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Help me fix my son's gift, please, he has autism
My boy is a teen with autism who loves Thomas the Train. I have a Dell computer sound problem and need your help so Christmas day will be a good one for him. Please tell me what to buy and where to buy it so I can fix this. I am guessing I need a sound card but do not know if anything else inside could be causing the problem too.
I have bought the preschool games he wants so much, and they are older games which have a computer disk and a plastic command center that fastens over the keyboard with a velcro strap. I am having to bring out my old computer with Windows98 on it so the software will play. I have no trouble getting the software to play or the keyboard command center to work. My problem is this older computer had its sound system fail years ago, and since I used it for word processing, I never cared the sound didn't work. Well, we care NOW. We have to get the sound working so he can hear the instructions to the games and the train whistle, etc. We have to fix it before Christmas. I know the problem is not the external speakers because I've plugged two external speakers from working computers into the rear jack, and still no sound. The problem is inside my Dell desktop.
Here are the specs written on the front of my Dell desktop.
Dell. Designed for Microsoft Windows 2000, Professional Windows NT, Workstation 4.0, Windows 98.
Thank you for any help you can provide.
boogiem4n
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December 10th, 2012 18:00
check your drivers i have not used win 2000 for awhile so i cant remember what to go into to see if your hardware is working correctly but it should be in control panel device manager if you still need help i maybe able to help you further . I hope you can get this going for your son
ABJohn
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December 10th, 2012 20:00
I have looked up drivers. Here is what I see on the system.
TBS Montego II Gameport INterface
TBS Montego II MPU 401 Interface
TBS Montego II PCI Audio
TBS Montego II Soundblaster Pro Emulation
I discovered Montego had a SoundCheck, so I ran it. It had the system reboot too.
Here are the results:
Tones played from both speakers when the test ran. So the test said it could not find a problem.
Music CDs will not make a sound in the CD disk drive -- the test didn't say so, that is just what happens.
A multimedia educational CD plays audio and video in the CD disk drive, the same drive that will not play a music CD.
The DVD drive will play sound and video when I put a movie in it.
I I found another place to check things: Multimedia Properties, Multimedia Drivers, Audio Devices, Audio for, Status: driver is enabled but inactive due to an unknown problem.
I would like to know what that last sentence means, and how to fix it.
I cannot test the Thomas the Train and other program because I only had childcare for two hours, and now he is back where he can see what I am doing. So I will try to test it when he falls asleep.
speedstep
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December 11th, 2012 06:00
Windows 2000 isn't supported anymore nor is WIN98SE and the downloads associated with them have been removed from the Microsoft site.
Sounds Like you have a DIMENSION XPS T Series. There are no WIN2000 drivers for this model.
Turtle Beach Montego-II Windows95/98/NT, Drivers/Applications (V4.05) Contains the Drivers and Applications for the Turtle Beach Montego-II A3D sound card.
Windows 95
Windows NT 4.0
The programs on this bootable diskette invoke DOS based diagnostics and will allow the end-user to determine if the Turtle Beach Montego-II card has basic functionality.
ABJohn
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December 13th, 2012 08:00
Bestbuy Geek Squad told me on the phone I could get an external sound card on a USB -- I'm probably not saying this exactly right -- but then he asked another Geek Squad fellow who said no, my system was too old to be able to use that.
But I'm just so excited right now that running the SoundCheck that was on board my system fixed the sound enough my son's games/toys will play come Christmas morning.
ABJohn
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December 13th, 2012 08:00
I had to wait to get someone to watch him for 30 minutes so we could get the toys out again and try them. WE HAD SOUND!!! Wooooo, was that good news!
You know the other day I said I I found another place to check audio things on the system: Multimedia Properties, Multimedia Drivers, Audio Devices, Audio for, "Status: driver is enabled but inactive due to an unknown problem." Because we cannot play a music CD and hear it, I am guessing "driver is enabled but inactive due to an unknown problem" is the cause. I bought the computer new from Dell, and I used it for word processing and really didn't listen to anything, so when a family member decided to play a game with sound and play music, they were very disappointed that the sound didn't work. I didn't want them playing games on my system anyway, so I figured maybe the sound not working was a good thing. :)
speedstep
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December 13th, 2012 11:00
USB Sound requires XP and later.
ABJohn
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December 13th, 2012 18:00
I'm not sure what to do with the two charts you have posted above.
speedstep
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December 14th, 2012 14:00
Those are the only drivers. Windows 95,98,ME,2000 are end of life and end of support.
You could try spending money to upgrade that machine but you would be better off Getting a newer Dell Like an Optiplex 320/620 tower that has XP or better windows 7 on it. Amazon and Microcenter and
http://www.pcretro.com have them for $99 or so.
Windows 7 home premium OEM is $109 by itself so if you can get a PC with OS then its like getting it free.
Dell Optiplex GX620 Desktop Computer Refurbished
Dell Optiplex GX760MT Desktop Computer Off Lease...
ABJohn
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December 15th, 2012 07:00
Thank you so much for taking time to read my posts and directing me to driver (and computer replacement) information. My boy will have a happy day when he straps that Thomas control center on the keyboard and gets to play the game he has wanted so much.