On 2 Sep 2005 05:59:54 -0700, "jcburgwin"
<jason@burgwin.demon.co.uk> wrote:

>Hi,
>
>I have been using the on-board audio for some time now and would like
>to install a pci soundcard (sb audigy). Not being particularly
>experienced at installing hardware I looked at a few site about
>installing sound cards.
>
>Some sites mention connecting a cable from the cd-rom/dvd drive to the
>sound card (cd-in) while others state that this is not necessary.

It is a direct analog signal from the drive to the input on
the sound card. IF you have use for that, you do need a
cable connection to make it happen. Semi-modern OS like
Windows 98SE & newer can get the audio as digital data
through the drive controller so there is no need for using
this analog line for "most" users/uses.


>
>I have just opened up my computer and tried to locate this cable from
>the cd-rom/dvd drive but there does not appear to be one. The
>motherboard is an ABIT Kv8 Pro. The only other connections I can see
>is something called fpaudio1 which I believe is for front panel audio.

It would be a line-in socket, 3 pins, IF there is one on the
board. Usually there is but a manufacturer could leave it
off the board if they chose to, to save a nickel and a
centimeter of board space.

>
>So my question is, if I were to buy an audigy sound card would I need
>to connect it to my drive? And also what happens to the fpaudio when I
>disable on-board sound in the BIOS? What is the fpaudio actually used
>for anyway?

No you do not need the drive cable if the system currently
does all you need with regards to getting sound from the
drive... the Audigy can also do that, as it is an operating
system feature not specific to any sound card.

You cannot use the FPAUDIO header with anything but the
integrated audio. If you disable that audio it won't work.
It is used to route sound to the front (or another aux.
location) of the (case, usually) for better access than the
rear sound ports. Often, if the case supports it, that also
allows disabling the rear sound jacks by plugging in a jack
to this aux audio socket. For example, if you had speakers
hooked up to the rear sound out jacks and plugged a pair of
headphones into a case's front audio out jack, it would
effectively mute the speakers by breaking the signal going
to that rear output jack.

Some sound cards have a similar FPAUDIO header on them too,
but others don't. Audigy- I don't recall.


>
>So my plan is this:-
>
>1. Boot up computer and disable on-board sound in BIOS

yes

>2. Go into control panel and disable the audio options relating to the
>on board sound.

no, go into add/remove programs and uninstall the driver.
There should be no "disabling" necessary. At worst, wait
till after you have the new card and driver installed to go
into Multimedia properties in Control Panel and check
settings- there's no point in checking them before you even
uninstall the old driver. However, if you had a
windows-bundled driver, you may not even need to use
add/remove programs, can just disable it in the bios.


>3. turn off computer and install audigy card in a free pc slot, connect
>speakers etc.

Turn off the AC power to the system first. Ground yourself
to guard against static discharge.

>4. Turn on pc and wait for wizard to show up.
>5. Canacl this and use driver cd to install new drivers.

Personally, I'd download the newest driver for the Audigy,
never installing the old driver on the CD. It can help to
not have old remnants of drivers but only the single copy of
the new driver. Usually it doesn't matter but it's those
odd times it helps, and is generally better to just start
out with the newer driver.

>6. restart with enhanced (hopefully) sound.
>
>Is this correct?


In theory, you should do fine. It's those odd times that
things dont' work as they should that require more fiddling.