Try driver dot com.

That's a strange mother board you have. Some of the drivers come up if you google "foxconn K7S741GXMG" looks like mother board name was changed or something anything is possible with an e-machine.

It's always best to go directly to the mother board site to get the driver I could not find the site for Winfast and ended up at Foxconn and there were the drivers although I did not see one for xp????

See what driver .com offers and let us know.

Remember if this driver thing turns into an issue and it could, you can always install a sound card cheap, that is a separate card that installs on the mother board, as far as I know with the information you now have onboard audio directly on the mother board.

Thanks for the help. And sorry to be so late getting back with results. I did download software from this site that was supposed to check my drivers. It did and as suspected found that I did not have an audio driver. But, they want a $30 purchase price for the software to find the driver. So I opted to look for a driver myself and after re-reading your reply to my post, went to Foxconn and found one. Downloaded. But still no sound, and when I try to start Windows media player the computer crashes.

Again thanks for your help, but I believe I have gone as far as I can. Had hoped to get by without spending on this computer, but am going to get a quote on repair and see how much it might be. I think this is beyond me.

Frances

I need to know the operating system you have installed?

What version of windows media player are you using?

Do you have any sound at all or is it just Media player?

What error are you getting from windows media player I would need the blue screen error? Are you able to see the blue screen error or is the computer rebooting to fast, in that case we would need to Disable Auto Restart on system failure that way you can read the blue screen.

To disable auto restart on system failure:

1. Navigate to the Control Panel in Windows XP by left-clicking on Start, followed by Settings and then choosing Control Panel.

2. In the Control Panel window, open System.
Note: In Microsoft Windows XP, depending on how your operating system is setup, you may not see the System icon. To correct this, click on the link on the left-hand side of the Control Panel window that says Switch to Classic View.

3. In the System Properties window, click on the Advanced tab.
4. Locate the Startup and Recovery area and click on the Settings button.

5. In the Startup and Recovery window, locate and uncheck the check box next to Automatically restart.

6. Click OK in the Startup and Recovery window.

7. Click OK in the System Properties window.

8. From now on, when a problem causes a BSOD or another major error that halts the system, the PC will not automatically reboot. Rebooting manually will be necessary.

One other thing you may try is to Right click My computer choose properties now click the hardware tab, choose Device manager when you get into device manger scroll down and look for games & audio you may need to click the + sign to the left to expand the field look for audio driver there it should be listed when you find it right click it now choose "uninstall" and reboot the computer and see if windows finds it it may or may not but it is worth a try.

I really appreciate your help, but don't want to keep troubling you with efforts in vain. In an earlier (feeble) attempt on my own to try to fix the audio problem, I had downloaded version 11 of Windows Media player (I have WinXP Home Version 2002 Service Pack 2) and this must have been part of the problem with the computer shutting down. I've gone in to the add/remove and rolled the version of media player back to 9 and the computer no longer shuts down but I still don't have any audio. It appears to be playing - but no sound. There are absolutely no sounds on this computer - so it's not just the media player. From some where on the control panel I was trying to 'adjust' the audio after I found the audio driver and it did say that it could not find SndVol32.exe - so I've been looking for that file online as my disks are unavailable right now. Every search I've done for this file that says 'free' leads me to software to fix my registry. The download for the diagnostics is free, but for the fix you have to buy the software. One called 'RegCure' found quite a few problems and I was tempted to just go ahead and purchase. I'm really getting frustrated, and if this is the tool it claims to be then I guess it'd be worth it for now and possible future fixes. Do you know anything about this software? One fear is it would just tell me to get my Windows disk, which I don't have and then I'd be in the same boat only out $30 - grrrrrr.

Please don't trouble yourself with continuing to try to figure this out. If you think the RegCure is a good product, I may just get that.

Thanks again :-)

Frances

Well I don't mind helping that's why we are here and that's what we do if there is no one to help here I would go to another forum and help it's in our blood those of us that help so do not worry about that.

Do not download any registry cleaners to try and fix the problem and never pay for any of these things never.

Good move on reinstalling media player.

I think this is going to turn into a problem because of the mother board name change we are not a 100% sure what we are dealing with so it could be trial and error with the right driver.

Did you try the device manger instructions for uninstalling the driver? and rebooting.

What about system restore that may be an option or something to try remember you can always undo a restore point, google (system restore xp)

As I said before you may be better off simply buying a sound card (cheap) google sound card, a sound card will come with a driver, the sound card simply inserts into one of the pci slots on the mother board, then you insert the cd that comes with it in and install it, You may need to disable on board audio in bios we can get to that...

Let me look at this "could not find SndVol32.exe" as I have never seen it before and I wonder is that a system file or does that install with the driver????

Have you searched for SndVol32.exe? It's a system application so it shouldn't have been deleted. You should find it in c:\Windows\system32 folder.

If you do not see the system32 folder, go to Tools > Folder Options. Then go to the View tab and make sure Show Hidden Files and Folders is selected.

Pleas ask if you do not know how to get to the System32 folder.

