[imfagent449]

I have a problem which I thought that someone here might be able to help with.

I have a thinkpad t400 and a total bithead that is a few years old.

I notice that the bithead works (and still works) on all the xp machines I have ever used.

I plugged it into the t400 usb port. The computer is running Vista. The computer tries to find a driver (USB Audio Codec) and then fails. It asks for the disk from the manufacturer and when I tell it that I don't have it, it searches the internet (or my hard drive), and then concludes that it has failed. I have tried restarting, getting the TI driver for the PCM290x and even directing the computer to the USB Audio codec driver in /system32. I do notice that if I try to manually install a driver, the USB Audio Codec does not come up under microsoft- I am not sure if this is important.

The previous owner of the machine appeared to be a musician and had left some music programs on the computer, which I removed. I am not if this is important either.

I cannot bear to hear music through the T400 audio card!

I would really appreciate any help.

 

[moogoob]

What about reinstalling the sound card drivers/software? Maybe they are interfering?

 

[imfagent449]

Thanks for the suggestion. I just reinstalled the sound card drivers. Actually, I updated to the most recent.

It hasn't change the pattern- it is still failing to load a USB Audio Codec driver.

 

[moogoob]

Drat. What about other software (mixers, effects etc.) that come with the chipset?

 

[dan1son]

USB audio support should be built into Vista. The USB DAC chip built into the bithead uses the standard USB audio drivers and shouldn't require anything special.

If the previous owner was using another external USB audio device, it's possible the installation of that messed with the standard setup.

When Vista asks for a disk, have you tried pointing it at the Vista disk itself?

After googling for a minute I found this. Some USB audio devices and some USB audio TV tuners do not work correctly together with a Windows Vista-based computer

Is Vista running with the most current updates? It seems Microsoft has changed their USB drivers for audio.

 

[imfagent449]

Unfortunately, there isn't any other associated software.

I am not sure if it is relevant but the sound card is a conexant.

 

[imfagent449]

I just tried installing the hotfix- it refuses to installing, saying that this hotfix does not apply to my system.

I expect that something that the previous owner did screwed up the standard setup. However, I am not sure how I can fix it.

I have tried pointing it to the usbaudio.sys and the restore partitions. It has searched through the C:. However, I wonder whether there is a problem finding it since I have turned off indexing (unlikely?)

Are there a usbaudio.inf and usbaudio.sys files to reinstall the driver?

 

[moogoob]

Yikes. Maybe you should try installing this, or as much as I hate to suggest it, dual boot this. Vista is not MS' worst windows release only by sheer luck of not being Win ME.

 

[Dominat0r]

try switching cables and USB slots...just to make sure.

 

[socrates63]

Reinstalling Vista is not an option? Even if you didn't have this problem, I think starting clean is a good practice considering you bought a used computer.

 

[imfagent449]

Thanks Highlife- I tried switching cables and ports. No luck.

Thanks Ron- I hadn't thought of that. Unfortunately, there were no other USB audio devices. In fact, I cannot seem to find any trace of the previous audio software that was installed.

Calculating from the warranty period remaining, I wouldn't expect that the original owner had this computer for long. I was hoping not to have to reinstall the operating system. However, I expect that that is the only way. C'est la vie.

Thank you all.

Please continue to add suggestions/solutions as I, or others, may still use them.

 

[imfagent449]

I had a problem with some sort of malware on the computer. Therefore, I had no option but to reinstall Vista. After reinstalling, the total bithead worked. I can hear my music again!

Thank you all.

 

[moogoob]

Took a while, but glad to see you got it up and working.