Internal sound undetected A7V880

  • Thread starter Thread starter Roni S
  • Start date Start date
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Roni S

My problem is that I can't install the internal soundcard (soundmax/VIA
vt8237), running winxp. The hardware is undetected by windows. I've tried
all released BIOS, I have replaced the motherboard (tested 3 different
boards), tested without PCI cards installed, latest VIA drivers. I've also
asked ASUS support two times, both times I got the same reply, if their
suggestion doesn't works (not overclock which I don't and latset VIA which
already was installed) I should get a replacement motherboard. Well, I've
tried three so far....



Have anyone else had the same experience or have any suggestions.? Should I
try with a fourth board or wait for ASUS to acknowledge this as an error
(new BIOS update or new motherboard revision).?



Thanks in advance.
 
"Roni S" said:
My problem is that I can't install the internal soundcard (soundmax/VIA
vt8237), running winxp. The hardware is undetected by windows. I've tried
all released BIOS, I have replaced the motherboard (tested 3 different
boards), tested without PCI cards installed, latest VIA drivers. I've also
asked ASUS support two times, both times I got the same reply, if their
suggestion doesn't works (not overclock which I don't and latset VIA which
already was installed) I should get a replacement motherboard. Well, I've
tried three so far....



Have anyone else had the same experience or have any suggestions.? Should I
try with a fourth board or wait for ASUS to acknowledge this as an error
(new BIOS update or new motherboard revision).?



Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

There are many downloads you can try.

For starters, a driver needs to know about the Southbridge
type and the AC97 codec type. The AC97 standard has a base
set of registers, so sometimes you can get basic functionality
with the wrong driver.

That being said, start by downloading the Asus supported driver:
http://www.asus.it/support/download/item.aspx?ModelName=A7V880&Type=All

The soundmax.zip file on that web page, has a .inf called smwdmVI3.inf,
whereas a driver designed for the ad1888 used on the p4r800-vm has
a .inf called smwdmATI.inf. So, for a driver to work, I would expect
to see the "V" for Via in the .inf file name.

There are other files in the ad1888 directory, but as I said, ones
for other Southbridge chips probably won't work.

ftp://ftp.asus.com.tw/pub/ASUS/misc/audio/ad1888/ (don't bother)

If the soundmax.zip file in the download directory doesn't work, consider
that the A7V600-X is claimed to use an ad1888 chip as well. The
A7V600-X has a VT8237 Southbridge, so this means the hardware should be
identical to your board (for the purposes of finding a sound driver).

http://www.asus.com.tw/support/download/item.aspx?ModelName=A7V600-X&Type=All

Now, what is strange, is the download for that board, points to:

http://www.asus.com.tw/pub/ASUS/misc/audio/ad1980/WDM_3663.zip or
ftp://ftp.asus.com.tw/pub/ASUS/misc/audio/ad1980/

and the contents of the SMAXWDM directory would appear to be the same.

So, there are a couple of places to look for drivers.

ftp://ftp.asus.com.tw/pub/ASUS/mb/socka/KT880/A7V880/SoundMAX.zip
ftp://ftp.asus.com.tw/pub/ASUS/misc/audio/ad1980/WDM_3663.zip

Have fun,
Paul
 
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