimes your theory works fine, here we are dealing with another possibility:

- For some reason this guy or girl wants his onboard sound disabled.

- If you work with 2 soundcards it can happen that there is some conflict between resources (like IRQ, I/O Adress, DMA)
you need to make some changes then... :)

Oh ok then sorry...