Yeah, it’s gotta be the sound card. Or the driver in some way or another. I’ve just tested some modern-ish speakers with it and same thing applies - no audio from Audio Output or Line Out, only Mic. I’ve tried it with just the left and right speakers, too. The Yamaha ones and the modern ones.

I did manage to find a spare RCA cable with the modern speakers, so there’s that too. 😁

Have you tried it with UNISOUND?

Shponglefan wrote on 2024-12-11, 19:42:

Have you tried it with UNISOUND?

I haven't yet, no. I'll try that next. I was going to try my onboard sound again, which I believe works via Line In on the I/O without problems. I just need to find some different drivers as for some reason the ones I have don't work. But that test can wait; I'll go for the UNISOUND one instead.

The only time I had something even remotely like this happen is that one of my computers (Compaq dc7600 SFF) would only output the sound through the rear sockets. It wouldn't work from the front sockets or from the internal speaker. This computer has 2 drives that get swapped in as needed and the problem happened with both (a windows 7 and a XP). So you'd think it was a hardware problem right?

Nope - it was a driver issue, and after upgrading both drives now the sound works as it's supposed to.

Tried it in Audio Out and Line In using UNISOUND - same issue. No sound.

DustyShinigami wrote on 2024-12-12, 20:30:

Tried it in Audio Out and Line In using UNISOUND - same issue. No sound.

Hmm, does any of the ports work as a microphone input, if you are willing to test and have a microphone ?

I have a theory that, if your card is a later vintage ISA card, it may have had its jack layout changed compared to earlier revisions, possibly due to an attempt at PC-97 compliance [1] or something similar, but a backplate with the old labeling was used. If all the ports work, but seem mislabeled, that would make the most sense, IMHO.

Does anyone know if ISA audio was still in-scope for PC-97 and whether a jack layout/order scheme was mandated, in addition to the color coding ?

EDIT: Color coding was apparently added as of PC-99. I can't find anything for jack layout.

[1]
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/PC_System_Design_Guide

darry wrote on 2024-12-12, 23:09:

Hmm, does any of the ports work as a microphone input, if you are willing to test and have a microphone ? […]
Show full quote

DustyShinigami wrote on 2024-12-12, 20:30:

Tried it in Audio Out and Line In using UNISOUND - same issue. No sound.

Hmm, does any of the ports work as a microphone input, if you are willing to test and have a microphone ?

I have a theory that, if your card is a later vintage ISA card, it may have had its jack layout changed compared to earlier revisions, possibly due to an attempt at PC-97 compliance [1] or something similar, but a backplate with the old labeling was used. If all the ports work, but seem mislabeled, that would make the most sense, IMHO.

Does anyone know if ISA audio was still in-scope for PC-97 and whether a jack layout/order scheme was mandated, in addition to the color coding ?

EDIT: Color coding was apparently added as of PC-99. I can't find anything for jack layout.

[1]
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/PC_System_Design_Guide

Hmm. It's possible. I have a microphone somewhere I could test. Thing is, unlike in Windows 10/11, is there a way of testing it to see it is working? If I were to speak into it, would it show a sign it's registering my voice? I don't think I've ever used a mic on Windows 98 before, so I'm not sure.

With a microphone, I'm guessing I'll need to manually install some drivers for it? I can't imagine it'll recognise it straight away, right? If it does need drivers, I'm not sure if there are some generic ones that will work. The mic I have is from 2017.

DustyShinigami wrote on 2024-12-14, 14:16:

With a microphone, I'm guessing I'll need to manually install some drivers for it? I can't imagine it'll recognise it straight away, right? If it does need drivers, I'm not sure if there are some generic ones that will work. The mic I have is from 2017.

Easiest test application would be sound recorder under Windows 9x .

Just unmute the MIC in the mixer, select it as recording device in the mixer and set gain/level as appropriate.

darry wrote on 2024-12-15, 05:40:

DustyShinigami wrote on 2024-12-14, 14:16:

With a microphone, I'm guessing I'll need to manually install some drivers for it? I can't imagine it'll recognise it straight away, right? If it does need drivers, I'm not sure if there are some generic ones that will work. The mic I have is from 2017.

Easiest test application would be sound recorder under Windows 9x .

Just unmute the MIC in the mixer, select it as recording device in the mixer and set gain/level as appropriate.

Awesome. Thank you. And I believe you're bang on the money with your theory. I plugged the mic in, did a quick recording test with it in the Mic port - nothing. Plugged the speaker jack back into Mic, and plugged the mic into Audio Out, did a test, and my voice recorded. 😁

DustyShinigami wrote on 2024-12-15, 12:15:

darry wrote on 2024-12-15, 05:40:

DustyShinigami wrote on 2024-12-14, 14:16:

With a microphone, I'm guessing I'll need to manually install some drivers for it? I can't imagine it'll recognise it straight away, right? If it does need drivers, I'm not sure if there are some generic ones that will work. The mic I have is from 2017.

Easiest test application would be sound recorder under Windows 9x .

Just unmute the MIC in the mixer, select it as recording device in the mixer and set gain/level as appropriate.

Awesome. Thank you. And I believe you're bang on the money with your theory. I plugged the mic in, did a quick recording test with it in the Mic port - nothing. Plugged the speaker jack back into Mic, and plugged the mic into Audio Out, did a test, and my voice recorded. 😁

Thank you for the update and sorry for my belated reaction.