I have a Packard Bell Multimedia R200 Pentium, 200 mhz, 96 MB RAM, Intel processor and Graphics Blaster RIVA TNT video card. I was having a problem with my sound device (Aztec 2320 Compatible PnP).I wanted to be able to do voice chat over the internet but my sound device kept locking up when I tried to talk for over 15 to 20 minutes. Since my system is a bit old, I decided to upgrade to a SoundBlaster PCI512 sound card. Since I couldn't remove the old device, I disabled it in Control Panel Device Manager. I have a Pioneer stereo receiver that I use to connect stereo speakers to my PC. Everything seemed to work fine for the first couple of days. Then, I was playing back some sound (wav) files and all of a sudden, no more sound. Windows Media player would still play the sound file but nothing coming out of my speakers. I fiddled with the speakers for awhile, but nothing. Thinking my sound card was somehow locked up again, I rebooted. I opened the computer, thinking maybe the PCI slot was bad or something. I swapped my video card and my sound card. I did notice that both of them were a little (actually more than a little) warm to the touch. Plugged the speakers back in, still nothing. Then I got out an old cheap pair of speakers I had and plugged them in. They worked so I figured it wasn't my sound card that was the problem but the stereo speakers. I went out and bougth some new PC speakers for about $60. I plugged them in and everything worked fine...for about 30 minutes. Then the light on the speakers went out and I couldn't play any sounds. At the time I wasn't playing any sounds, but the speakers were on and connected to the sound card. I did play a couple of system sounds to ma ke sure they were working ok and went on a website where I know the site comes up with music. Thats when I noticed that the light on the speaker was NOT on and no sound. Rebooted, still nothing. Got out the old pair of cheap speakers again, plugged them in, and they work! I've had them on for about 20 minutes now and still working and I'm at a website that plays continuous music. So, just as a test, I plug my NEW speakers back in...no sound, no nothing. Plug the old ones back in, it works. I am at my wit's end on this one. I know the brand new speakers work cause I used them for a while tonight then they just conked out on me. Any ideas, anyone? Thanks for any information! Pam [log in to unmask] Do you want to signoff PCBUILD or just change to Digest mode - visit our web site: http://nospin.com/pc/pcbuild.html