I have emachines H2542 machine. The soundcard and the USB ports are not working. When looking in the device manager I see all drivers installed still both the sound card and the usb ports are not working. I downloaded the drivers for the above chipset from intel download center based on the recommendation of emachines support that the chipset is Intel Desktop Board D845GBV but everest is identifying the chip as Intel Brookdale-G i845GEV which there no no match for the model on intel download center. Also, driver guide scan is telling me that the drivers are not compatiable. I'm not sure where I can get the drivers if they ever exist. Pleae I need help. I've been working on fixing this issue for 3 days without a luck.

Your help is appreciated in advance.

hmesha

Support Information:
Device Type: BIOS / Motherboard
Manufacturer: Intel
Model: Intel Brookdale-G i845GEV
Interface: IDE
Operating System: Windows XP Professional
Age of Device: Not specified
FCCID:

Find it on DriverGuide (http://members.driverguide.com/index.php?action=srch&sm=b&aax=&qa6=496&qa5=1&qa7=1500&dp=3&qm0=Intel+Brookdale-G+i845GEV&jmd=and&fzz=d) | Find it with Google (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=Intel+BIOS+%2F+Motherboard++Intel+Brookdale-G+i845GEV+Windows+XP+Professional+) | Research manufacturer Intel (http://members.driverguide.com/index.php?action=getinfo&companyid=496)

What is the actual sound chipset? There are only a few sound chipset makers in the world... amongst them are C-Media, Realtek, ADI, Sigmatel. If you have Everest installed then it should identify your sound chipset and offer a possible link to the driver. Intel is only the main chipset maker and has nothing to do with the actual sound chipset.

USB support is included with the XP OS. You won't get USB 2.0 support unless you install Service Pack 1 or Service Pack 2. Without the service pack installed, you will only get USB 1.1 support. However, bear in mind that in order to get USB 2.0 compatibility, you must have a USB 2.0 controller. The service pack will not make a USB 1.1 controller into a USB 2.0 controller.

You said you downloaded the driver from Intel that eMachines suggested. Did you go the next step and install those drivers? You didn't say. If you haven't already done so, I suggest you follow eMachines advice and install those drivers recommended.

And if you can ID your sound chipset, we will be glad to look for any driver that might be available for it.

Another thing I don't understand.... why did eMachines not have drivers available for a product in which they sell? There's where the support should come from.

First, Thanks for your reply.

I did follow emachines support recommendation and installed all the driver including :
1. the chipset software v. 4.04.1007

2. Intel Extreme Graphics video v. 6.14.10.3752

3. AC97 ADI sound card which reports that the driver for soundMax and doesn't install correctly and the device manager reports yellow question mark on the multimedia audio controller with code 28. At the end of the install, I get an error "Driver not found! Reboot your system, and run this setup again."

4. usb2.0 drivers

Also, installed all windows updates including sp1, sp2.

The sound card chipset according to everest : Intel 82801DB ICH4 - AC'97 Audio Controller. when I try to go to the driver download. I get from intel site message that the download no longer available.

Finally, the usb controllers are reported to be working fine by the device manager but non of them actually work

Thanks again.

hmesha

Is this an ATX style motherboard with usb connectors attached via ribbon cable or are the usb ports built into the board directly. It sounds like either they cables are connected incorrectly or the usb controller is defective. Have the usb ports ever worked?

As to the sound... sometimes drivers don't install properly for no apparent reason. It could be as a result of other hardware already installed or conflicts with other devices. About all I can suggest is to uninstall physically all pci cards (except video cards) and uninstall all the removed cards drivers. Then uninstall the audio driver and attempt to re-install it. Providing you have the correct driver, the task is to try something different than the normal method. Once you get the audio to work, then add the other cards one at a time until you eventually get all hardware installed and working.

an example: I have an older Netgear Wireless usb adapter that occasionally goes haywire and prompts me to re-install the driver. Repeated efforts fail. The only way I can get it to work is to uninstall the software, then plug the adapter into a different usb port, then reinstall the driver.

and btw, this is not something new.... it happens quite frequently in the Windows XP environment.

Have you checked the emachines web site to see if a different driver is available? Other than emachines web site, I would not have a clue where to start looking for this driver.