Posted on 10/17/2008 8:28:26 AM PDT by Yosemitest
My Toshiba Satellite A75 S226 has developed a sound problem, that Microsoft support says is a hardware problem. It's 1990's technology. Are there any after-market sound systems that would work through USB-2 ports?
And also, I have a Cooler Master ATC-110 case that I've never used in ATX. Is it feasible to build a new computer in ATX, or is the technology too old?
I have a Toshiba Satellite and the sound quit working after a Windows Update a few months ago. I rolled back the audio driver to the previous rev and it started working again.
Google “USB Sound cards”.
Plenty of devices that will work with Toshiba junk. Glad that yours worked so long for you.
As for the ATX case, yes you can build a new system. ATX is still supported.
There are plenty. The Sound Blaster Extigy was a high end system that was around for nearly a decade, even before USB 2.0.
For basic sound in a laptop, there are a number of compact solutions available at a good price.
Startech actually has a decent reputation for low priced gizmos.
I broke the headphone/line out jack on my old Toshiba Satellite. The onboard speakers sound just awful. I bought a Creative external soundcard for about $30. It is about the size of a deck of cards. It connects via USB and works great- gives me headphones/external speaker connection and stereo in/outputs.
At the top of balance boxes, in volume control, under microphone, phone line, and PC speaker, the slide arrow doesn't have the green at the top and bottom of the arrow. The computer is 8 years old and probably needs taking apart and cleaning, but I'm afraid that the sound card built into the mother board is toast.
Your ATX case will work fine with just about any of the standard sized boards out there. The only thing that you will need to do is make sure that you get the right sized power supply and cooling setup for whatever hardware you install.
http://www.epinions.com/content_89536106116
This implies that the case can handle an ATX motherboard.
HOWEVER, if yours came with a power supply, that might not work so well with the newer motherboards, especially if you are using a fancy video card.
If the there is a 20/24 pin main connector mismatch, adapters can solve that.
What about the old case I've never used? Is it worth my time to build an old ATX system?
ping
I have an old AST computer, that I'd like to retrieve the data from. It froze up due to a full hard drive, and it's 1991 technology, but I've got some links that I'd like to use stored in it.
After that's done, then I might build that old Cooler Master case. It's new in the box still, and I'd have to buy everything, or rob it out of 1993 technology. I only want the hard drives out of those old machines, maybe the 3.5 disk drive.
Turtle Beach makes some nice little external USB devices. I’ve got an Audio Advantage Amigo which provides sound in and out, including digital audio out.
It was about $30 two years ago. It is about the size of a USB flash drive and provides good sound.
Personally, unless there is a physical problem with the computer I would suggest that you try backing up your data and reinstalling the OS from scratch before you do anything else. Sound problems are usually driver issues.
Your ATX case will work fine for a new build, but as others have said, you will probably need a new power supply. Besides the 24 pin power supply, SATA drives have their own power connectors and generally current computers have much higher power requirements.
I’ve had a soundblaster USB audio system for years. Works fine, sounds good. It might have cost $30? $40? The speakers were much more.
I've got a four year-old Toshiba 17" laptop that was increasingly messing up under XP.
Reformatted the drive to run Ubuntu Linux, and it's run like a champ ever since.
Bose Companion 5 sound system is USB and does not require a sonud card.
What's the deal with "90's technology"? That sounds like a cop-out to me.
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