Umm.... HALP! Hard/software issues....

[Kamen]

OK, so, after my HDD died - most likely from being crammed in a mini-tower case and overheating TO DEATH - I spent most of yesterday rebuilding my PC into a larger case that has SPACE and AIR and FANS and all kinds of nifty stuff like that. While the physical task of shuffling stuff into the new case only took an hour or so, I then spent the next several hours doing updates for Windows XP, updating drivers, and all that fun stuff. Now, finally, it's up and running again. And I have all these pieces left over....

By "pieces", I mean "all the same components are in a new case but I'm having some odd problems", which I hope some of you delightful 5punky people can help me with.

ONE - NO SOUND!

I don't have a super-fancy rig for sound, just the onboard soundcard on my MoBo. Basic background info: Asus MoBo, Realtek HD Audio. I've tried everything I can think of - I've ran every hardware and driver update Microsoft Update can find, I've downloaded drivers manually from the Realtek and Asus sites for both sound device and the MoBo itself, I've even tried the trusty failsafe of turning it off and on again. All that happens is Windows finds the hardware at start up, but can't find the drivers when the wizard runs, or after I've manually added them. There's now a Realtek folder in my Program Files, but nothing seems to have affected the actual device. When I go into the device manager, all that shows is "Audio Device on High Definition Audio Bus".

TWO - LOG ON ISSUES!

Far less annoying, but still bugging me. I'm the only person who uses my machine. Before the rebuild, Windows loaded straight to the desktop at start up. Now, it loads up the welcome screen and I have to click my account - the only one on the machine, the admin one - to load. If I disable the welcome screen, it just displays the old-style log in page. How do I get it to just load straight to the desktop again?

THREE - FUTURE STEAM!

Thinking ahead here, one thing that did annoy me about my old system set up was that, while most Steam games installed in a logical place, the odd title would create its own folder in My Documents or create a My Games folder or similar. When I do get around to re-installing my Steam library, is there any way - perhaps something blindingly obvious that I'm idiotically missing - that I can tell each game where to install to, or do you have to let Steam's automated process do it?

Anyone have any ideas for any of these problems, particularly the first?

[FatherJack]

1.
Check it's enabled in the BIOS when you first turn the computer on.
Ensure you have the chipset drivers for your motherboard, and also use the motherboard manufacturer's drivers, not Realtek's.
Make sure you've plugged speakers/headphone in the right hole (green one).

2.
Do start, run and type control userpasswords2 then remove the tick from the 'users must login' box.

3.
They'll put stuff where they want and you can't change it.
But, you can use junction points to redirect folders to other ones, but it's still a manual process. Game Save Manager will do most of it for you with its Steam Spreader, you install the game first, and then move it.

[Kamen]

Great, 2 worked, 3 is annoying. I'll give the Steam Spreader stuff a look when I get around to gaming on it again. Unfortunately, problem number one is still being, well, problematic.

It's enabled in the BIOS - I've even tried it set to HD Audio and AC97, and no sound either way. Speakers are in the green socket. Currently trying another batch of drivers from Asus, and have removed everything to do with RealTek from the system first. Cover me, I'm going in....

[deject]

1.
Check it's enabled in the BIOS when you first turn the computer on.
Ensure you have the chipset drivers for your motherboard, and also use the motherboard manufacturer's drivers, not Realtek's.
Make sure you've plugged speakers/headphone in the right hole (green one).

2.
Do start, run and type control userpasswords2 then remove the tick from the 'users must login' box.

3.
They'll put stuff where they want and you can't change it.
But, you can use junction points to redirect folders to other ones, but it's still a manual process. Game Save Manager will do most of it for you with its Steam Spreader, you install the game first, and then move it.

This is great advice.

As for #1, with most on-board audio devices, it generally just says something like "Audio Device on High Definition Audio Bus" when it is installed. Does it have the exclamation point on yellow triangle sign on the device saying it's not working? I'd definitely check to make sure everything is wired in properly and that the BIOS is set properly.

[Kamen]

As for #1, with most on-board audio devices, it generally just says something like "Audio Device on High Definition Audio Bus" when it is installed. Does it have the exclamation point on yellow triangle sign on the device saying it's not working? I'd definitely check to make sure everything is wired in properly and that the BIOS is set properly.

Yup, that's exactly what it says, though it has an exclamation mark on a yellow circle, if that's at all relevant/different. Just waiting on a driver download to finish from RealTek's painfully bad & slow site (just to possibly try them again after), then I'm going to try poking the innards and quadruple-checking the connections.

[Kamen]

CRISIS AVERTED. I prayed to the correct technological deities it seems, and the last driver I tried did the trick and I now have vibratory waves hitting my inner ear as I type. Huzzah! All hail the Ethereal Technocracy!

Another minor Steam issue though - I usually have my library set to gallery view, since it's all purty like, but I've noticed that a few titles - Sam & Max seasons 1+2, Stubbs the Zombie, a couple of others - no longer have their oh-so-eyecatching rectangular banner, just a teeny square in the middle of a less-eyecatching grey rectangle. On closer inspection, this also seems to be the case on my laptop, and at least Stubbs no longer appears in the Steam store. Any idea what's happened there? Is it a licensing/availability issue on Valve's end?

[deject]

CRISIS AVERTED. I prayed to the correct technological deities it seems, and the last driver I tried did the trick and I now have vibratory waves hitting my inner ear as I type. Huzzah! All hail the Ethereal Technocracy!

Another minor Steam issue though - I usually have my library set to gallery view, since it's all purty like, but I've noticed that a few titles - Sam & Max seasons 1+2, Stubbs the Zombie, a couple of others - no longer have their oh-so-eyecatching rectangular banner, just a teeny square in the middle of a less-eyecatching grey rectangle. On closer inspection, this also seems to be the case on my laptop, and at least Stubbs no longer appears in the Steam store. Any idea what's happened there? Is it a licensing/availability issue on Valve's end?

I don't think so, there would have been a news item somewhere about that.