Why do my sound cards never get installed?

[LazyBoy]

I've been integrating drivers into my Windows CD. Everything gets installed fine except sound card...does anyone know why?

This is the WINNT.SIF file from my latest install (this is for an nForce2 mobo).

OemPnPDriversPath="Drivers\000_chipset\agp;Drivers\000_chipset\mem;Drivers\000_chipset\SMbus;Drivers\002_video;Drivers\003_network;Drivers\003_network\PreNRM\WinXP;Drivers\004_audio\audio0;Drivers\004_audio\audio1;Drivers\004_audio\audio2;Drivers\005_printer"

The chipset installed fine; video card installed fine, network card installed fine as well as the printer...just not the sound card. In device manager it shows ! besides the name. This is not the first time that's happened too. On my main PC I had this problem too, the X-Fi sound card had a ! next to it in device manager. I always have to reinstall the sound card after Windows installation is complete.

What's interesting is that when I install the sound card after Windows installation, I point them to the same folders I use in my answer file. It works in Windows, but not for Windows installation and I don't know why.

Can someone help?

[jguyomar]

Hi!

It may be that your drivers are either not signed or that there is only a Compatible-ID match and not a Hardware ID Match between you Sound Card and your drivers, in what case WINXP by default will not install those drivers automatically. But you would still be able to install them when logged on with administrative rights!

Let me know if your drivers are signed or not!

If they are, you should find a .cat file among all your driver files.

J.

[LazyBoy]

I just checked and they are in fact, unsigned...which is weird. I downloaded the drivers from Nvidia website which are supposed to be WHQL certified.

Either way, I also have:

DriverSigningPolicy = Ignore

NonDriverSigningPolicy = Ignore

...in my answer file, shouldn't that pretty much take care of any issues with unsigned drivers?

This problem always ONLY happens with sound card drivers....

[jguyomar]

Take a look at the following article:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechn...y/tpcdploy.mspx

(search for "Unattended Setup and RIS CD-Based Images")

It says that "DriverSigningPolicy = Ignore" should take care of an unsigned Driver but only if it is the best match, that is a Hardware ID match!

Maybe the drivers that you got from NVIDIA are not the proper ones for your Sound Card.

I guess you checked first but sometimes websites are so messy that it is hard to find the proper driver especially with NVIDIA Drivers!

To make sure, take a look at the Inf file of your driver and look for the Hardware ID or name that looks like the one of your sound card.

To make sure that u get a Hardware ID match, install manually you NVIDIA driver and go to the Device Manager.

Double click your Device and click on the "Details" tab.

Look at the "Device ID" and "Hardware IDs".

Then search for those IDs in your inf file.

If you find 1 or more in your inf file, make sure that they correspond to Hardware IDs too and not Compatible IDs.

Here is an example:

[intel.Mfg]

%iMGM% = i852GM, PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_3582

%iGDGD0% = i915G0, PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2582

%iGDGD1% = i915G1, PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2782

%iALVD0% = i915GM0, PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2592

%iALVD1% = i915GM1, PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2792

%iLPGD0% = i945G0, PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2772

%iLPGD1% = i945G1, PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2776

%iCLGD0% = i945GM0, PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_27A2

%iCLGD1% = i945GM1, PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_27A6

This is what you have in the INTEL 82852/82855 GM/GME Graphics Controller Driver Inf file.

This Driver can actually handle different Graphic Controllers.

The 1st line tells gives you the Hardware ID but no Compatible ID.

So in

%iMGM% = i852GM, PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_3582

"PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_3582" is the Hardware ID of your .inf file.

If it had a compatible ID, it would read like this:

%iMGM% = i852GM, PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_3582, Compatible_ID

So just take a look at your .inf file and let me know about it.

J

[boomer187um]

get ur driver from realtek

Edited May 31, 2006 by boomer187um