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To complete the sound card installation
process, the correct sound card drivers and any other audio-related
applications must be installed. A sound card driver is the software
that allows the computer operating system to communicate with the
hardware. It is important that the driver being installed matches the
particular sound card as well as the installed operating system.
Faulty drivers can cause either distorted audio output, no audio
output, or can adversely affect the performance of a computer.
After installing the sound card, start the computer and Windows will initiate the installation of a driver for the hardware. Following the notification of new hardware detected, the operating system will prompt the user for a disk or CD supplied by the manufacturer. It contains the sound card driver and will continue the installation process. Updated device drivers can also be downloaded from the manufacturer's website. Another method of installing a driver is to do it manually.
Once the sound card is physically installed, a user can install,
change, or update the driver by using Windows Device Manager. The Device
Manager can be used to select the sound card and to view its
properties. Check the driver version to ensure that the most
current is installed.
A sound card driver can also be installed by using the software that accompanies the sound card. Most sound card manufacturers include a disk or CD with their product. It typically contains different drivers for the sound card, other audio applications, and an installation program for the drivers and applications. Running the installation program allows the user to choose the proper sound card driver as well as any audio applications to install. These audio applications can include music players and generators, audio capture utilities, speech-recognition programs, and volume/tone controls. After the sound card is properly configured and the software configuration complete, the sound card and speakers need to be tested for possible problems. Most of these checks are very simple. They include checking to see that the speakers are plugged into the speaker port. It is not uncommon for the speakers to be mistakenly plugged into the card MIC (microphone) port. Likewise, if the sound card will not record sound, make certain that the microphone is installed in the proper jack (not the speaker jack), and that it is turned on. Check the amount of disk space on the drive to ensure that there is enough to hold the file being produced. |
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