lack of audio/ help!!

[benignsoldier]

I have a problem with my audio... I have a soundblaster live! card with 5.1 surround. The card and my speakers seem to be working supurbly... as long as i dont play advanced video games.
I thought it was an installation problem leaving the game at fault, but after reinstalling the same thing happens...i did this for two seperate games: Half life 2 and Matrix: the Path of Neo.

I can play older games such as worms and counterstrike, and the audio runs fine, but if i try to play more modern games like PON or HL2 everything runs normallly....except theres no sound. Im at a loss of what to do...i just reinstalled my audio drivers and the games and still the my computer refuses to play sound on these two games.

I even have audio headquarters playing the test speakers for me right now...so the speakers are fine. Music works perfect as well.

So my guess is theres some type of connection between the games and there not working...but here is the last possible clue i know. I was exploring through my directory, and came across an installer.exe inside the PON named "EAX4Unified_redist_4001.exe" i opened the installer, and it never gets past that first loading installer bar before popping up an error window stating:
Windows installer

"The windows installer service could not be accessed. This can occur if you are running windows in safe mode, or if the windows installer is not correctly installed."

thinking this could be the source of my problems, i went to my friend who owns a working versian of PON with sound and all, and transferred his save eax file onto my computer replacing my old one. Unfortunately, that file did the same thing as the first time, giving me the error screen. So i know the file cant be corrupt, because my friend copied it straight from his working versian...

thank you for helping me!

Benignsoldier

 

[Crysalis]

If you can, in the two games that dont play sound, try disabling EAX and see if that solves your problem. If it does, then your card doesn't support EAX or you dont have the right drivers (or at least a working set). There is a setting/driver somewhere you are missing.

 

[benignsoldier]

nope

yeah...i disabled EAX and it still gives no sound.

 

[Crysalis]

Try uninstalling the card AND drivers. Uninstall drivers, shutdown computer, reboot, shutdown, install card again. If this doesn't fix the problem, then try a new card. Maybe it is your card...

 

[benignsoldier]

haha well i delved deeper and discovered i was missing Windows Installer... no idea how that happened.

I got audio to work on Half life 2 now, but im still playing in silence for the Path of Neo... maybe it's the game...
remember that install file i talked about? "EAX4Unified_redist_4001.exe"?
I couln't run that program because I didnt have Windows Installer... so i got that, but running that program doesnt do anything...it did a quick configuration with a bar that loaded very quickly then it says its done.
I swear that file is the key to all of this...its got something to do with sound cause of the EAX part.
Either way, i did reinstall the card entirely and reloaded the drivers...i dont think my card is at fault. Beyond that...ive pretty much given up hope that sounds gonna work for PON, cause i cant figure it out.
Frustrating.