DSS80: Cannot Play Digital Audio from CD-ROM Drive (241244)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Digital Sound System 80 1.0
This article was previously published under Q241244

SYMPTOMS

You may be unable to play music from your computer's CD-ROM drive if the Microsoft Digital Sound System 80 is connected to the Univeral Serial Bus (USB) port on your computer.

If you start the Equalizer provided with the DSS80 software, you may receive the following error message:
Microsoft Digital Sound Software detected that your CD-ROM drive is not set up to play digital audio, which affects playback from music CDs. You will not hear music CD audio unless the speakers are also connected to your PC audio card. The Graphic Equalizer and Microsoft Surround Sound features will not affect music CD tracks.

CAUSE

This behavior can occur if any of the following conditions are true:

  • You use a SCSI CD-ROM drive to play CD audio.

  • You do not enable digital CD audio playback for your IDE CD-ROM drive.

  • Your IDE CD-ROM drive does not support digital CD audio playback.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this issue, use the appropriate method for your CD-ROM drive.

SCSI CD-ROM Drive

Microsoft Windows 98 does not support digital audio playback from SCSI CD-ROM drives. As a result, you cannot hear digital audio playback from your CD-ROM drive.

To hear audio playback from your SCSI CD-ROM drive, make sure that the sound system is also connected to your PC audio card. Refer to the DSS80 User's Guide for information about how to connect the sound system to your PC audio card.

IDE CD-ROM Drive

If you have an IDE CD-ROM drive, enable digital CD playback:

  1. Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
  2. Double-click Multimedia.
  3. On the Audio tab, make sure that the DSS80 is selected as the Preferred Playback Device. If the DSS80 is not available as a Preferred Playback Device, please click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

    235560 DSS80: Speakers Do Not Work When Connected to USB Port

  4. Click the CD Music tab.
  5. Click to select the Enable digital CD audio for this CD-ROM device check box.
  6. Click OK, and then close Control Panel.
  7. Restart the computer.
If the Enable digital CD audio for this CD-ROM device check box is unavailable, your CD-ROM drive may not support digital audio playback.

You may be able to resolve this issue by obtaining a firmware update for your CD-ROM drive from your hardware manufacturer. Please contact the manufacturer of your CD-ROM drive to inquire if a firmware update is available for your CD-ROM drive.

MORE INFORMATION

When you use USB speakers without a sound card, CD audio can only be heard if you enable digital CD audio. If the CD-ROM drive you are using does not support digital CD audio, then you need a sound card with a CD audio cable to hear CD audio.

For additional information, please click the article numbers below to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

195419 Contents of Microsoft Digital Sound System 80 Readme.txt File

235560 DSS80: Speakers Do Not Work When Connected to USB Port

Modification Type:MajorLast Reviewed:7/25/2001
Keywords:kbHardware kbprb kbsound KB241244
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