fun with onboard soundcards

[Crisp_Rapper]

riiiiiight, i'm staying at my girl's parents' house whilst they're on holiday and i have this lovely fat broadband pipe plugged into this pc so i can surf in comfort FOREVER, there's just one problem, her dad knows nothing about pcs and last night i was sat sorting out that auto shutdown virus thing for an hour...

after much arsing about it's done and done, but there's still another problem, he bought a new motherboard and it has an onboard soundcard. i have NO idea what the board is as i can't see a logo when i take the sides off the case.

so i'm wondering, in windows 98 system menu you could SEE what the mobo was as it'd tell you, but this pc has xp, which seems to be 'idiot friendly' and i can't find out anything helpful about this pcs setup using it, i just need to know how to bring up what mobo it's using then i can get a driver for the soundcard as i NEED music, this silence/pc fan humming is driving me insane.... please help!!!!

[eghamninja]

Give Sisoft Sandra a whirl, it will tell you everything you ever need to know about the PC.

http://www.sisoftware.co.uk/

[Crisp_Rapper]

Give Sisoft Sandra a whirl, it will tell you everything you ever need to know about the PC.

http://www.sisoftware.co.uk/

hehe, i JUST downloaded it, here's what i managed to pull off systemwise:

SiSoftware Sandra

System
Manufacturer : MICRO-STAR INTERNATIONAL CO., LTD
Model : KM266-8235
ID : FFFFFFFF-FFFFFFFF-FFFFFFFF-FFFFFFFF

Mainboard
Manufacturer : MICRO-STAR INTERNATIONAL CO., LTD
MP Support : 1 CPU(s)
MPS Version : 1.40
Model : MS-6738
System BIOS : 04/18/2003-KM266-8235-6A6LVM4DC-00
Chipset : VIA KT266/A,KT333

System Memory Controller
Location : Mainboard
Error Correction Capability : None
Number of Memory Slots : 4
Maximum Installable Memory : 1024MB
Bank0/1 - A0 : Empty
Bank2/3 - A1 : DIMM 512MB
Bank4/5 - A2 : Empty
Bank6/7 - A3 : Empty

Chipset 1
Model : VIA Technologies Inc VT8375 ProSavageDDR PM266/KM266 CPU to PCI Bridge
Bus(es) : ISA AGP PCI IMB USB i2c/SMBus
Front Side Bus Speed : 2x 100MHz (200MHz data rate)
Width : 64-bit

Logical/Chipset 1 Memory Banks
Power Save Mode : No
Fixed Hole Present : No

APIC 1
Version : 0.03
Speed : 16MHz
Multiplier : 1/2x
Maximum Interrupts : 24
IRQ Handler Engaged : Yes
Enhanced Support : No

Memory Module(s)
Memory Module 2 : Samsung M3 90S6450AT1-C75 512MB 18x(64Mx4) ECC SDRAM PC133R-333-542 (CL3 up to 133MHz)

Environment Monitor 1
Model : Winbond W83697HF ISA
Version : 6.00
Mainboard Specific Support : No

Temperature Sensor(s)
Board Temperature : 28.0?C / 82.4?F
CPU Temperature : 39.5?C / 103.1?F

Cooling Device(s)
Auto Fan Speed Control : No
CPU Fan Speed : 3924rpm

Voltage Sensor(s)
CPU Voltage : 1.68V
+3.3V Voltage : 3.31V
+5V Voltage : 5.08V
+12V Voltage : 11.73V
-12V Voltage : -12.03V
-5V Voltage : -4.95V
Standby Voltage : 4.92V
Battery Voltage : 3.07V

AGP Bus(es) on Hub 1
Version : 2.00
Speed : 4x
Fast-Writes Enabled : No
Fast-Writes Support : Yes
Side Band Enabled : No
Side Band Support : Yes

PCI Bus(es) on Hub 1
Version : 2.10
Number of Bridges : 1
PCI Bus 0 : PCI (33MHz)
Multiplier : 1/3x

LPC Hub Controller 1
Model : VIA Technologies Inc VT8235 PCI to ISA Bridge
ACPI Power Management Enabled : Yes
Random Number Generator Enabled : No
Multiplier : 1/4x
Speed : 8MHz
DMA Multiplier : 1/2x
DMA Speed : 4MHz

USB Controller 1
Model : VIA Technologies Inc VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (All VIA Chipsets)
Version : 1.10
UHCI Interface : Yes
Channels : 2
Speed : 48MHz
Legacy Emulation Enabled : No

USB Controller 2
Model : VIA Technologies Inc VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (All VIA Chipsets)
Version : 1.10
UHCI Interface : Yes
Channels : 2
Speed : 48MHz
Legacy Emulation Enabled : No

USB Controller 3
Model : VIA Technologies Inc VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (All VIA Chipsets)
Version : 1.10
UHCI Interface : Yes
Channels : 2
Speed : 48MHz
Legacy Emulation Enabled : No

USB Controller 4
Model : Micro-Star International Co Ltd (MSI) VT6202 USB 2.0 Enhanced Host Controller
Version : 2.00
Specification : 1.00
EHCI Interface : Yes
Channels : 6
Companion Controllers : 3
Addressing Support : 32-bit
Legacy Emulation Enabled : No

System SMBus Controller 1
Model : VIA VT823x SMBus
Slave Device Enabled : No
Speed : 16kHz

Expansion Slot(s)
PCI0 (1h) : PCI 32-bit +5V PME Full-Length Used (VIA Technologies Inc VT8633 Apollo Pro 266 CPU to AGP Controller)
PCI1 (2h) : PCI 32-bit +5V PME Full-Length Used
PCI2 (3h) : PCI 32-bit +5V PME Full-Length Available
AGP (8h) : AGP 32-bit +5V Full-Length Available (Nvidia Corp GeForce2 MX/MX 400 [NV11])

Port Connector
PRIMARY IDE : None - ATA / None
SECONDARY IDE : None - ATA / None
FDD : 8251 FIFO - Floppy Disk / None
COM1 : Serial Port 16450 - 9 Pin Dual Inline / DB-9 pin male
COM2 : Serial Port 16450 - 9 Pin Dual Inline / DB-9 pin male
LPT1 : Parallel Port ECP/EPP - DB-25 pin female / DB-25 pin female
Keyboard : Keyboard - PS/2 / PS/2
PS/2 Mouse : Mouse - PS/2 / PS/2
USB : USB - None / None
AUDIO : Audio - None / None

now i'm not exactly computer literate, i can use the internet, play games etc, a slight bit of arsing about/fixing, but that's it... i've had a quick look on the microstar international website for soundcard drivers but there doesn't seem to be one that matches up with any of those numbers above (am i right in thinking this is what i should be looking for ""Model : MS-6738"" ???)

[eghamninja]

Just had a quick look around for you. You can download the sound drivers from here

http://download.msi.com.tw/support/dvr_exe/alc53.exe

Also you might also want to download the latest 4in1 drivers from here as well.

http://download.msi.com.tw/support/dvr_exe/VIAHyperion4in1448v.exe

[Crisp_Rapper]

riiiiight, the 2nd exe seems fine but the first one... just where do i install it to anyway?

i have to leave for work now, but i'll arse around with it later, thanks for the help!