'Generic Host' Audio driver error. Help?

[Horsetuna]

So recently I took my Pc into the store to have more ram and HD installed. I got it all for free and so yay!

They also found out my power supply is on the way out, and to boot the computer I need tod o the same as pushing a car to get it started.

So bessie here is not shut down for any reason unless its absolutely NECESSARY.

Thing is, I dont know if its related or not, it could simply be something to do with a bad install, but I've been getting a 'Generic Host' error... I can't remember the exact error unfortunately, I really need to screen cap these... but it mentioned win32 and Audio Driver failing.

And then, SOME of my sound wont work.

The windows standard sounds work, Trillians' sounds work, but no DVDs, MP3s or anything will work. as well, one of my older games (which runs fine despite beint 12 years old) will suddenly start running MUCH faster after this happens.

As well, the CD slash DVD rom drive keeps on labelling the Cds I put in (In My computer of course) as the name of the first CD slash DVD I put in after a reboot. And I have to go click on 'explore' and click on the file I want since it tries to play it as a DVD slash game.

I'm not sure what else to do. The only solution is a reboot, and it only temporarily fixes it.

Thus far, I googled the error and installed a hotfix from Windows, I installed an XP Codec thing (the guy at work sent me another one, but I think he mistyped my email as I never got it), tried uninstalling/reinstalling the Audio drive (which will only install from a download. It keeps failing when I try the CD).

its not a serious thing at this point, mostly annoyance but I worry it may start affecting other things. I may have to do a full reformat, as much as I loathe that.

Any ideas?

I currently run Winxp pro with SP2, although since it thinks my key is a bad one I cant' get the full installs. I have 80 gig HD and my Intel motherboard is onboard sound-video- etc, and its' number is d915GAV. 1 gig of ram

Also what happened recently when this startd was not only a new HD and ram, but a Mac Keyboard, which works fine pretty much. That's all that's changed.

[lordlundar]

It sounds like the problem is not the sound assembly, but the optical drive.

First step is to check the drive setup in your machine. I'm willing to bet the HDD that was installed was plugged into the IDE controller and not set to master. That has the potential to produce a clusterf*** of problems. If that's the case, then set the HDD to master and the optical drive to slave. I wouldn't set it to Cable select, as that can get confusing trying to arrange the cable.

Should that fail, the drive might be failing itself and you may need to replace it. Last resort here. Try a reformat before you try that.

As well, if you haven't done so already, get the failing power supply replaced. A failure on that end usually sends raw power to the components, turning the board into a lunar surface. (IE: craters) And DO NOT OPEN THE POWER SUPPLY!. The thing is designed to convert High voltage to very low voltage, so a lot of stored power is in there, and can kill you.

[Horsetuna]

I'll see about that, albeit I'm not too sure about having to shut the computer down. Said power supply would have to be push-stated to get going again. And no, I wont open it. Mostly I have to play with the power button on the front/back to get the HD spinning up.

I'm trying to get a new power supply as well, ASAP. I will have cash on the 15th so that's likely when it will happen.

[Horsetuna]

Actually... I just realized its not JUST the dvd drive doing this though. Even my MP3s wont play after I get the error messsage.

Are you sure it can be the DVD drive? I dont want to second guess you but....

[F&R Computer Man]

[QUOTE=lordlundar;279521]It sounds like the problem is not the sound assembly, but the optical drive.

I'm willing to bet the HDD that was installed was plugged into the IDE controller and not set to master. If that's the case, then set the HDD to master and the optical drive to slave. I wouldn't set it to Cable select

Should that fail, the drive might be failing itself and you may need to replace it. Last resort here. Try a reformat before you try that.

As well, if you haven't done so already, get the failing power supply replaced

QUOTE]

Not all computers can handle more than one thing set as cable select. I have had problems with this before. I set my drives with master and slave. I also agree that you should try getting the power supply replaced. I was thinking more along the lines that the sound card is going out. But the last thing to do is try formatting the hard disk drive.

[lordlundar]

I was thinking the sound card at first myself, but considering that the startup sounds and certain other sounds are still working is the catch. Between that and you saying that it started after the upgrade occurred is leading me in that direction, as the sound card should not have been touched, let alone affected in that situation.

