GA-X58A-OC:PCI slot does not detect Sound Card.

[Hazehell]

I used to have an EVGA 132-BL-E758-TR wich is an x58 as well. Now, the problem it had with PunkBuster games is that it seems the sound controller from Realtek caused it to crash, freezing the computer completely and  forcing you to do hard reboot. After reading in several places and forums seemed that the best solution was to get a dedicated sound card.

I bought a  PCI sound card with compatible drivers on Windows 7 x64 sp1. I installed it in one slot and nothing, installed it on the other slot and bingo!, it worked. I upgraded to the GA-X58A-OC hoping for better stability when OC'ed. So far so good,except that it has the same dreaded error , it freezes my computer while I play PunkBuster enabled games (and no is not a windows issue, fresh reload) to no surprise since they have the same sound chip and controllers.

So I put the card in the only PCI slot available and nothing...I tried making sure the settings were OK in BIOS, tried to force hadware detection on windows even used optimal settings and no OC,nada, It just does not detect the card, tho it works just fine on another mobo.

So whats going on here? IRQ issues? Bios? defective slot?

Suggestions will be very appreciated since im force to a "no-gaming diet" because of that problem.

[Lsdmeasap]

Why did you buy a card with the same controller on it???  Or did you just mean the two boards have the same audio controller?  If so you can ignore my comments on that

Did you disable Azalia in the Integrated Peripherals page of the BIOS?  This must be disabled in order to use an add-on audio card.

[Rolo42]

You should be able to run both sound devices, no problem but for this situation, disabling the on-board sound to isolate the conflict is a good idea.  Likewise, I'd try PB with no sound devices/drivers to see if it works first.

[Hazehell]

@Lsdmeasap:
They have the same Audio Controller and Chipset. I upgraded to Gigabyte for better Overclocking experience.(Plus looks cooler)


@Rolo42:
that was done right away, and it did not do anything, still cannot be detected.

It's actually very similar to http://forum.giga-byte.co.uk/index.php/topic,7064.0.html except that I don't have more PCI  cards to try out and find out if the port is defective. I will start by asking some friends for a PCI card that I can test.(Even-though I already explained that the Sound card works perfectly in a different Mobo)

[Rolo42]

Does PunkBuster still crash with no audio devices installed?

[Hazehell]

Games were not played using that setting. Some games wont even start if no audio card is detected (or Mic plugged in to be specific) like COD4.

If you don't know what Im talking about it happens in games like BFBC2, BF3, and COD4 the image freezes and the sound loops, C+Alt+Del does not respond and you are forced to hard reboot,you can find this issues with the Realtek ALC889 + Punkbuster in DIce/EA and other online forums. The issue is not the Integrated Sound card, I already knew that if was going to turn out like this I had a PCI Sound Blaster Card that does not have that  problem with PB, the problem is that the Mobo GA-X58A-OC only has one PCI slot that is not detecting what is connected in it in this case a PCI sound card.

I think your suggestion would help find out if I can Run Pb without audio or to troubleshoot the integrated sound card, But that is not that relevant to the actual problem I have as far as I see it and I did not do it.

[Rolo42]

I'm trying to see the connection between the Realtek audio and PB crashing; removing the Realtek would eliminate it if PB still crashed.

I know the audio loop; that happens frequently with crashes since the sound card has its own memory/processor and it didn't crash.  (If they could make the whole PC like the sound card and the mouse pointer, we'd be set!)

Are all your bus speeds stock?

[Hazehell]

Guess What guys!?
Turns out the problem was Win 7 all along after reading that with windows 7 you don't have the choice to manage IRQ like XP did. So looking in Google for my problem going now towards windows instead of the motherboard I found this in a Forum.

Determined that the Win7 OS was just not "seeing" the PCI slots nor the cards.
After a lot of searching I found the following to solve it.
- Go into safe mode with command prompt.
- Make sure that you are in the Systems32 directory.
- At the prompt type in (minus quotations):
-"bcdedit /set CONFIGACCESSPOLICY DISALLOWMMCONFIG"
- Reboot and the PCI slots should now work.

If they don't, remove the PCI card,boot up to windows again shut down and then put the PCI card back. and Thats it folks!!.
Thanks for your time.

[Lsdmeasap]

Awesome to hear you were able to find that and solve this issue!