On-board sound problems

[uretech987]

I purchased a new desktop PC with a separate sound card. I have been told to disable the on-board sound before installing the sound card. The problem is I cannot tell if my computer has an on-board sound or not. How can I determine this? Also, how can I uninstall it through the BIOS setup of my computer?

[qeintine641]

On-board sound can be found in some computers. It is easy to determine whether your computer has on-board sound or not. Simply look at the rear of your computer cabinet where all the ports are located. You will see the ports for microphone and a speaker connection. If these ports are located next to the serial and parallel ports it indicates that your computer has on-board sound. If the ports are located separately, it means that there is an external sound card installed. Since you haven't yet installed the sound card, it is impossible for the latter condition to be true.

To uninstall the sound driver from BIOS follow these steps.

* Restart your computer and press [F1] as soon as you see the first screen. Keep pressing the key till the BIOS setup screen appears.

* Navigate to the "Advanced" section/ tab using your arrow keys.

* Select "On-board Audio Options" and press [Enter]. If you do not see this option then go to "I/O Device Configuration" and press [Enter).

* If you find the entry "Audio Codec", press [Enter).

* Click "Disable" to disable the on-board sound.

* Press [F10] and then [Enter). This will save the changes to BIOS and will restart your machine with the affected changes.

A situation may arise when you may want to undo the action you performed above. Reverting to your default BIOS settings isn't really hard. Restart your machine and press the [F1] key repeatedly to enter the BIOS setup. Once there, simply press the [F5] key. Select "Yes" or "OK" and press the [Enter] key. Press the [F10] key and save your changes. Your computer will restart with the default BIOS settings.

NOTE: Different BIOS setups may have varying methods of navigation. Some may be direct while others may need some extra searching till you finally find what you are looking for. The method followed in the above steps follows the standard navigation pattern that is seen in most BIOS setups.