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1703
October 7th, 2009 21:00
Adding Creative Blaster Soundcard to XPS 420
I want to add a soundcard to my XPS420. In the manual for the computer, it says to disable the on-board soundcard in CMOS but it doesn't say anything about uninstalling the drivers for the high definition audio. In the quick start guide for the sound card, it says to uninstall any previous drivers. So is it required or not? And if so, do you uninstall them from the device manager or some other way. I looked at another computer that had a sound card added. I saw that the old drivers were still loaded. Not sure if they disabled the on-board sound card or not, but I saw that both devices were listed as options for recording devices.
Thanks
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kev914
11 Posts
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October 7th, 2009 21:00
Also, the box says that you can use the card in a 1x, 4x, 16x pci express slot. The 1x and 4x slots are open. Is one better than the other?
Alexandra_P
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2.6K Posts
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October 8th, 2009 12:00
1) Removing the drivers and disabling the onboard audio in the BIOS is just to prevent a possible conflict between the two - either software (drivers) or hardware. Some PC's can have 2 audio devices installed and active without a conflict, some can't, but it's no big deal to try it either way - if it doesn't work, you just start over. Windows itself can only have one default device at a time, but some media players or recording software may allow you to assign different audio to each.
The standard procedure is to uninstall the onboard drivers from Add/Remove (Sigmatel for the 420), then shut down, restart, and disable the onboard audio in the BIOS. When it boots there should no longer be any audio device listed. in Device Manager - just the standard Windows drivers. Then shut down again and follow the instructions to install the card.
2) The slot doesn't matter. x1, x4, etc. refers to the number of data lanes. Since a x1 card uses only one lane there's no advantage to using the x4 slot - the other 3 lanes just won't get used. Doesn't work the other way round, though - you can't put a x4 card in a x1 slot.
kev914
11 Posts
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October 8th, 2009 17:00
Thanks, I got it working. I couldn't find a place to disable the on-board sound card in CMOS. Maybe it's called something other than what I'm thnking it would be. I have them both listed and it seems to be working OK.
Alexandra_P
4 Apprentice
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2.6K Posts
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October 8th, 2009 18:00
Glad you got it working.
Should you need to disable it in the BIOS, the onboard audio should be listed under Onboard Devices as Integrated Audio.
Davet50
6 Operator
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14.4K Posts
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October 8th, 2009 18:00
The onboard audio is listed under the onboard devices section of the bios see HERE