Okay, I'm not sure that this is the right place to ask this question, but you all seem very knowledgeable about computers, so I thought I'd give it a shot. I recently reinstalled windows on my computer after acquiring a virus. Since then, I've had no sound. When I try to play an audio file in winamp, it says: "Bad DirectSound Driver. Please install proper drivers or select another device in configuration." I tried looking at other forums related to this problem, but when browsing through my computer it seems as though it's not picking up that I have any sound device at all. This computer is new to me, as well as the speakers...I'm really not sure what to do. Is it the soundcard that's giving me trouble? I have altec lansing speakers, I have no idea what the sound card is or how to find out, and I don't have any sort of disc to install drivers for either.
What is the make and model of your computer? Most likely you can download drivers from the manufacturer's website.
Um...it's an emachines something or other. I'm not really sure what, but I will check out the website. I reinstalled using the manufacturer disc, so I didn't think that could be the problem, but I will try. I know this computer has some upgrades with video things and whatnot because the previous owner used it for video games and DVR...I thought maybe it was an aftermarket sound card and that could be the issue. I will look into the emachines website now, thanks for the tip.
Okay, so I did go to the emachines website and downloaded the audio driver it gave me. (My computer is an emachines T3882) I restarted my computer, nothing's changed. I still get the same error message. Could there be a new audio card, and how do I find out what it is?
how many sets of sound connectors are at the back of the computer as there is usually 1 set of 3 connections? look at this link which is a pdf file & look at page 17 & see if it matches what you have or that you have another set of connectors. http://downloads.emachines.com/userguides/8511279_eM_NG3_chassis_HW_ref_en.pdf
I have the microphone jack, audio in, and audio out. there is a cord connecting my subwoofer to the audio out line, everything is plugged in. This is not an issue as nothing was unplugged since it worked last, the only change was the reinstalling of windows, so I'm sure it's some sort of driver issue. If there is a different soundcard than what originally came with my computer, how would I go about finding what it is?
drivers link. http://www.e4me.com/support/product_support.html?cat=Desktops&subcat=T-Series&model=T3882 is the speaker hooked up as per that pdf link?
Thanks, but I said that I already downloaded the drivers. From that website. That didn't help. Anyone else have a suggestion?
