Resource conflicts related to sound cards are usually caused by sharing an IRQ (Interrupt Request). The default setting for a sound card is usually IRQ 5. The sound card should not share an IRQ with any other device.

If you can't determine reason why sound card does not work, or you can't solve a resource conflict, you may need to uninstall and re-install sound card.

To uninstall sound card, open Add/Remove Programs utility in Control Panel. Scroll through list of installed software and select any programs related to your sound card. Click on Add/Remove button to uninstall program.

Open System utility in Control Panel and select Device Manager tab. In Device Manager open "Sound video and game controllers" branch. Click on name of your sound card and then click on Remove button.

After removing sound card's software and drivers, turn off computer and physically remove sound card. I like to restart computer without sound card to make sure Windows plug-an-play can't find any of software components of sound card. Then turn off computer and re-install sound card in a different slot. You may have to switch slots with another card.

If your computer can play WAV files, then that verifies that your sound card has been installed properly and your speakers are working. Playing more complex sound file formats like MIDI or MP3 requires more layers of software. We will cover how to troubleshoot those in future articles. ---------------------------------------------------------- Resource Box: Copyright(C)2002 Bucaro TecHelp. To learn how to maintain your computer and use it more effectively to design a Web site and make money on Web visit http://bucarotechelp.com To subscribe to Bucaro TecHelp Newsletter Send a blank email to bucarotechelp-subscribe@topica.com ----------------------------------------------------------

BootMenu - If you want Startup Menu to appear each time that you start Windows, set BootMenu=1.

BootMenuDefault - Specifies Startup Menu command that is highlighted and selected by default when Startup Menu appears. Set this to one of menu numbers shown below.

1=Normal 2=Logged 3=Safe Mode 4=Step-by-step 5=Command prompt only 6=Safe Mode command prompt only

BootMenuDelay - Sets delay in seconds that Startup Menu is displayed before default option is automatically executed.

BootMulti - If you had DOS on your computer when Windows was installed, BootMulti=1 puts option to boot from this previous version of DOS in Startup Menu. (Windows Me does not support booting in DOS mode.)

BootSafe - For thousands of Windows users whose system stopped working properly years ago, set BootSafe=1 to start in Safe Mode automatically.

BootWarn - Again, for thousands of Windows users whose system stopped working properly years ago. Set BootWarn=0 to start normally even if previous boot failed. But because you haven't fixed what's preventing Windows from starting properly in first place, this may cause your system to freeze up with "blue screen of death".

BootWin - If you had DOS on your computer when Windows was installed, setting BootWin=0 causes your system to boot to previous version of DOS rather than Windows. (Not Windows Me).

Logo - Setting Logo=0 will prevent Windows logo from being displayed during startup. This is useful if you want to see system messages rather than Microsoft's logo during startup.

There are several other msdos.sys [Option] settings that are of limited usefulness. Also, don't be surprised if any of these options don't work way Microsoft claims they do in Windows Resource Kit. But you can try using these settings to change way Window starts for purposes of debugging or to make it start faster. ---------------------------------------------------------- Resource Box: Copyright(C)2002 Bucaro TecHelp. To learn how to maintain your computer and use it more effectively to design a Web site and make money on Web visit http://bucarotechelp.com To subscribe to Bucaro TecHelp Newsletter Send a blank email to bucarotechelp-subscribe@topica.com ----------------------------------------------------------