No Sound; PCI Device Unknown

Question

Okay, I've checked and triple-checked all my plugs/connections, etc., to my speakers. I've made sure all the properties are set correctly and I tried updating drivers but am told I have all updated versions, etc.

However, when I boot up, I get a message saying my computer found a new PCI Device. It says it cannot find a driver for it and I have no sound, so I'm thinking this must have something to do with it after hours of other troubleshooting. Speaking of troubleshooting, I also went thru the complete Windows trouble shooting to no avail although at the end it did say something about going into BIOS, but I didn't understand that one so I skipped it, but I did have some BIOS issues last night that seem to be corrected now.

I did everything else suggested by the troubleshooting yet when I reboot my computer still finds this "unknown PCI device" and I cannot get sound from anything, for anything.

Here's some information I was able to gather:

Key name HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_27D8&SUBSYS_01A71028&REV_01

Compatible IDS
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_27D8&REV_01
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_27D8
PCI\VEN_8086&CC_040300
PCI\VEN_8086&CC_0403
PCI\VEN_8086
PCI\CC_040300
PCI\CC_0403

I have a Dell Dimension 9100. Thanks in advance to anyone who can guide me to a solution!

fireberd · Answer

I assume you have Windows XP, you should have included that in your post.    However, reinstall the chipset drivers  Here   then reinstall the drivers Here  for your sound (if it tells you it already has the drivers click the option to install anyway.

jeni59 · Answer

Yes, apologies, I should have mentioned that I have XP Pro, SP2. My 'bad', as my niece would say! :womansurprised:   Thank you very much for the links. I will check this out.  I use Sound Blaster -- or is it Sonic Blaster; whichever, I do have a disk for it. Do you think, if these drivers don't do it, an uninstall and reinstall could fix the problem? Thanks again, so much!

fireberd · Answer

Oh, you have a Sound Blaster PCI sound card, not the on-board integrated audio, which is the only driver listed for the 9100.    In that case, the first thing to do is 'reseat' the SoundBlaster card.  Reseat - with the power off, unplug the sound card, then reinstall making sure it's fully and correctly seated in the PCI connector.    Restart Windows and see if it's detected and reinstalled.  If it needs the drivers reinstalled, install them from the SoundBlaster CD you have.  If that doesn't fix it, most likely the SoundBlaster card has failed and will need to be replaced.

jeni59 · Answer

Yes, Sound blaster but I didn't realize that meant a different sound card.  Well, maybe I can find that info but just in case, is that inside the computer?   I'll certainly try this if I can locate this sound card.  I really never dug into the inside of computers much at all, so that's rather foreign 'territory' for me and scares me a little! :smileysurprised:  But not enough that I won't try.   I got this awesome Dell catalog in the mail and now I'm seriously considering a new computer with Vista -- soooo tempting! :smileytongue:

Irene100 · Answer

I have exactly the same problem on my Dimension 5150 with XP home SP2!! Does anyone have the solution for this?

jeni59 · Answer

Well, I fired up the pc this morning and had one trojan horse after another (virus warnings) no sound etc., etc. so I decided to reformat my hard drive and completely reinstall EVERYTHING.   All is working well except I STILL don't have any sound!  I went to the web site of the software (Sound Blaster) and found some updates, etc., did  them all, still no sound.   I went thru their troubleshooting and one thing they mention that I haven't been able to try -- one that was suggested here -- was to reseat the sound card. I looked and looked at my computer and haven't a clue where to find the sound card. Can anyone please -- pretty please?? -- give me a little shove in the right direction on that? I'm happy to try it, if I can only find it! Thank you so much!

Irene100 · Answer

Hi Jeni59,   I had the same problem and figured out what to do:   Go to your Bios setup by pressing F2 while your computer is starting up Go to Onboard Devices by using the Arrow (down) key on your keyboard Go to Integrated Audio (use arrow again) Press Enter key Select ' Off' (use arrow keys left/right) Press Escape key Make sure you quit with saving the changes you made   Then: make sure your Sound Blaster drivers and software are installed (use the SB CD-rom or go to the Creative web site).   Your soundcard should work fine now!!.   P.S.: if you have installed the SigmaTel driver (which is for the onboard audio device) you can and should uninstall via Configuration->Software.   Good luck!

jeni59 · Answer

Thanks SO much everyone, I finally did get it working but the sound isn't quite what it should be -- have to turn the volume WAY WAY up to hear it; however, I did in fact download the Sigmatel Software, maybe that's doing something. I will go uninstall that straight away -- thanks so much for the heads up on that, Irene100!!

Irene100 · Answer

With regard to the sound level, do not forget to check the settings via Configuration->Sounds and Audio->Volume (make sure it is not set as 'mute' and via the SB software on your PC (e.g. use the Creative Diagnostics tool). Unfortunately there are quite a number of ways in which your volume can be set as low on your PC.....

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No Sound; PCI Device Unknown

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