Have you experienced sound cutting out or not coming from your desktop at all? If the answer is yes, then there could be trouble with the sound card driver. The sound produced by the device’s speaker is coming from the audio signals of a sound card. And the one that controls or governs it is its driver.
As you probably know, any hardware installed on your desktop is controlled by its respective drivers. When you met some technical problems, most of the time, it was the driver that’s causing the issue.
The problems could exist due to various factors, including improper driver installation or outdated driver versions. Updating your sound card driver is really necessary to solve any bugs or issues found in the previous versions.
And to check the update, you have to first know about the version of the sound card driver. For those wondering about, “how to know my sound card driver?”, we got the solution for you.
How to know my Sound Card Driver?
To check the version of your sound card driver, there are some ways to do this. Here are a few of them:
1. Windows Shortcut
The first step is probably the simplest one. To check the driver version of the sound card, here’s what you need to do:
- Press the Windows and Pause buttons at the same time. By pressing the buttons, a new window will appear.
- Select the Device Manager
- Scroll down the menu until you can find the Sound tab.
- Click it, and there you’ll see the sound card driver information, along with the version.
2. Search Box
Aside from using the key combination, you may also use the search box. You may easily find it on the taskbar with magnifying glass icon. Follow the steps below:
- Once you find the search box, click it. In the box, type “DXDIAG” to open the diagnostic tool.
- On the newly opened page, you may find several tabs there, like System, Display, and Sound.
- Since we want to check the sound card, simply choose Sound.
- There you can find the info about your sound device, including the driver version, the date installed, and the driver’s name.
3. Physically Check the Sound Card
Another more depth method, if you’re really curious about your sound card, is to check it physically by opening the computer’s case. By opening the case, you can access the sound card directly and check it manually. Follow the below steps:
- Turn your PC off first
- Open the screw on the back of the desktop, and open the case
- Remove all the connected cables, and find the sound card
- Once you find it, remove it from the desktop, and
- Finally, check the model number, and brand’s name and look for the initially installed driver
4. The Mixer Icon
The recent Windows versions have a volume mixer option in the volume adjuster. You may also use this very icon to detect your sound card’s driver. To do so, here’s what you need to do:
- Right-click the volume mixer icon, and then select open volume mixer.
- Clicking this option will display the sound devices that are installed on your device.
- In the volume mixer page
- Enter Control Panel in the search bar in the top left corner.
- Then, select Device Manager.
- After that, find the Sound, video, and game controllers’ menu, and double-click it. Several audio devices will be displayed afterward.
- To find the driver version, you need to right-click and select Properties. You may find it in the driver tab.
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Why Is it Important to Know My Sound Card Driver?
Knowing the answer to “how to know my sound card driver?” is important for several reasons, including:
1. To Check for An Update
Drivers are important for the computer. Without these drivers, the hardware installed can’t work properly, or can’t be used at all. So, making sure that these drivers are updated is essential to maintain the device’s performance.
When it comes to sound drivers, the importance of an update can be beneficial in fixing several bugs and issues found in the earlier versions. And of course, to start updating, you have to first know about the sound card’s driver version.
Check the update at least once a month because usually, the audio driver is a part of frequent Windows updates and is one of many updates that people often miss. So, in order for the audio to work properly, don’t follow the same route. Check for an update, and install it in the right away.
If you somehow can’t find an update through the usual method (which is by using Windows Update), you may check the manufacturer’s website for it. And for that, you have to know the sound card driver version beforehand.
2. Troubleshooting Audio Problems
Another benefit of checking the sound card is to troubleshoot any audio problems. These problems mostly occur because of improper driver installation, disconnected cables, and resources conflict.
The sound card problem that’s newly found can be caused by conflicting resources with the previous sound card version. This issue may happen because of improper installation of an update.
Another source of the issue can be also found if you’ve made some changes to the sound card. When something has changed, improper adjustments may also result in terrible issues in the audio.
If the same thing happens to you, there are two options you have here: update the new sound card driver version or roll back to the previous one.
Updating to a new version (with the proper installation), may result in a more optimized audio driver as everything has been updated. Meanwhile, rolling back the driver version is also doable to prevent any extensive update that may put a burden on your system.
3. Reinstall/Rollback Audio Driver
Knowing the driver version is also useful when you want to roll back the driver to its previous versions. Usually, people will do this when they found the new update is problematic for their system. Instead of having an improvement, the audio could become buggy and filled with issues.
So as a solution, you can roll back the driver, and use the version that’s most suitable for your computer. And to do this, you have to uninstall the driver first, and install the sound card driver version you want to use.
So eventually, you’ll know what the driver version is, and use the version that was released before it.
Conclusion
So that’s the answer to “how to know my sound card driver?”. As mentioned above, drivers are essential parts of any installed hardware. Without them, there’s nothing to govern the hardware that runs on your computer. Therefore, it’s important to check any available updates to make sure that the drivers are compatible and free from issues.
If you do get audio problems, we highly recommend checking the sound card driver and updating it to its latest version. That way, you may get your audio working again.
