This problem has arisen over recent months and my many cries for help have proved fruitless! Usually when I switch on my PC there is no sound enabled. When this first happened I reinstalled SoundMax via the Add/remove Programmes facility in Control Panel which worked fine on restart but then the next time I turned on the PC the sound was again missing and I had to repeat the reinstall process. I later found that just by restarting the PC the sound card would install. The regular routine now is - Switch on computer (no sound detected) - Restart computer and hey presto! the sound is there!

I know this doesn't sound like a serious problem but it is annoying having to restart the PC each time I switch on and I'm not sure this is a good thing to be doing all the time!

Anybody got any ideas what could be causing this problem?

Is this a PCI sound card or onboard?

I would recommend uninstalling the program from Add/Remove then uninstall the drivers from the Device Manager then reinstall either the card software/drivers or the motherboards'.

Originally Posted by jephree

Is this a PCI sound card or onboard?

I would recommend uninstalling the program from Add/Remove then uninstall the drivers from the Device Manager then reinstall either the card software/drivers or the motherboards'.

Thanks for the advice. Since it is onboard sound I assume I can action the uninstall/reinstall without the need to for a cd - sorry if this sounds a stupid question!

You will need the drivers but they are probably on_line.

If this was a retail computer what is the exact make & model? e.g. Dell Dimension 4500.

If this was a custom build what is the make & model of the motherboard?

If you do not know this scan should say:

http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html

What is listed under System Model as well as Main Circuit Board?

Drivers should be available at the manufacturers web site.

Thanks for the suggestions.

I do have the Dell Dimension Resource CD supplied with my PC which includes Device Drivers and I have already used this in an attempt to reinstall the audio drivers but without first un-installing SoundMax. This did not cure the problem. Should I have un-installed SoundMax before running the CD? (In my ignorance I thought it would just install over the existing driver)!

Uninstalling the previous driver is usually recommended. Then rebooting.

Originally Posted by jephree

Uninstalling the previous driver is usually recommended. Then rebooting.

For some strange reason Soundmax is behaving itself at the moment (it does this from time to time!) so I will leave well alone. Thanks for all your advice which I will follow next time it goes wrong (as it surely will!!!)

Cool. Let us know how it goes.