Please help a PC idiot figure out if her sound card is properly installed

[grannylib]

I got my dad's old PC, Windows 95 or 98, not sure which (what a dummy huh?) and it had sound on it when he had it set up at his house. Now that it's at my house, I cannot get it to play any sounds/CDs etc. I DO have the speakers hooked up, and I HAVE checked the volume controls, but I can't figure out what is wrong.
Help, anyone! Thanks much!

[DS1]

1. Is it turned on?

[ET Awful]

2. My first thought. . . considering I ran across the exact same problem

with a PC at work today. (I do IT work for a living).

Are the speakers you are using powered? Many soundcards don't supply enough power to push speakers that don't have their own power supply.

That's the first thing that comes to mind.

[grannylib]

3. No they are not powered...and they worked fine at Dad's, same

speakers, so I am not sure what the problem is.

[trotsky]

4. There are several phono plugs in most sound cards

Microphone, audio in, and audio out. Are you sure you're plugged into the "out" jack?

On edit: if you have a pair of walkman headphones, try plugging them into the "out" jack and see if you can hear anything thru them.

[grannylib]

5. Oh, OK, will check that. I know I am NOT plugged into the mic jack, I have

that much figured out *lol*

[grannylib]

8. OK, the speakers WERE plugged into the wrong thingy, but still no sound

and the sound card seems to be 'seated' ok...I did manage to check to see if drivers are installed/updated, and the system is telling me that the hardware/software is OK as far as I can tell...Volume on, etc...nothing muted.
WTF??? This is pissing me off!

[aquart]

6. Is it a separate sound card? Did it get loose when you moved the pc?

You many have to open up the pc and reseat the card. Make sure you are grounded first (touch something metal to discharge electricity).

[grannylib]

7. Oh, ok, thanks, I will check that. Could very well be, it was not in a box

or anything when I moved it.

[grannylib]

9. I figured it out! It works! And it was so stupid...I did not have the

little boxes checked in the volume control thingy; I thought they were all 'mute' thingies but apparently they are not...
So yay! I have sound!
Thanks for the help and suggestions, all.
DU rocks!:toast:

[ET Awful]

10. Well done! Glad youy figured it out. n/t