Hello JD,
From what you say, it is quite possible your sound card has finally called
it quits.
You can probably try the speakers with your wife's Diskman or any other
sound device that uses the same type jack. However if you couldn't hear
anything with your head phones, things do look bad for the sound card.
As far as the card being loose or unavailable, that is probable with an
improperly seated card. I'm thinking that might not be your problem since
the card would only come unseated if too much pressure was used plugging in
your devices to the sound card or the computer got jarred in some way. So I
would have to say I am probably wrong about the card being improperly
seated.
Re: Paul's suggestion to "turn off" and "power down".
This is actually a good suggestion to try before checking anything else.
Sometimes it is the glaring answer that no one thinks about until all hope
apears to be lost, and the computer is shut down to take to a repair
technician or computer guru down the street who finds the sound works just
fine when he or she turns the computer on to see what's wrong with it. LOL
I think what Paul was suggesting was that you shut down your computer
completely. I suggest you shut down from Windows ('Start' - 'Turn off
Computer' - 'Turn off' . . . just to clarify my meaning.) After the computer
shuts down, if your computer has a power switch on the back of your computer
near where the power plug connects to the computer, switch it to off or 0.
That's about the same as unplugging it from the wall. You can also unplug
from the wall if you want to be absolutely sure all power has been removed.
Leave it off for 30 - 60 seconds to give the computer enough time to cool
down enough for the residual RAM memory to erase.
Hopefully, your computer's hardware and XP will forget that it couldn't make
sound, . . . so to speak.
After the 30 or 60 seconds, power up and see if you have your sound back.
Hopefully this will do the trick. If not try moving the card as I suggest
next.
Another option is to check one last time if the card is bad, is to move the
card to another PCI slot on the motherboard and see if that fixes the
problem. That doesn't necessarily mean the slot itself is bad, but that some
program or other hardware device has decided to use the same IRQ Number as
the sound card, and if your card is a Sound Blaster that could be a very
real possibility. Sound Blasters don't like to share IRQ Numbers, . . . or
at least they didn't when I used to use them.
I hope this helps. Good luck. I'm getting ready to call it a night, but I'll
check in tomorrow before my eye appointment to see if you had any luck.
--
Happy New Year to all.
Peace,
Jeffrey W. Bowen
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