Can someone PLEASE help me resolve my ongoing IDT Audio/Sigmatel failures?

O.k. the ONLY thing i can think of .. well there is a couple of things.  1.  Backup your data, restore your computer to factory default either using the restore partition or restore discs from dell.  That way we can make sure its the actual audio chip and not some wierd windows thing.  OR 2.  If you are under warranty, have dell replace the motherboard.  Only problem with 2 is that Dell wont do it unless they have a history of attempting to solve the problem and it looks like you haven't called dell at all to get a 'fix' for the issue.  Granted you are 100 percent correct in that they would ask that you install this driver and uninstall that and probably reformat your drive and so on and so forth, but if none of the drivers are working and so on, its probably a defective chip and the board needs to be replaced and only dell can authorize that.

Restoring my computer to factory default is not an option. I have too many new software and preferences set on them, etc., which took me months to get set, AND I partitioned my drive into 3 partitions.

Replace the motherboard of the computer?? To fix an audio driver problem?? I don't understand that thinking. Or do you mean "replace the sound card"? If worse came to worse, couldn't I just install a sound card?

And, as I stated above, I have called Dell to fix the problem. I have called them twice, I think, once for sure, when a Dell tech in India or wherever took control of my machine and uninstalled the old driver and installed the new driver,even after I had already installed the new driver myself. I then wrote them back to tell them that did not work but they never responded. Then it didn't do it for a short while or did it less, so I let it go. That was probably 5 months ago.

Since then it mostly just crashed at start up, BUT MY AUDIO STILL WORKS when I get these crashes. This is more of an annoyance than anything else. I am lucky in the sense that this failure is not causing any real problems, it's just annoying to get the messages that it crashes and have it lower my Reliability rating. When it crashes I get a pop-up that it has crashed, but no symptoms appear. However it's annoying enough that I would like to do anything reasonable to fix it. (Reverting my compu back to "new" is not reasonable to me!)

So, since none of these solutions that you list appeal to me, as I do not want to re-install Windows and I no longer have the option of restoring to factory default because I've partitoned my drives, here's the next question:

Is there ANY way just replace this audio with new audio at a reasonable price? I still want to have good audio quality as I do listen to music via 5 speakers. Any suggestions as to what to buy to replace the entire IDT audio card or is this impossible to do? (sorry, I'm not up on putting in new audio card or whatever... I'm very computer literate but not re audio hardware/software)

Thanks for your help.

Hi and thank you for the follow-up response!

In a perfect world, where I could just call up Dell and get a new Motherboard, I would definitely go for that option, as it sounds like it might prevent the problem and prevent other problems as well.

However, I imagine getting Dell to do that would be a real hassle involving many Tech Support calls and failed attempts to fix this in a cheaper way.

Soooo, that said, it sounds like what makes more sense from the standpoint of less wear and tear on my patience in dealing with Tech Support calls, buying a new Sound Card SHOULD fix the problem (almost certainly, right?), and for $40-75, it would be worth it. I might even be able to buy something for a little more that would give me a LOT BETTER audio, right? Any recommendations on which? Creative Sound Labs? or ?

Creative makes sound blaster products.. soundblaster XFi i think is what you want.. there are really not many people that make addon sound cards anymore just because they build them in, so you should be fine with any creative products. 

Thank you again, and: CASE CLOSED (unless someone figures out exactly what my Sigmatel problem is and has a quick fix for it). (I won't hold my breath.)

Hi, I have decided to re-open this case.

That is because I cannot afford to buy a new sound card, and really, why should I? I can show that this problem has occured since I bought my computer and so if there is the need for a new sound card, Dell should pay for it.

I also did some research on the web on this problem and it seems pretty clear that STacsSV64.exe (Sigmatel IDT Audio) is a defective audio product that is causing many problems not only for Dell but for HP computers as well. It causes peoples processors to run all the time (I'm not sure how to check this on mine, but I imagine it is doing it because it is doing it on others' systems).

I got my first Blue Screen today and when looking at my Reliability monitor I see that StacsSV64.exe has been crashing regularly for months, and I have to suspect that this is also the cause of my Blue Screen, as there were no other apps crashing nearly as often as this one.

What I want is for DELL to fix this problem once and for all, or to buy me a new sound card.

As this is a users helping users forum and not a line to Dell support, the only way you are going to get Dell to fix this under warranty is to call Dell support.  It may be a hassle but the only way. 

FYI it is no longer "SigmaTel".  SigmaTel was bought by IDT at least two years ago.

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Fireberd, thanks for the reply.

Yes, I am aware that it is now IDT but it's still the device built by Sigmatel, and is referred to as Sigmatel in some internet threads about the various problem this device causes.

I also am aware that this is a users forum not Dell Tech Support, but I am hoping that by voicing my opinion that this should be fixed by Dell, that others with this problem will agree and also contact Dell. The more people who agree that this is a problem that should be addressed by Dell, then the more Dell might be pressured into actually doing something about it.

Also I hoped that by posting here about my IDT problem, it will bring  the problem more attention and just MAYBE a USER might actually have found a solution to it.

Admittedly I am angry and frustrated about this. For a long time I just let it go but now that I've gotten a blue screen which may be related to it, I am kinda mad and more motivated to resolve the problem. So this is a way of bringing more attention to the problem and maybe finding an answer, and also maybe getting more people to complain to Dell about it.

The problem with getting Dell to do something about it is that one has to go through Tech Support people who often don't know much and their solution for everything is "re-install Windows", or at least "re-install IDT" which I have already done three times now. But since a Tech Support person didn't help me re-install it 3 times I will no doubt have to go through THEIR re-installation again, then they'll tell me re-install Windows, which I will not do because it is too much work AND should not be necessary to resolve this problem because the problem is that it's a lousy audio device that Dell should offer a replacement for.