Win98SE: No audio devices in CPL Multimedia, but drivers are OK

[Marius '95]

Hi!

I'm back to MSFN after a very long absence. It's nice to see the Win9x section is still here.

I finally have a new (but old) PC that is Win98-compatible and I tried to make it work, but I'm a little rusty after using Win7 and 10 for so long. I need some help.

Everyone knows that installing a clean Win98 isn't the most pleasurable experience, especially adding patches, fixes, tweaks, installing programs, configuring everything, etc. I remember it took 2 days to do a full reinstall. So, when I was using Win98 as my main OS, to avoid a full reinstall, I saved a fresh Win98, patched, tweaked and with all my usual programs installed and configured, packed as DriveSpace volume and stored on a CD. When I need a reinstall, I would delete the old DriveSpece volume and restore the saved one from the CD.

Unlike WinXP, in Win98 this restore method also worked after major hardware changes, such as replacing the entire computer: I would first boot in Safe Mode, empty the Device Manager except for ACPI, and then reboot in normal mode. After reboot, Win98 would detect all the devices again on the new machine and everything would work as if it was originally installed there. I did this dozens of times and I had no problems.

I still have that saved Win98 volume and I tried to use it on this new machine. But this time it didn't work as expected. I have a very weird problem: There are no sound devices available in Control Panel / Multimedia. The Output and Input selection boxes are grayed out, as if no sound cards are installed, but the sound card is OK in Device Manager and the mixer, wave out and FM synth are visible in Multimedia / Advanced tab. I tried with a different card - same problem.

Any ideeas what could cause this and how to fix it? I would like to avoid doing a fresh install.

Thanks.

[awkduck]

What is the audio chipset? How new/old is the driver that you used? The driver's inf file usually has a date in it, near the top (inf file comments). While you are checking out the inf file, just check that it is indeed a CHICACO style inf.

I'm guessing that device manager actually says the driver is working correctly? You could also check the driver file properties (while you are in device manager) to see if some of the files listed exist inside your driver's installer folder. Just check the folder corresponding to Win98 (could also be a folder named win95, win9x, vxd ,or wdm). Some of the files listed may be Windows system files, so not all files may exist in the driver's installer folder.

If you had to hunt the driver down, off the net, then it might just not be the perfect fit for your machine. Especially, if it is newer. I've had problems, like the one you are having, when the driver was made for a different version of Windows (some actually worked). If the driver is old, like say before WinXP even was on the market, then its probably something else (registry issue?). If the driver didn't come with the device, it could still be an issue with your machine not matching some special configuration.

I've seen, for example, an Emachine audio device not work because it was fabricated just a little off from standard. Drivers matching the hardware vendor ID just wouldn't work. It had to be the Emachine version of the driver. Even a matching driver, from a different Emachine, would not work. I haven't seen it often, but when I have, the driver almost always needs to come from the restore CD/partition. I've seen some old Compaq machines like that too.

[defuser]

I connect to the question. I also faced a similar problem and made all sorts of attempts to solve it. Namely, two audio devices were missing from Multimedia (One on the PCI bus, and the second on the USB). On the new (Test) installation, they were naturally there (the USB device appeared even on the virtual machine). But on the old one, transferred from the previous PC - they did not appear there (And on the virtual machine, too). I've tried everything. The only thing I was able to find out for sure then was that the root of this problem is in the registry files (SYSTEM.DAT; USER.DAT). I don't remember exactly, but I think only the first one had a real impact. And yes, I was never able to beat this problem back then, trying to find the key differences. I had to perform a clean install and apply all the fixes, patches, settings again, and transfer a lot of things from the previous OS installation. But it was easier than I had feared. And it didn't take so long - I managed the main one in a day and about a week more for the final polishing, on the spot, in the process of work. Although not without surprises (It's like walking all the way through a rake again). But now everything is behind us, all the devices are now in place, everything is working relatively smoothly, as planned, and, of course, a working backup has been made.

[SweetLow]

13 hours ago, Marius '95 said:

The Output and Input selection boxes are grayed out

It's pretty easy to reproduce such condition:

SYSTEM.INI:[BOOT]

drivers=mmsystem.dll power.drv
 

if delete mmsystem.dll from drivers list you will get exactly this.

So try to check this option and validity of mmsystem.dll

P.S. And the second parameter:

SYSTEM.INI:[DRIVERS]

wave=mmsystem.dll
 

Edited November 28, 2024 by SweetLow
p.s. added

[awkduck]

22 hours ago, SweetLow said:

It's pretty easy to reproduce such condition:

SYSTEM.INI:[BOOT]

drivers=mmsystem.dll power.drv
 

if delete mmsystem.dll from drivers list you will get exactly this.

So try to check this option and validity of mmsystem.dll

P.S. And the second parameter:

SYSTEM.INI:[DRIVERS]

wave=mmsystem.dll
 

Dear God, let it be just this :)

[Marius '95]

No, it wasn't that. But I fixed it somehow.

Inspired by @defuser, I opened regedit and manually removed all I could find about the old sound cards. Then I manually installed the SoundBlaster non-PnP driver, the one provided by Win98. The sound card appeared in Multimedia and works with the onboard AC97 in SBPro compatiibility mode. I'm doing a backup now, then I'll remove SBPro and install the normal VIA AC97 driver.