CMI 8738 sound driver

  • Thread starter Thread starter GeneL
  • Start date Start date
G

GeneL

Hello:

Anyone having problems with CMI’s 8738 sound driver with Windows XP
SP2? One of my machines with the CMI 8738 audio chip shuts down on
rare occasions at seemingly random points and reports a problem with
the audio driver. I naturally downloaded new ones etc. but same
result. Can some other error be erroneously assigned to a driver?

Thanks
 
GeneL said:
Hello:

Anyone having problems with CMI's 8738 sound driver with Windows XP
SP2? One of my machines with the CMI 8738 audio chip shuts down on
rare occasions at seemingly random points and reports a problem with
the audio driver. I naturally downloaded new ones etc. but same
result. Can some other error be erroneously assigned to a driver?

Thanks
Click to expand...
Rt click My Computer\Manage\Event Viewer see if you have any errors\warnings
in the RH pane. Double click them, and they might help you get to the
problem.
best wishes..OJ
 
old jon said:
Rt click My ComputerManageEvent Viewer see if you have any
errorswarnings
in the RH pane. Double click them, and they might help you get
to the
problem.
best wishes..OJ
Click to expand...

Thanks old jon. That is a quick way to check things out.
Unfortunately in going back through all the system errors each and
every one of them is different. I shut down the driver and still get
errors. I must be missing something.
 
Hello:

Anyone having problems with CMI’s 8738 sound driver with Windows XP
SP2? One of my machines with the CMI 8738 audio chip shuts down on
rare occasions at seemingly random points and reports a problem with
the audio driver. I naturally downloaded new ones
Click to expand...

We might be better off with specifics of exactly what, where
etc, since we are not there.

For example, you downloaded which driver from where?
Did you get the newest one CMI has on their website?

etc.
Click to expand...

"etc" is a bit of a mystery too.
Certainly YOU know what you did, but, we don't.

but same
result. Can some other error be erroneously assigned to a driver?
Click to expand...

You didn't even tell us EXACTLY what "reports a problem" is.
We need know exactly, all details, everything.
What exactly does it report in every last (human
deciperable) detail? Is it a stop-error? A text message
box?

What was the system doing when it stopped?
What's changed since it last worked properly?

Is it integrated sound or a PCI card?

If all else fails, consider that 8738 isn't particularly
good, and uses more CPU cycles for gaming (if that's
relevant). Such a PCI card generally costs $5-17, and you
could find a suitable replacement card for $15, so weigh how
much your time is worth.

You might try (re)installing the latest DirectX version.
If it's a PCI card, you might move it to another slot.
You might uninstall the driver from add/remove programs and
reinstall the latest from CMI. Then try the next-newest
version from CMI (or wherever you'd have to go to get
next-newest), it's a very popular chipset and you can get a
driver for it from just about any motherboard manufacturer
or many card manufacturers, if only you figure out the model
#s of the products using them- which you can by Google
searching for 8738 and making a list.

It could even be unrelated, like a memory error that has
corrupted a file for DIrectX or the OS itself. You might
run memtest86 for a few hours and check CPU & system temps
if none of the above helps. More rarely, motherboard bios
updates solve unique compatibility problems... see whether
your board manufacturer has any potentially-relevant bios
notations about card compatiblity (even if they don't
mention your specific sound card, it may share similar
issues as other products IF/when a motherboard bios is to
blame).
 
GeneL said:
Hello:

Anyone having problems with CMI's 8738 sound driver with Windows XP
SP2? One of my machines with the CMI 8738 audio chip shuts down on
rare occasions at seemingly random points and reports a problem with
the audio driver. I naturally downloaded new ones etc. but same
result. Can some other error be erroneously assigned to a driver?

Thanks

--
Click to expand...
Sounds like you`ve got a few system event errors to resolve, from what you
said in your reply. Go back into Event manager, check on menu and delete the
lists, no need to save them. Then restart your computer, now you have a
clean event log sheet. best wishes..OJ
 
old jon said:
Sounds like you`ve got a few system event errors to resolve,
from what you
said in your reply. Go back into Event manager, check on menu
and delete the
lists, no need to save them. Then restart your computer, now
you have a
clean event log sheet. best wishes..OJ
Click to expand...

