Hello everyone. I really need your help. My hard drive broke, so after putting in a new one, I had to reinstall windows (XP professional). But I didn't have a recovery disc, so had to do it manually. I got everything working except the audio devices! I have a Conexant High Definition Audio device, but whichever driver package I try to install I get the same message: Could not find media device for this driver. So I guess its a problem with the XP not recognizing the device at all. Any suggestions on solving the problem are more than welcome.

There are lots of sound driver versions for lots of different sound chipsets, or sound built into the motherboard's main chipset, and the drivers for one chipset often do not work properly with another, including for the same brand. If you try random driver downloads you get off the web, it is quite likely they will be the wrong ones. Go to the HP website, and look up the driver downloads for your model, download the sound driver download - that's the right one. If there is more than one sound driver listed, go here: http://partsurfer.hp.com/cgi-bin/sp... and use the exact model number, or the part number of the model, found on a label on the outside of the computer case somewhere, to look up which sound your model has. Remove any sound drivers and associated program entries you find in Add/Remove Programs before you attempt to install different drivers. ..... Even if you DO have the right drivers, you have to install them the right way. This applies for SoundMax drivers (ADI sound chipsets) but the same applies for most sound drivers, and most other drivers in general. "How do I install audio drivers? There are two ways to install the audio driver software for your computer. Best Install Method: Run the Setup Program The most effective method to install the driver software for your computer is to run the "Setup" program that comes with the driver software. Not the Best Install Method: Let Windows Find It If the audio driver software for your computer is not installed, Windows may find it and attempt to find the driver software. If you install the software using this method: You won't get any additional SoundMAX features if they are provided in the driver software. Windows might not actually find the driver software. You won't be able to use the Add/Remove Programs feature in the control panel to remove the driver software later on. " .............................. Whenever you load Windows from a regular Windows CD (or DVD) from scratch, after Setup is finished you must load the drivers for the mboard, particularly the main chipset drivers, in order for Windows to have the proper drivers for and information about your mboard hardware, including it's AGP or PCI-E, ACPI, and hard drive controller support. If you have a generic system and have the CD that came with the mboard, all the necessary drivers are on it. If you load drivers from the web, brand name system builders and mboard makers often DO NOT have the main chipset drivers listed in the downloads for your model - in that case you must go to the maker of the main chipset's web site, get the drivers, and load them. In the case of a laptop, you may also need to load other drivers from the brand name maker's web site.

Well, I got it sorted out. The problem was with Windows not recognizing the High Definition Audio BUS. Got it fixed by installing Windows XP update (KB898461), after that it all went pretty much routine. I allowed Windows to find the drivers by itself. Brunch

I'm glad to hear you solved your problem, but what else did you do? I looked at that KB article and I can't see anything in it that would have fixed your problem by just installing that.

Well, there might have been some other Windows updates that installed automaticly, but this is the one, after which OS could recognize the devices and install the drivers. The thing is that Windows needs the computer to shut down to install the updates. Restarting just won't do. So I can't be shure that it was just the KB file, but it was the last thing I installed before it started working.

"The thing is that Windows needs the computer to shut down to install the updates. Restarting just won't do." That only applies to Windows Updates when it is set to default settings (or other appropriate settings). Other software will finish installing, if it needs to, whether you Shut Down Windows and then reboot, or you Restart Windows, before Windows fully loads or shortly after the desktop loads. When you install software other than Windows updates, it often doesn't actually work 100% until after you have Restarted Windows or have Shut Down Windows and then rebooted your computer (it doesn't matter which). It's likely something else you did caused the sound to work properly after doing that. ... Whether or not Windows Updates are installed when you shut down depends on which choice you choose. If you go to the Windows Update web page and find updates, the default is they are downloaded and installed automatically if you choose them. If you don't do that, if you have Automatic Updates set to default settings, if there are updates that have already been downloaded Windows wants to install, it usually doesn't attempt to install them until the next time you click on Turn off computer. In that case, you have two choices presented to you when you click on Turn off computer - if you click on Turn off, the Updates are installed before the computer is actually Shut Down - if you click on the other choice to turn off the computer, or if you click on Restart, they are not installed. ... "So I can't be shure that it was just the KB file, but it was the last thing I installed before it started working." The changes that made the sound work came into effect after you rebooted the computer because of something else you did. Windows Updates have nothing to do with your problem. It does not install updates for device drivers unless you go to the Windows Update web page, choose a Custom search, and then select the drivers yourself. ... "..not recognizing the High Definition Audio BUS" The drivers and/or *.inf files Windows needs for that are not built into Windows if you loaded Windows from a regular Windows CD - they are installed by installing the proper sound drivers, the proper way, and the sound drivers may not install properly if you don't have the proper main chipset drivers aleady loaded.