Your on board sound and drive interfaces are on the same logical section of the motherboard, so it is possible that one is affecting the other, and seeing that MP3s use more resources than wav files to play, that might be a factor.

But please, if someone has anymore insight to this, please second guess me. I'm only working on a gut instinct here.

[Horsetuna]

I'll check the settings... the hard drive swap has it at the same cable positoin as the old drive. They also checked the settings before putting it in.

I do want to ask why it may be the HD that has some sounds work but not others? I dont want to argue, just understand how it can be the problem

Wish me luck. hopefully I can get the comp started again. Still hunting for a power supply.

ETA: WEll, I rebooted again to watch a movie, and I didnt bother opening up Trillian for a while, and noticed the erorr did not show up until AFTER I had opened Trillian.

Running more tests....

Well, no relation to Trillian. I rebooted once, no sound off the bat. Second reboot, got the error within two minutes

[Teh_Chrons]

I would say that you have the wrong driver installed for your sound card. Go to the manufacturer's site and double check that you have the driver for your exact sound card. After the round of video card drivers were released about 6-8 months ago, I installed one but didn't double check to see what kind of card I had and picked the one I thought I had. It worked and I noticed improvement in my fps in games, but I started getting BSODs and some times the screen would just go black. I had thought it was a hardware issue, as I had recently taken apart the laptop to try to fix my headphone/mic jacks. Checking the BSOD it was being generated by video drivers, so I got the right model/type for my video card and installed that version. Since then no more BSODs and no more black screen. The differences in cards was very minute, so I was surprised that it made that much difference. Anyways, it's something to think about.

[lordlundar]

I do want to ask why it may be the HD that has some sounds work but not others? I dont want to argue, just understand how it can be the problem

It's not the HD itself, but more of the history of computer drives. Originally, the drives did not have the IDE boards on them (the circuit board on the drive) and required a separate control board to function. This was particularly the case with optical drives, which the card also covered the multimedia coding part.

Later on, the cards got moved from the Mboard to the drives themselves, but in a logical sense, still function the same way as they always have. (Logical meaning that if I were to draw a diagram showing how it works, as opposed to looking inside the machine itself)

Now this logical area that the controller is on, is shared with pretty much anything that isn't the CPU, RAM, and AGP video. Considering that optical drives still have a symbiotic relationship with sound cards, and even more so with onboard sound chipsets, when one has issues, the other one can have a related one.

I thought the HD install might be a factor because drive connections have a habit of being messed up when a new one gets installed.

Now that you've noticed the issue occurs after using trillian, do a reinstall. It might be messing around with an I/O setting.

[Horsetuna]

well, since it didnt happen the last two times upon reboot and I didnt boot trillian, I think my suspicions are false.

I may just do a full format/reinstall.

[Horsetuna]

Update: well, I first tried to install windows 98, hoping that perhaps that version of windows would work better. Wel,ll it didnt.

So I was going to reinstall XP pro again on the machine, but the CD drive wouldnt' eject the 98SE cd. So I had to put a pin in the front of the drive to get it to eject.

But when the drawer came out, the cd was still spinning I slowed it down gently with a finger and put it aside, being quite careful mind you.

So I install XP. Seemed to work, yay. Time to install drivers, etc, all that.

Hrm. The CD drive is only spinning up... and not doing anything else.

I try a different CD. I try an original cd (not a copied one or home burnt one). Same thing. In fact, sometimes I hear a high pitched whining noise, like the cd was spinning really fast. and they were beginning to come out VERY hot to the touch.

So I shut down the computer finally and unplug the CD drive, now wondering how I will install everything on my HD without a CD drive (I called my boyfriend, in tech support, and told him the symptoms and he says it does sound like the Drive is pooched).

So I sit, then I see my OLD Hd (remember, the guys at the store gave me a new one). Yay! I pop it in, play 'push start' with the drives and I'm back online!

I DID back everything up on CDs before I reformatted, thankfully. And I just realized now I can use this drive to copy the drivers, etc... I need, and then use it as a secondary HD to install from by hooking it up in the place of the old DVD drive.