Help; HP Vectra VL400 sound/audio?

  • Thread starter Thread starter hondog
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hondog

I have a hp vectra vl400; PIII 1000 i believe. Using win98 SE. it was
given to me etc. i installed a new drive partioned for win/linux.
I installed win98 and some drivers to get my Matrox 2 monitor up.
anyway;

? 1) when i have a cd under media player no volume control is
available, i.e. start-programs-accessories-entertainment-volume
control


nada, nothing, zip; is this a device driver problem? any ideas.


change thoughts/question;


? 2) i was thinking after i get win98 running as half ###ed as it
can,
i wanted to run Linux possibly Ubantu as a dual boot machine, any
advice ; is this an o.k. choice -vs- red hat/SuSe or something else?
hardware probs etc.
 
hondog said:
I have a hp vectra vl400; PIII 1000 i believe. Using win98 SE. it was
given to me etc. i installed a new drive partioned for win/linux.
I installed win98 and some drivers to get my Matrox 2 monitor up.
anyway;
Click to expand...

Weird, I just did one of these. Mine was the small form factor one that
was using onboard video *and* sound. The system, as I got it, was in ok
shape, but I scraped and reinstalled, thinking it would be the easiest
way to sanitize it before dumping it at Catholic Charities.
? 1) when i have a cd under media player no volume control is
available, i.e. start-programs-accessories-entertainment-volume
control

nada, nothing, zip; is this a device driver problem? any ideas.
change thoughts/question;
Click to expand...

The audio was screwed up, though, even though I used what appeared to be
reasonable drivers from here: (mind the wrap)

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsuppor...riesId=32853&swLang=13&taskId=135&swEnvOID=20

I could get them install without complaint, and my Device Manager looked
good, but WMP9 would not play WAVs or MP3s. A sound would start playing
on startup, but would cut out.

Ultimately what I did was to restore the system I had wiped out, and
just cleaned it up. A look in the Device Manager showed the drivers to
be the same names and versions as what I had tried.

I did noticed that the drive had a Win98 folder on it that appeared to
be a Windows 98 SE installer, presumably with all of the right drivers.
Is that data of any use to you?
? 2) i was thinking after i get win98 running as half ###ed as it
can,
i wanted to run Linux possibly Ubantu as a dual boot machine, any
advice ; is this an o.k. choice -vs- red hat/SuSe or something else?
hardware probs etc.
Click to expand...

I was wondering the same thing myself, but ultimately decided that the
VL400 was sort of a pussy machine to invest much time in.
 
I should add that I also applied the audio patch listed in HP's vectra
support page, but that it did not fix my problems.

If you want the Win98 installer (use your own Product Key) I can email
it to you. It's 168MB zipped. Let me know if you need it cut into
smaller parts.
 
I should add that I also applied the audio patch listed in HP's vectra
support page, but that it did not fix my problems.

If you want the Win98 installer (use your own Product Key) I can email
it to you. It's 168MB zipped. Let me know if you need it cut into
smaller parts.
Click to expand...

Is this different than anything that is on what my Win98 SE install
CD, what seems to me is that the propritary device driver is needed.
I'll try the patch at techsupport website mentioned, that's where i
got the sound driver i am presently using, and plug and play around.
let ya know, if your installer has what i need i will get back. I post
my findings.
 
I have a hp vectra vl400; PIII 1000 i believe. Using win98 SE. it was
given to me etc. i installed a new drive partioned for win/linux.
I installed win98 and some drivers to get my Matrox 2 monitor up.
anyway;

? 1) when i have a cd under media player no volume control is
available, i.e. start-programs-accessories-entertainment-volume
control


nada, nothing, zip; is this a device driver problem? any ideas.
Click to expand...

Probably, since a default install of Win98SE has all the
features needed for audio playback, and you have not
mentioned installing an audio driver nor getting audio
playback in any other apps. See Control Panel -> Sounds &
Multimedia (I think that's how the category is labeled,
remembering such minor details of naming in Win98 I'm not
sure of). See if that Control Panel category lists an audio
output device, if not it's pretty clear why no audio in
media player.


If the HP driver doesn't work for you, examine the board to
see what audio chip (larger roughly 25mm rectangular chip)
is labeled, or if it lacks one, what the audio codec chip is
labeled (smaller roughly 8mm, you may need a strong
flashlight and/or magnifying glass to read it) and the
southbridge.

Using the details of the audio chips seen on the board you
should be able to find a generic driver for it. If you
can't Google a result for that, post the chip markings here.
In some cases a driver might be marked for WinME but works
with 98SE (WDM type) or might be marked for Win95 and/or 98
but works with 98SE (VXD type).

The HP download for your system "seems" to be here:
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsuppor...0&swLang=13&mode=2&taskId=135&swItem=vc4543en
Specifically,
ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softlib/software1/vc4543/vc4543en/vdf737en.exe



A 3rd party forum suggested it uses CS4299 Audio Codec '97
version 2.1. That alternate driver (which might be newer
and more desirable?) might be found here,
http://www.cirrus.com/en/support/drivers/audio/OS18.html
specifically,
http://www.cirrus.com/en/software/drivers/audio/PW4031.zip

This is a 98SE/ME/2K WDM driver, which might also work for
XP.

If you have not yet installed the chipset driver for the
motherboard, you should also do that.
 
hondog said:
Is this different than anything that is on what my Win98 SE install
CD, what seems to me is that the propritary device driver is needed.
I'll try the patch at techsupport website mentioned, that's where i
got the sound driver i am presently using, and plug and play around.
let ya know, if your installer has what i need i will get back. I post
my findings.
Click to expand...

I don't honestly know if the installer I have is any different than a
standard one. It would not surprise me to find out that HP spiked a kit
with their own drivers. If I had not be able to restore a known working
system and just do cleanup, I probably would have tried this installer
to resolve my problems.
 
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