Adding a new sound card to your computer should take less than 30 minutes and requires a Phillips head screwdriver.
UNINSTALL THE SOUND CARD DRIVER IN WINDOWS XP
Go to Start | Control Panel | Add Or Remove Programs. Find the entry for your sound card, select it, and click the Change/Remove button (see Figure 1).
Figure 1: Uninstall your sound card driver or utility software in Add Or Remove Programs.
- If you can't find the sound card driver, open Device Manager by going to Start, right-clicking My Computer, selecting Properties, selecting the Hardware tab, and clicking the Device Manager button.
Open the entry for Sound, Video, And Game Controllers (see Figure 2). You may see quite a few entries. One of them is your sound card driver. Open each entry. The one with a Driver tab is the driver. You should be able to uninstall it from the Control Panel, but if not, open the Driver tab, click the Uninstall button (see Figure 3), and follow the prompts.
Figure 2: Look for your sound card driver in Device Manager.
Figure 3: Click Uninstall on the Driver tab.
- If your computer has sound integrated into the motherboard (many computers made in the last few years do), you may have to disable the onboard audio in the CMOS setup program before adding a sound card. Check your computer user manual or scan the CMOS setup program for a setting to do this.
INSTALL THE SOUND CARD IN YOUR COMPUTER
- If you're installing an external sound processor that connects to your PC with a USB port, the installation is easy; just plug the adapter into a USB port. But if you have an old sound card installed in a PCI slot, make sure you remove it first.
- Open your computer's case and ground yourself with a grounding strap and unplug any cord or cable that can bring electricity into your PC.
If a sound card is already installed, remove the screw that fastens it to the computer's chassis.
Disconnect any cable that carries audio sound from CDs in the CD-ROM drive to the sound card. The cable should attach to the top edge of the sound card (see Figure 4).
Figure 4: Disconnect any audio sound cable from the sound card.
- Remove the old sound card by pulling it directly upward out of the slot. Never wiggle the card side to side.
- Place the new sound card in the PCI slot and gently press down until it's fully seated.
Fasten the card to the computer chassis with the screw and reattach the audio cable.
If you don't have an audio cable and you want to play music CDs on your computer, you can get an audio cable at any computer store for less than three dollars.
INSTALL THE NEW DRIVERS IN WINDOWS XP
Restart your computer. Windows should detect the new card and start the Found New Hardware Wizard. Check your sound card manual for any special procedures and then follow the on-screen directions.
