Dual Sound Cards

**djXternal** · 04-28-2005, 07:51 PM

do u actually have to have a sound blaster sound card in your pc in order to install its drivers? because if not i could try and download there drivers and install them, if that works then doesnt it mean that the problem is with the drivers for this card?

**Scouse Monkey** · 04-28-2005, 08:22 PM

OMG of course you can have mulitple sound cards.

this has been discussed before. (search!!!!)

However i would suspect that onboard audio will not work well PCI so USB would be a good option.

USB soundcards are designed to eb used with existing soundcards and not cause problems. You may be able to use a couple of PCI cards but as I say i dont knwo about the onboard. I suggest you search for the other threads.

**djXternal** · 04-28-2005, 08:25 PM

well i would go usb if i had the money, the pci was a much cheaper way to go, i may have to ditch this cheap sound card and try out a sound blaster live 5.1 card and see if that works.

oh btw, does anyone know exactly what inputs/outputs the sb live 5.1 card has?

**Scouse Monkey** · 04-28-2005, 08:42 PM

I bet the soundblaster site does

**opps** · 04-28-2005, 08:49 PM

Dual sound cards if not work mostly cause the system conflict, here are some suggestions you should try :

1. Plug out the PCI sound card before install onboard one and make it work first.

2. Change onboard sound IRQ and Address like IRQ 11 and 240.

3. Make sure your on-board work well with new setting then plug the PCI sound back into machine and start the PCI sound card installation.

4. If still have problem try to move your sound card to other PCI slot or force
the PCI slot to use IRQ it can be set in your bios setup.

Also not all sound cards can working when dual but mostly cause the conflict so try more other setting may get it work.

**Vchat20** · 04-28-2005, 08:56 PM

i dont know about you, but the dual sound card setup works just fine here and i had no trouble whatsoever installing it. onboard sound is a soundmax card and the pci card is a soundblaster 16 card. i use the soundmax card for the main sound and the soundblaster mainly for the gameport. but ive had audio run through both cards at the same time and again, no problems.

and from the looks of your setup, it seems like it should deal with it well. so the only thing i can say is that it might just be a bad set of drivers for the card. which methods have you tried to install it? xp hardware install wizard? sound card install program? have you thought about trying to find related drivers on driverguide as an additional solution?

**djXternal** · 04-28-2005, 08:56 PM

yes i checked the normal soundblaster site and couldnt find it (too old of model) but i found it on the used/refubed creative labs page....

opps:
how would i go about changing the IRQ and address... and what exactly am i suppossed to change it to?