My problem concerns a Crystal Semiconductor Corp. ISA sound card with a CS4235 Cirrus Logic chip. I have transplanted the card from a 486 Windows 95 machine (where it worked OK) to a Pentium 233 MHz Windows 98 box. The installation of the drivers for the card appeared to be successful using the Windows 98 version of the installation program supplied on the disk. However, after rebooting the computer all the audio devices (being Crystal WDM Audio Codec; Crystal WDM Audio Control Registers; and Crystal WDM MPU401-Compatible Crystal PnP Game Port) go missing from the Device Manager. So every time I start up the computer I have to go through the entire installation procedure again. How can I get Windows 98 to recognise the sound card and its drivers at boot-up? The ‘Device=’ statements for the sound card are in the CONFIG.SYS file and the files specified in those statements are still in the C:WINDOWSSYSTEM32DRIVERS directory. So I don’t understand why they won’t load. A book I have on Windows 98 warns that Windows 98 does not take kindly to ISA cards. However, I don’t want to buy a PCI card as I only need sound for the occasional encyclopaedia CD-ROM or audio CD. Hope this makes sense to you and that you can suggest a solution.

This is an intriguing problem. It almost seems like Windows doesn’t recognise the sound card as being in the computer when Windows is loading. Let’s firstly narrow down the problem to either the physical sound card or Windows. I’ll start from scratch here so that we are on a level playing field. Turn on your computer and wait for Windows to load. Once this has happened I assume that in the Device Manager all of your audio devices have disappeared. In this case, you should reinstall the drivers. Now, try and run something that has a sound component. Do not use an audio CD as these have the tendency to run directly through the sound card rather than through the computer. I suggest that you try the encyclopaedia you mentioned previously. If you cannot hear any audio, then it looks like your sound card is the problem. The only practical thing left to do is to buy a new sound card (preferable PCI). These are not very expensive and cheap ones can be bought for around $50.

However, if you can hear audio, then it seems that there is a problem with Windows not recognising the sound card when Windows boots or it is simply forgetting that you have the drivers installed. I have seen this happen before but only with devices that actually need to be turned on before Windows boots, in order for them to be recognised. An example of this is Kim F’s scanner problem at the top of this column. However, in your case I am out of ideas. As you only use your sound card occasionally, you may have to install the drivers when you want to use it. If any other readers have any suggestions, please write in.