How to Upgrade Drivers for a Sound Card

Changes to your operating system or new software may cause conflicts with your sound card or sound card driver. If the manufacturer of your sound card has created a new driver for it, you might solve the problem by installing it. You also might need to upgrade drivers to play sounds in new formats, such as RealAudio. These instructions are for Windows 95 or later.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Sound Cards

Finding out What Sound Card You Have

1. Right-click on My Computer.

2. Click on Properties.

3. Click on the Device Manager tab.

4. Click the plus sign to the left of "Sound, video and game controllers." A list of drivers will appear. Note the sound driver.

Finding and Downloading a Newer Driver

5. Look directly on your sound card manufacturer's Web site.

6. Look for links to your sound card, your brand of sound card, or your brand of sound chip.

7. Follow the instructions to download the file.

8. Save the new driver on your computer's desktop.

Installing the New Driver

9. Remove the existing driver by finding it in the Device Manager, as before. Right-click on it and select Remove.

10. Double-click on the icon for the downloaded file.

11. Follow the installation instructions.

12. Restart the computer.

Tips & Warnings

• Only download a later version of the driver for your sound card. If a later driver doesn't exist, don't download another card's driver. You could encounter unpredictable results.
• If upgrading the driver doesn't solve a conflict, you may need to upgrade your sound card.