I don't know 98 but I found this direction:

If you don't see a little speaker icon in the taskbar tray, then open
the Sounds and Multimedia applet in the Control Panel.
If you have separate icons for "Sound" and "Multimedia", then click
the "Multimedia" icon. The Audio tab should be open by default - if
not, open it. Check the checkbox that says "display volume control
icon on taskbar". Click Ok. Then, open the volume control by
clicking little speaker icon in taskbar tray.

Originally Posted by talkingrock

In the multimedia box in Control Panel, the option of placing the speaker on the taskbar is grayed out. How to change that? Do it in safe mode?

You can try that. But it probably means that your sound device is still not recognised.

Did you try this driver:

VIA Audio Drivers Pack 3.70c

Wel, it may not be seeing the driver, but I wonder why not? Additionally, the driver from Major Geeks seems to be addressing the same chipset as VIA's, but the names are not the same. Why would not the driver from VIA not kick in?

I don't know; unless the sound chip died.

I have known people that that Driver Pack 3.70 worked for when nothing else would.

You could kick me, I guess. I am one of those simpletons who thinks unzipped means setup(which it did with the graphics driver). I went to the unzipped folder and clicked into the folder, found setup and clicked that. Now it all works! Thanks.

I don't kick rocks

Glad you can hear again! Which driver worked?

Please reply back with the solution that fixed your specific problem...... so others can learn from your problem. Thank you.

The original driver from the manufacturer worked, although the other would have as well. I simply did not have the presence of mind to unzip the file and then go to the unzipped folder and set it up. Once I did that, it worked, it was just a matter of figuring out where the unzipped file was, and setting up the driver. My graphics driver had not been zipped, so when I hit it after downloading, it set up. I was not expecting the extra stage to set it up.

details, details, details . . .

Cute cat, Jaynee. I have had orange tabbies before. Have an adult (15 1/2 years) gray tabby now, and she is a sweetie. Add to that my wife's two boys which are not tabbies.