Oojah,

Thanks for using the Dell Community Forum.

Can you give us the exact name of the file you downloaded.

I'm sorry you're continuing to have so much trouble. I don't know a lot about your particular machine (L433c) but I can see in these forums that drivers for Creative PCI cards are causing a lot of grief. This seems to happen when the drivers need to be reinstalled, either with a fresh installation of the OS, or alternatively, in your situation.

I encourage you to read through the entire thread carefully here (graffen and VoiS2 are both me.) I'm not suggesting that you need to re-install the OS in your situation. Thread: http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=dim_audio&message.id=59949

Among some possible helpful suggestions:

(a) When your computer is booting up, and before Windows starts, get into the BIOS (usually, F2) and doublecheck that in the section "Onboard Devices", the item "Integrated Audio" is turned to OFF. Then try to install your Creative drivers. {The BIOS structure referenced here is akin to 2005 Dimension systems, but I'm sure you'll find a similar BIOS entry in yours.} Reboot and check sound.

(b) If Device Manager continues to fail to find your multimedia audio control, I'm afraid that you should consider the installation of the OS. (But not Win98se ... time to move up to XP for sure.)

(c) There is always the possibility that the Creative card is toast. How to diagnose without a fresh install of OS? I don't know.

(d) The installation of the OS isn't as bad as you might think -- *IF* you use the installation CD for Windows XP Home SP2. In fact, the full description of the process is included in the link below, and specifically addresses getting your sound card up and running.

(e) Microsoft sent out free, unlicensed copies of the full install CD for Windows XP Home SP2 in mid-2004. (It is even stated on the shipping sticker to "Share this with friends.") You might poke around their site to see if you can still get a free copy sent to you. If you cannot get a free copy sent to you, contact me.

Message Edited by VoiS2 on 08-29-2005 08:08 AM

I have a Dimension 4500 and I get a buzzing sound from my speakers.  Is there a way to resolve this problem?

Okay so...

DELL-MichaelC:
I remembered to write down the driver installations I needed to download and I went to the download section on this site.  I entered my computers model and such and it gave me a few options to download.  Knowing what type I needed I downloaded the Creative Sound Blaster.

Link to the file:
 http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/download.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&releaseid=R20634&SystemID=DIM_PNT_CEL_L___C&os=W98&osl=en&deviceid=167&devlib=0&typecnt=1&vercnt=2&formatcnt=1&fileid=20486

VoiS2:
I will attempt to do (a) in a moment and update after to see if it works.

Message Edited by 0ojah on 08-29-2005 10:06 PM

I went into my BIOS and all that is there that has anything to do with is Audio Device(s) in a Peripheral Interface options and it's enabled. 

As for the change in the O/S, I don't know if it's possible being that my computer is so old. 

One thing more ...

Creative *might* have a standalone diagnostic for the card in your system, which you have mentioned that you believe to be the Creative Sound Blaster AudioPCI 64V .  They do have such a diagnostic for later cards incl. the SB Live 24-bit. 

You may poke around Creative's web site or query exactly the above on google.

You're possibly correct about the availability of an install for XP for your current system.  But I wouldn't be surprised that you can indeed successfully install XP.  Check out the requirements below.

I don't know the specs of your system, but Microsoft's web site for XP lists the following [below] as required to install the current version of XP, which for Home use is called 'Microsoft Windows XP Home Security Pack 2'.  As I mentioned, I have a standalone install CD for XP Home SP2.  It installs XP Home, as well as updates the version to SP2, all in one shot.

System Requirements for Windows XP Service Pack 2
Published: August 20, 2004

To install the service pack, your computer must have a CD-ROM drive or Internet connection and meet the following minimum requirements:

• 233 megahertz (MHz) processor
 
• 64 megabytes (MB) of RAM
 
• 1.8 GB of available hard disk space during installation
 

To determine whether your computer meets these requirements:

• Click Start, right-click My Computer and then click Properties. On the General tab, under Computer, you will see your computer's processor speed and RAM listed.

Regarding a professional fix, I definitely don't think it's worth it.  Personally, I think you are beating yourself in the head by sticking to Windows 98SE.  There just isn't a lot of support for such a dated OS.  To point, the most recent Microsoft *patch* I could even find for 98SE was released on today's date *4 years ago*.

Windows XP Home is much more intuitive and MUCH easier to work with.  You can't beat the price of upgrading to XP:  It's Free.

Additionally, an install of XP would insert the latest drivers from the get-go.

Regarding finding the other parameters to learn whether you can install Windows XP: You mentioned you found the RAM amount.  What was the amount?

You can likely find the way to learn the other two parameters here: <<<

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/archive/win98/tips/trouble1.mspx >>>

A professional fix is probably going to result in recommend ghosting your data on the existing hard drive and then upgrading the machine to Windows XP.  (If the hardware parameters allow it.  I suspect they do.)  That would run you about $200, or you could just upgrade to Windows XP for free.

 

 

I forgot to mention that you might want to try the solution explained here:
http://forums.creative.com/creativelabs/board/message?board.id=soundblaster&message.id=27318

I have wanted to upgrade to XP, the problem is:  I don't know how to go about it.  I still can't find where the MHz and how much hard drive space I have left.  I tried looking up and such, I just can't find it.  I am quite lost.

As for my RAM I have 127MB RAM.

Microsoft Windows 98 4.10.2222 A
Clean install using Full
CD /T:C:\WININST0.400 /SrcDir=C:\WINDOWS\OPTIONS\CABS /IZ /IS /IQ /IT /II /NR /II /C  /U:xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
IE 5 6.0.2800.1106
Uptime: 0:00:51:16
Normal mode
On "*badword-deleted*" as "klik"

GenuineIntel Intel(r) Celeron(tm) Processor
127MB RAM
56% system resources free
Windows-managed swap file on drive C (2798MB free)
Available space on drive C: 2798MB of 6137MB (FAT32)
^^If any of that is signifigant.

Also with the chipset and drives... would the drives on the Download part of the Dell site be enough get my computer running?  This is a used computer as I said before... all I got with it was the tower.  No drivers disc or whatever else that goes to it.

Message Edited by 0ojah on 08-31-2005 02:33 AM