Please help: Lost sound from iMac after installing 3rd party soundcard drivers

[ToTo Man]

My brother has just jumped on the Mac bandwagon and has bought himself a new 21.5-inch 4670 iMac after years of persuading him to ditch PC .

He's only had it a few days, but he fears he may have messed things up with the audio after downloading and installing 3rd party drivers to make his existing external audio interface compatible with the iMac.

This is the problem as he describes it:

I first downloaded the UA25USBDRIVER from Edirol (Roland) and then installed it. However my audio interface (Cakewalk SPS-25) did not work therefore I uninstalled the driver with the uninstall option which came with the download.

I then downloaded the SoundBlaster.USB.Audio.Support.pkg from the following site (had to register first):

http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=34075&pid=705315&mode=threaded&start=

then further down the page is the link for the driver:

http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?act...ost&id=5069

Only 1 file downloaded (the .pkg file). I installed it then restarted with the SPS-25 connected. SPS-25 did not work. No sound from iMac. iTunes won't play music. Nothing recognised in System Pref/Sound or Utilities/Audio. Magic Mouse will not scroll. Keyboard volume buttons don't work properly (volume up brings up dashboard, volume down minimises windows (sends them to different parts of screen) and mute takes my active window to the centre of the screen and darkens everything else around it). Same situation after restarting with the SPS-25 removed.

Needless to say I was hoping my brother's first Mac experience would be a positive one .

Short of a OS erase and re-install, is there any way to fix this?

 

[Hellhammer]

No need to do erase and install, just reinstall the OS X and all data will remain the same but this issue should be fixed. BTW, was there and uninstaller as well?

Ask him to call the support of Roland to ask is it even compatible with Mac

 

[ToTo Man]

BTW, was there and uninstaller as well?

No, not for the second driver he installed.

No need to do erase and install, just reinstall the OS X and all data will remain the same but this issue should be fixed.

So he just needs to boot up from the OS disc and choose ReInstall?

 

[IndustrialSpace]

No need to do erase and install, just reinstall the OS X and all data will remain the same but this issue should be fixed. BTW, was there and uninstaller as well?

Ask him to call the support of Roland to ask is it even compatible with Mac

Wait... with OSX, you can reinstall the OS and ALL your data files remain intact after its complete? Did I read this correctly?

An OS reinstall without having to archive the existing data before reinstalling the OS and it'll still all be there where you left it? Is this a true full install or just a partial.

If this is what youre saying, I think that's a marvelous thing.

 

[Hellhammer]

So he just needs to boot up from the OS disc and choose ReInstall?

Wait... with OSX, you can reinstall the OS and ALL your data files remain intact after its complete? Did I read this correctly?

An OS reinstall without having to archive the existing data before reinstalling the OS and it'll still all be there where you left it? Is this a true full install or just a partial.

If this is what youre saying, I think that's a marvelous thing.

It's the same as upgrade install, just click install and whoom, it's done. All files and settings remain the same but system files (and corrupted driver for example) have been reinstalled. It's same as archive and install, I guess. Remember to backup though, just to be sure.

It's a full install, I did upgrade from Leopard to Snow Leopard and all my settings, applications and files were EXACTLY the same but the OS was completely new.

I call this "repair" install, as it "repairs" the corrupted system files.

 

[IndustrialSpace]

It's the same as upgrade install, just click install and whoom, it's done. All files and settings remain the same but system files (and corrupted driver for example) have been reinstalled. It's same as archive and install, I guess. Remember to backup though, just to be sure.

It's a full install, I did upgrade from Leopard to Snow Leopard and all my settings, applications and files were EXACTLY the same but the OS was completely new.

I call this "repair" install, as it "repairs" the corrupted system files.

Ah, I see. I think Windows has something similar like a "repair" install as well. Its been a while since I had to reinstall a Windows OS, but have prolly done it like 30 times over the course of several WinOS'.

Just the same, I'd be too nervous to rewrite the OS without backing up the data.

I'll soon be an owner, so any and all details/info I've accumulated regardless how minor, have been very helpful. It's my personality to research to death things I plan to purchase, especially a $3K machine. It's nice to build a distant love affair then close in on it when all the stars align.

Thanks again, Hellhammer.

 

[Hellhammer]

Ah, I see. I think Windows has something similar like a "repair" install as well. Its been a while since I had to reinstall a Windows OS, but have prolly done it like 30 times over the course of several WinOS'.

Just the same, I'd be too nervous to rewrite the OS without backing up the data.

I'll soon be an owner, so any and all details/info I've accumulated regardless how minor, have been very helpful. It's my personality to research to death things I plan to purchase, especially a $3K machine. It's nice to build a distant love affair then close in on it when all the stars align.

Thanks again, Hellhammer.

Yea Windows has a feature called "repair install" (what I personally dislike). It seeks for corrupted system files and only reinstalls them but I've found that reinstalling OS is better than those repair installs.

I haven't seen other guys spreading that yet, maybe because they are unaware that it doesn't erase any data because most people assume that reinstalling OS will always delete your data. In several cases, the "repair install" of OS X has fixed a booting issue when OP had no backup (see my guide)

Anyway, if you have a decent backup, erase and install is of course a better option but there are way too many people who don't have a backup

Cheers