SOLUTION: Dell Optiplex 360, Windows 7 64-bit, Business Audio Speaker doesn't work

BACKGROUND INFO for this solution:

If you have a Dell Optiplex 360 and you install Windows 7 64-bit, you will discover that Dell provides essentially no driver downloads for your desktop:

http://www.dell.com/support/drivers/us/en/04    (oh sorry this link doesn't work... I apparently can not direct-link to specific driver download pages.)

The only drivers listed for the Optiplex 360 are for:

• BIOS
• Windows Vista 32-bit
• Windows 7 32-bit
• Windows XP 32-bit

This does not seem like a problem, because Windows 7 will install a driver of its own for pretty much everything, including a generic audio driver called "High Definition Audio".

However, if your Optiplex 360 is outfitted with the tiny internal speaker that connects to the sound system, referred to as "Dell Business Audio", Microsoft's driver can not detect it, and it does not work. Without external speakers plugged in, you will have a red X on the speaker icon in the task bar.

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THE SLEUTHING:

Poking around in the Windows 7 Device Manager, I see that the Hardware ID is:

HDAUDIO\FUNC_01&VEN_11D4&DEV_194A&SUBSYS_10280294&REV_1004

Doing a Google search for "VEN_11D4&DEV_194A" indicates that this is an Analog Devices AD1984A sound device.

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=VEN_11D4%26DEV_194A+analog+devices

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I know other Dell products use the Analog Devices sound device, so maybe drivers for newer Dell products will work with this older computer? It's not really that much older, just a few years. So, let's try it with Dell's Optiplex 960, which I know also uses an Analog Devices driver.

I downloaded the Windows 7 64-bit audio drive for the Optiplex 960, started the install, crossed my fingers...... works!

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THE ANSWER:

Go to the Dell Optiplex 960 driver page, select Windows 7 64-bit, and download the Analog Devices audio driver:

http://www.dell.com/support/drivers/us/en/04/DriverDetails/DriverFileFormats?DriverId=66TNR&FileId=2731109849

Install this with Windows 7 64-bit on your Dell Optiplex 360 and your Business Audio internal speaker will now be detected, and audio works!

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You are welcome.

--- Dale Mahalko, <ADMIN NOTE: Email ID removed per privacy policy>

(I would put this in the "Dell Wiki" tab but there is no button for creating a new post.)