No soundcard detected

I did a search before posting but after reading several pages of posts I couldn't find one exactly like mine.

I sent an older computer back to college with my son. Everything was working fine when it was packed away by my other son and a friend in order to set up our new computer.

When Toby (son) tried to set it up, he did a reinstall of Win98 in order to remove all the "junk" he says I had on it. He doesn't care for the screensavers, wallpaper, downloaded programs, etc. He just wanted a plain workable computer for email and game playing. Plus, the college lets them know things through their email and since he lives off campus he has to either use a housemate's computer when they aren't using them or go on campus and find a computer lab...I digress...

This reinstall apparently has messed with the directx, soundcard and video. He's got most everything working but when it didn't have any sound he tried installing Ensonque(sp) audio drivers from the CD I gave him. It's saying that it cannot detect a soundcard. He's reseated things inside in case they were jiggled during the move. Would SFC take care of it or does he need to do something else? Thanks.

 

First, copy all the drivers onto the hard drive, the CD may not be accessable during the startup detection process.
Right click on My Computer, select Properties. Click on Device Manager tab, remove all Other Devices, PNP sound chips if any, anything with a yellow splat. Reboot.
When drivers are asked for, browse to where the files are located.

 

Okay, dumb question. How does he copy them onto the hard drive? Step by step, please. Thanks.

 

Since Windows appears to be running, open Windows Explorer. Create a New Folder by click in the C: icon in the left pane, go to the toolbar at File\New select Folder, it will appear ready to be named. Name it, then press Enter. If no left pane is visible go to the toolbar at View\Explorer Bar, select Folders.
Then browse the CD using Windows Explorer, looking for sound or audio folder, right click on it, select Copy, then right click on the new folder, select Paste.
Note: there may be a file named Setup to run, which may do it for you.