Windows 8.1 audio debacle

[goose134]

So my buddy who is a professional computer programmer updates literally everything on my computer every time he comes over. It's usually pretty great to have a service like this. However, Windows 8.1 was installed and my audio card does not appear anywhere in the device manager. I've installed drivers recommended by both HP and Intel and no dice.

I think my next move is to try and physically remove the card and try to reinstall it cold or buy a new one and try that.

Anyways, if you have Windows 8, wait for 8.2. Mercifully, my machine still sees the ASIO drivers for the MOTU so I can still work on something.

[Electricide]

So my buddy who is a professional computer programmer updates literally everything on my computer every time he comes over. It's usually pretty great to have a service like this. However, Windows 8.1 was installed and my audio card does not appear anywhere in the device manager. I've installed drivers recommended by both HP and Intel and no dice.

I think my next move is to try and physically remove the card and try to reinstall it cold or buy a new one and try that.

Anyways, if you have Windows 8, wait for 8.2. Mercifully, my machine still sees the ASIO drivers for the MOTU so I can still work on something.

what kind of card? I pulled the firewire pci (just PCI, no e or x or etc) out of my xp tower and it worked without any drivers in win 8. no issues after 8.1 update. running asio with tracktion 4 and a mackie onyx satellite.

Did you pore through your bios settings? do you have an identical other other slot to try it in?

[Snarl 12/8]

Can't you just roll back to 8.0 and wait for 8.2?

[goose134]

I'm going to try and pull my card and reinstall it. As to the type, until I do that I'm unsure as to what type.

There was a reason that installing 8 would be more work than the audio card, though this was coming from the mouth of my wizard friend so I may not have been able to translate it. It seemed pretty compelling, though.

[Nick Sevilla]

Why I never let anyone touch my work computer.

Sorry to hear you're dead in the water.

[Electricide]

So my buddy who is a professional computer programmer updates literally everything on my computer every time he comes over. It's usually pretty great to have a service like this. However, Windows 8.1 was installed and my audio card does not appear anywhere in the device manager. I've installed drivers recommended by both HP and Intel and no dice.

I think my next move is to try and physically remove the card and try to reinstall it cold or buy a new one and try that.

Anyways, if you have Windows 8, wait for 8.2. Mercifully, my machine still sees the ASIO drivers for the MOTU so I can still work on something.

you didn't say anything about drivers from the card manufacturer...is this not an m-audio/motu type card? just a soundblaster or something?

[goose134]

So I opened the machine last night expecting to find a PCI type card. Not so much. The audio bits are built into the board, though I'm sure they're modular in some fashion. So the truth is, I can't even tell who MAKES the damn thing. In any case, this is probably the opportune moment to get the audio card that will drive the additional TV monitor in the studio. So I guess really 8.1's colossal audio failure was providence. Thanks for the replies.

[digitaldrummer]

you mentioned HP, so if you look on their support site, for your specific model, I'm sure it will provide a clue as to what chip is on the motherboard.

you might also check the system setup (accessed by some hotkey before it boots into windows). sometimes you have to hit ESC or another key to prevent the company logo from obscuring that info though. make sure you didn't inadvertently disable the onboard sound chip. if you did, it won't show up in device manager.

if you are getting unknown devices or "yellow bangs" in device manager, then you just don't have the right drivers installed yet.

Mike

[Snarl 12/8]

I didn't reread the thread, so forgive me if I'm repeating or missing something. But I think the guy directing you to the HP site is on to something. Get all the latest audio (and maybe even other drivers, like "chipset") from the HP site. You might even think about flashing your BIOS at a time like this.

[Electricide]

he already said he'd updated the HP drivers in the first post.

If this is motherboard audio, I might do this:

right-click the volume icon in the notification area (lower right next to the clock...from the desktop, not from the apps screen).

Select "recording devices"

Right Click in a blank space under the listed devices and see if the "show disabled ..." options are checked. Sometimes they are not checked and you can't enable or cofigure the particular ports you want.

you can also go to the device manager screen, and in the "view" menu at the top of the screen, select "show hidden devices". maybe that would get you going.

[Snarl 12/8]

1) Is the BIOS the latest and greatest?

2) Also, did this computer originally come with OS 7 (or younger?) I make it a rule not to upgrade non-commodity PC's beyond their basic OS version number. It's so hard to know what exactly is compatible with proprietary hardware.

3) Finally, make your friend come back and fix it. He might/better know some cool tricks to try.

[Nick Sevilla]

Finally,
I once built a custom Pc for audio.

Totally from scratch, and with Windows 2000 Professional.

I manually permanently turned off the then new "auto update" feature,
along with several other things which are not needed for this task.

I used Nuendo 1x and Logic 5.5 (PC!!!) and it was very stable.

I used Motu 2408mkiii (1) and a Motu 24io (x2) for 56 channels of io at super low latency, like 1.6mS.

This was like 2003. It still works, as an online editor for my Tascam MX2424, which does not have a mac interface which is compatible with the modern Mac OSX.

It took about a week to configure the operating system and BIOS to work properly, and to figure out which PCI card went exactly with which PCI slot on the motherboard, since not all iterations worked.

Cheers

[goose134]

The "problem" with Windows 8 is that there is no time to get to the escape screen options. It took a while, but I do like the W8 OS. So while I tried, there is no way to get to the escape screen during boot up. (as far as I know). I did find disabled devices in the device manager, but was unsuccessful in trying to resurrect them. My friend will be over after the holidays and I will have him take a look at it, but I suspect I'll have to get a new sound card. Thanks for the new avenues.

[goose134]

Oh, and the machine came with Win 8 (64 bit) originally installed.