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. 

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!

Sorry, but this didn't work, either. (Boy am I ever sorry!)  I don't understand this. I've checked and re-checked the connections, the sound/audio properties -- everything I could think of, but I just can't get any sounds whatsoever.

 

Any other suggestions anyone?? Thanks!

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.

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: 

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

Irene, start a new thread, don't hijack an existing thread with a new problem.

My apologies, I replied here because I have exactly the same problem so I felt it appropriate. No hijacking involved...

I dont think anyone of you has a sound card in your system. I beleive the Soundblaster CD that you are referring to is the Create sound mixer software that you would have received along with your system but the audio controller would still remain Sigmatel / Soundmax and you will have to install the sigmatel / soundmax drivers from the support website or the drivers CD which you would have received along with your system. If the drivers are not getting installed or if there is still no sound. Please check if you have a bang for PCI device in device manager. If so that should be your integrated sound controller and might need a manual drivers update. ie right click update drivers and then select the option to manually give the path to the folder where the drivers have been downloaded and extracted to. sorry I am not too sure of the right path else i would have provided those details also :smileyhappy:

Thank you ajesh.  I'm getting so frustrated with this!  However, I haven't a clue what you mean by "a bang for PCI device", but I do know how to get to the device manager and check for updates and have done that several times already.  I also did do an update for Sigmatel/soundmax from the Dell support downloads.

 

I also re-checked the connections, unplugged and re-plugged in everything and when I re-plug the speakers into the outlet, I get that little pop noise...got all excited thinking it was working the first time that happened last night, but nope, still no sound but there is power (light is glowing nice and bright) and when I went into my BIOS to check if audio was set to "on", I did hear the beep that the computer makes...:smileysad:

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!

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!!

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.....

Thanks, Irenr. I'll be sure to check things out thoroughly!