How do I tell if i have a sound card or not?

[cheetah523]

I know this probably sounds like a stupid question but......

My cousin bought a used computer Dell Dimension L667R and it has no sound on it. It did not come with speakers and we do not know if ever had sound to begin with. When I look in the drivers part it says under sound, game controllers, etc. .....

---audio for usb speakers
---mdp 3900 serial wave device

I guess the mdp thing is for a modem, but is the other one for speakers that are plugged into the usb port? We bought speakers but they are not usb. We do not have a ReferenceCd to put in to check or install drivers needed. I just do not know what to look for. Like if there is a sound card, I do not know how to find it. Any help as to what to do would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[JPMiller]

OK...if you literally look at the back of the machine and there is not three small round holes differently colored ( I suppose they could be black) then there is no sound card or built in.
The built in would be up near the plugin for the mouse and keyboard (in that same rectangular space) and a sound "card " would be in one of the slots running horizontally below that.
In some older computers they combined the modem and sound on one card...
Dont know if that helps or not...

[cheetah523]

Ok, there are three holes on the back for line in, line out, and microphone. So does this mean there should be a sound card in the computer. Could it just not be installed or would it automatically install itself when you turn the computer on? Also she has windows 98 and I am not really to familiar with it, since I have xp. I have been reading about downloading an audio driver that is supposed to be used with the chipset that should be on her computer. Should I download that and try it? Thanks again.

[JPMiller]

yes...that is the sound "card"... downloading the wrong driver will not ruin anything... try it and see... you can always remove it and or install on top of it...
Plug speakers into the line out hole and see if they work...then install the driver you think is the one ...go from there...

[Rand Dusing]

You don't have a sound card, but you have what you would call "onboard" sound which comes on the motherboard.

[paul9]

right click on My Computer, select properties then device manager. slightly different for xp and probably 2000. look under the sound section.

[John Prophet]

Maybe you have to go into the BIOS and look for an option to turn the onboard sound "on"...it could be turned off in the BIOS.

If its a dell it probably has a label or tag on the back of it called a "service tag" with a number on it. You can go to Dells site and enter that number and it will show you all the specs etc and probably have drivers also.

Here is the Dell page for Dimension L series comps http://docs.us.dell.com/docs/systems/dmum/

and igf you click on "technical specifications" and scroll down you see that if seems to have this audio http://docs.us.dell.com/docs/systems...pecs.htm#audio


Creative Sound Blaster Audio PCI chip with 64-voice wavetable synthesis

So that would be the driver you need

As a matter of fact I think with Dell that you can go to their site on HER Dell computer and it will search her comp and tell you all the specs etc...and probably you could get drivers that way.

If you go here https://support.dell.com/register.aspx you can eneter your service tag number....or you can click on "find my service tag" and it will go to the utility that searches the comp etc.

That oughtta get you going, JP