Problem with integrated sound.

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by Baba O'Riley, Aug 8, 2006.

  1. Baba O'Riley

    Baba O'Riley Gigabyte Poster

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    Hi guys,

    I've been working on this problem all evening and it's driving me mad.

    My Daddy has just bought a new Dell (just a cheapo Dimension 3100c, does the job for him). The first thing I did was format the drive, perform a fresh install of Windows and transferred all his apps and docs from his old PC. I installed all the drivers from the Dell website, the PC has an Intel 915x chipset with integrated sound. The audio drivers on the Dell website are called Sigma Tel Audio Codec, which after a bit of research, seems to be the right ones for the Intel chipset.

    However, when they install the sound works for one sound and that's all. By this I mean, if I install the drivers then reboot, it will play the Windows welcome tune but then no other sound. If I don't reboot, say I open a folder in explorer, it plays the click you normally get, but only once then it gives up the ghost. I know the speakers are OK, connections are fine and there are no errors in Device Manager. I opened the case up but there was nothing obviously wrong (although all the connectors are pretty sealed up from view) and I've tried installing generic drivers but they don't work.

    The only thing I think of is that this is a hardware fault but I would like to know if anyone has any suggestions as to what else could be wrong.

    Cheers.
     
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  2. Boycie
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    Boycie Senior Beer Tester

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    I would use Belark to get information about the motherboard and see if you can find another driver for the sound.
    It can take some looking, as i recently found out for an old Asrock board.

    Si
     
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  3. Bluerinse
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    Bluerinse Exabyte Poster

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    So what you are saying Baba, is that the new Dell was working fine, until you decided to format the drive?

    Why did you do that?
     
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  4. r.h.lee

    r.h.lee Gigabyte Poster

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    Baba O'Riley,

    You mentioned "...The first thing I did was format the drive, perform a fresh install of Windows..." Which CDs did you use to "perform a fresh install of Windows" with? I hope it was with Dell's "Restore CDs" because any other CDs would be an illegal installation of Windows. The "Restore CDs" should also have contained ALL drivers for ALL components of the machine. So I have to ask, did you use the Dell Restore CDs to reinstall Windows?
     
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  5. mrobinson52

    mrobinson52 Security Maven Gold Member

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    It sounds like you have midi, but not wav sound support. Check to make sure you have the wav drivers loaded, and also that you have the correct DirectX support loaded.

    I can understand the desire to get away from all the stuff that Dell preloads, but rhlee is correct, you need to use the Dell recovery disk to have a legal copy of Windows, unless you bought a Windows CD just for this machine. Also, you need to remove the copy of Office from the old machine to be able to use it on this one, or else purchase a new copy of Office.

    If you do use the Dell recovery CD, you can clean up a lot of the excess junk with the Dell De-Crapifier.

    :thumbleft
     
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  6. Bluerinse
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    Bluerinse Exabyte Poster

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    Nice link Mary and an excellent name IMHO :twisted:

    Baba check out the posts for April 12. Here is a cut and paste..

     
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  7. Baba O'Riley

    Baba O'Riley Gigabyte Poster

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    Thanks for the replys.

    I have found similar problems on the Dell forums, so I may have to get in touch with Dell support and found out why the drivers they're posting on the website for this exact model are not working.

    To answer some of your other questions:
    1. The PC did not come with a recovery CD, it does have a small partition with a Norton Ghost image of the original state on it.
    2. I did a fresh did install of Windows to a) get rid of the crap and b) to perform a straight migration of all the old boy's apps, settings and docs which, apart from the sound, has been 100% successful. I also checked on the Dell website that you could download all the correct drivers for the PC, and was not anticipating that the drivers Dell made available would not work.
    3. I have a *genuine* XP Home installation disk with a *genuine* licence and, AFAIK, only OEM licences are non-transferable between machines. Also, unless I am again completely missing something, the Dell itself comes with a *genunine* XP Home licence, I don't believe (although someone put me straight if I'm wrong) it matters how Windows is installed as long as the right machine is using the right licence key.
    4. Why are you asking me about Office, he doesn't have (MS) Office, no one mentioned it, and it is not causing any problems?
     
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  8. Sparky
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    Sparky Zettabyte Poster Moderator

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    As long as you used the product key on the PC then you should be fine.

    Not sure if it helps but if you go to the run command and type ‘dxdiag’ then you can do some sound troubleshooting there. 8)
     
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  9. hbroomhall

    hbroomhall Petabyte Poster Gold Member

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    As this is a Dell there may be problems using the key that appears on the machine with a 'standard' OEM copy of XP.

    Dell is one of the companies to use SLP - System Locked Preinstallation.

    My *personal* opinion is that it is a mistake to change the OS on a laptop unless you are *very* clued-up on activation, drivers and the like.

    Harry.
     
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  10. Boycie
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    Boycie Senior Beer Tester

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    I recently put XP Pro on a brand new Asus Laptop and i have to agree, it was a pain. :x I did comment and say <it would have been cheaper and less grief to pay the £50 extra when ordering and have Pro to start with> 8)

    Si
     
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  11. Sparky
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    Sparky Zettabyte Poster Moderator

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    Must admit I’m the same, if it’s a brand name PC or laptop then I’ll try and source the recovery CDs from the manufacturer. Too much grief looking for drivers! :biggrin
     
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  12. Bluerinse
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    Bluerinse Exabyte Poster

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    Good luck with the drivers Baba.

    I personally would not buy a Dell in the first place because of all the crapware. I either buy un-branded boxes or Pioneer (an Australian company) which are supplied with a nice clean install.
     
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  13. Boycie
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    Boycie Senior Beer Tester

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    That is one big Pro of building your own desktop- you don't have to spend hours getting the system how you want it.
    I know in Baba's case it is a laptop, so he doesn't have much choice.

    Si
     
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  14. Baba O'Riley

    Baba O'Riley Gigabyte Poster

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    No guys, it's a desktop. I wouldn't have done this with a laptop - way too many propietary drivers and the like. Any, I've eliminated it being a hardware problem. It's really weird, it will play a whole song, but as soon as I stop it, that's it - no more sound until I reinstall the audio drivers.
     
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