SndVol32.exe

If you can not find it here is the file and it is "safe" to download I downloaded it no problems.

This is a zip file so you "extract" to the system32 folder.

Here is a link that might be useful: SndVol32.exe

Click "free user" then click "download" at the link above.

Zep516,

Thanks for all your help. I've tried to follow all your instructions. I downloaded the file from the link you provided, unzipped it, and re-booted the computer. Then did the uninstall of the realtek audio driver from the device manager, and again re-booted - and it gave me a 'fouund new hardware' message. Plus I then went back to the device manager and the driver was listed, but still no sound.

I think I'm about ready to give up trying. Might try getting a sound card - or may just take this thing to a local computer shop that does free diagnostic with a quote on repair cost. They seem nice. My stepdaughter bought a lenovo laptop from them about a year and half ago. I considered doing that but instead thought I'd just give her some money for her old computer (this one)as it had the power supply, and mother board replaced under warranty. Thought I'd be saving some $$. WRONG! This was of course before I knew about the sound prob. My husband then surprised me with a nice new monitor. Very sweet of him, but now I'm wishing that I had just let him put that money towards a new laptop instead of a monitor. If you were not able to do a lot yourself to computers, would you invest anymore in this one (it seems fine except the sound) or just bite the bullet and get a new one? Tough question I know, but just curious your opinion and not really asking you to make the decision for me. Whatever I do, it won't be anytime soon - a little short on $$ right now.

What brand of computer (lower end $$) do you think is most dependable? I've been told Toshiba is o.k., but to stay away from Compaq and HP. What do you think, or do you care to say?

Thanks,
Frances

You're welcome some problems are difficult to resolve on the forums audio can be difficult and in your case you have several factors, the mother board is one, and the system file is another (SndVol.exe) and the driver, so there are a few things going on if you like the local shop I would take it there, a sound card may not fix the(SndVol.exe) issue if it's still there, also a repair shop I think would resolve this problem quickly & inexpensively.

Emachines have a (poor record) almost all of them require the mother board and power supply replaced at some point. After you fix the sound I would not invest any more into it. I think Circuit city is where all the problems began when installing the mother board they should have reinstalled the xp software and tested the machine.

I really can't recommend a laptop or desktop for that matter, if I were going to buy a laptop I would buy a lenovo laptop.

One last note make sure that file (SndVol.exe)
is in the system32 folder.

Others may recommend a laptop...

Thanks again for all your help! I really can't say enough how much I appreciate the time and effort you put in to helping me. I know it is difficult to help over a forum. I assisted with support when my employer went to electronic recording of construction records, but I know VERY little about operating systems. When you can't see what they see it's just really difficult to know. One lady called in for a password reset - after having used the program for several weeks. I reset the password but she kept saying it was giving her the same error message. Had to go to her office to investigate this most peculiar problem ..... she was trying to log in to the training module. :-0

Thanks,
Frances

p.s. if I do take it to be fixed, I'll let you know what they find.

zep516,

Ended up taking the computer to get it fixed. It was indeed a hardware problem. They installed a new sound card and fixed it. Thanks for all your help. If I'd been more adventurous I know replacing the sound card was your next suggestion - but ... I whimped out! No doubt I'll be posting here for help again about something else. Hopefully this 'fix' to my audio will buy me some time til I can afford a new computer.

Frances

Thanks for posting back and I'm glad it's fixed, we both gained some knowledge and that's a good thing..

zep516,
I have one more question about the audio driver problem I had back in November. The audio has been working fine since the install of the new sound card. However, I was looking at something on the windows add/remove software and decided I could get rid of the driver for the sound card that doesn't work. MISTAKE! Ever since I uninstalled that driver, I keep getting a popup "Found new hardware" when ever I start my computer. Should I re-install that driver or is there some way to tell that popup I don't ever want to install that hardware?

Thanks in advance!
Frances

Sounds like Windows is looking for the on-board audio, that's the device that supplied the audio before the new sound card was added, You may need to enter the bios and disable on-board audio or at least check to see if it is already disabled, that could be the problem as I'm not exactly sure what you removed.

To enter bios on E-machine I think you hit DEL & F2. Or at boot up do you get an option to hit f2 or set up?

Making changes to BIOS settings can have adverse effects on the way a computer performs. Use caution when performing BIOS modifications.

Look at your audio settings there and see if there is a way to disable on-board audio-- Make changes--Safe changes & exit bios.

Also Enter Device Manger:

Go to Start > Run and type (devmgmt.msc) then click OK.

Are there any red or yellow question marks in there?

If so what is the name of the device..

zep516,

Once again - THANK YOU!!! - I believe it's fixed now. Tried the first part, and couldn't find anything listed there about 'audio'. Then tried the Device Manager and found the yellow question mark, clicked on that and don't remember the exact wording but the screens were pretty self explanatory. Enough so that I felt confident proceeding. A couple of clicks and then there was the option to disable that sound card - do I did, and it didn't give me that annoying pop-up when I started my computer. Many thanks to you!

Frances