Thanks for the additional information. To Kony I would like to say
that I would have been more explicit had I known anyone was likely to
consider the problem in detail. I thought I would just keep it short
and simple. And I have since learned that this CMI driver is a
problem for many people. The best solution being to buy a Creative
Labs card.

To answer some of your questions it is a PCI card and I have tried the
latest drivers from both the manufacturer of the card, AOpen, and the
CMI website. The driver files have different dates but are actually
the same version driver. And yes, the card was cheap and would be no
problem to replace but I think I am looking at a more complicated
problem than just the sound card driver.

As for the nature of the errors. They are varied and too numerous to
enumerate but one stop error did mention a driver error and actually
mention the CMI driver. Other errors caused resets or lockups which I
reported to Microsoft and their response is always the same, driver
error. These errors occur most frequently while online but never when
sound is involved. So I disabled the sound card in control panel and
I still get some resets and the MS report is always the same, driver
error. Last night it would reset everytime I disconnected from the
internet (I live in a rural area and am cursed with dial up). Today it
seems fine, so far.

I think I will take your advice and run memtest86 and see what results
I get. Thanks for your help.
 
Hi G. If you do buy a creative sound card you`ll be very happy with it. I`ve
used Soundblaster Live Platinum for years. Good quality and very reliable.
best wishes..J

GeneL said:
Thanks for the additional information. To Kony I would like to say
that I would have been more explicit had I known anyone was likely to
consider the problem in detail. I thought I would just keep it short
and simple. And I have since learned that this CMI driver is a
problem for many people. The best solution being to buy a Creative
Labs card.

To answer some of your questions it is a PCI card and I have tried the
latest drivers from both the manufacturer of the card, AOpen, and the
CMI website. The driver files have different dates but are actually
the same version driver. And yes, the card was cheap and would be no
problem to replace but I think I am looking at a more complicated
problem than just the sound card driver.

As for the nature of the errors. They are varied and too numerous to
enumerate but one stop error did mention a driver error and actually
mention the CMI driver. Other errors caused resets or lockups which I
reported to Microsoft and their response is always the same, driver
error. These errors occur most frequently while online but never when
sound is involved. So I disabled the sound card in control panel and
I still get some resets and the MS report is always the same, driver
error. Last night it would reset everytime I disconnected from the
internet (I live in a rural area and am cursed with dial up). Today it
seems fine, so far.

I think I will take your advice and run memtest86 and see what results
I get. Thanks for your help.

--
Click to expand...
snip
 
Thanks for the additional information. To Kony I would like to say
that I would have been more explicit had I known anyone was likely to
consider the problem in detail. I thought I would just keep it short
and simple. And I have since learned that this CMI driver is a
problem for many people. The best solution being to buy a Creative
Labs card.
Click to expand...

Maybe, though people report problems with CL cards too. If
one specific driver is problematic it's likely some other
driver or system change may help- that sound chip was used
successfully on many motherboards.

To answer some of your questions it is a PCI card and I have tried the
latest drivers from both the manufacturer of the card, AOpen, and the
CMI website. The driver files have different dates but are actually
the same version driver. And yes, the card was cheap and would be no
problem to replace but I think I am looking at a more complicated
problem than just the sound card driver.

As for the nature of the errors. They are varied and too numerous to
enumerate but one stop error did mention a driver error and actually
mention the CMI driver. Other errors caused resets or lockups which I
reported to Microsoft and their response is always the same, driver
error. These errors occur most frequently while online but never when
sound is involved. So I disabled the sound card in control panel and
I still get some resets and the MS report is always the same, driver
error. Last night it would reset everytime I disconnected from the
internet (I live in a rural area and am cursed with dial up). Today it
seems fine, so far.

I think I will take your advice and run memtest86 and see what results
I get. Thanks for your help.
Click to expand...

One test may be physically removing the card and
uninstalling the driver... then see if system has remaining
problems- problems which should be addressed before further
attempt at this (or any other) sound card.
 
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