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astralpoint

9 Posts

26249

March 28th, 2007 13:00

Interesting Sound Issue - Help Appreciated

I have developed an interesting sound problem that I hope someone has seen and resolved.
 
I have a Dimension E510 running Windows XP SP2 with a Sigmatel sound card.
 
The system developed a sound problem wherein it will not play any of the windows system sounds or audio associated with Flash in Explorer. Audio associated with Windows Media Player and Real Player etc... works just fine.
 
I have looked at the control panel and the system play (triangle) is not highlighted and will not allow playing the test sounds. In addition, I have downloaded the latest driver from the Dell site (Sigmatel) and that has no effect.
 
In addition, I have gone through both the Dell and Microsoft troubleshooting guide without resolution.
 
Thanx in advance!

fireberd

9 Legend

 • 

33.3K Posts

March 28th, 2007 18:00

Uninstall the sound in the Windows Device Manager, then restart Windows and Windows will find new hardware and install the sound.  Sometimes this fixes various problems.

astralpoint

9 Posts

March 28th, 2007 20:00

Thank you for the suggestion...I just want to make sure that I correctly understand.
 
Under sound, video and game controllers, there appears to be a couple of device drivers and
a couple of audio codecs. I am assuming that your suggestion is to remove the device drivers. I am wonding whether I am just dealing with a device driver conflict. 
 
 
Yes?

fireberd

9 Legend

 • 

33.3K Posts

March 28th, 2007 21:00

I have a SoundBlaster sound card and that is only what is listed on my machine.  (It's an E510 but with an added sound card rather than the on-board audio).  You should have one there for the Sigma Tel sound and that's what you want to uninstall.

astralpoint

9 Posts

March 28th, 2007 22:00

Well....I uninstalled the Sigmatel driver and rebooted the machine. It discovered the hardware and installed the driver. No change. Then I uinstalled the uni-modem audio driver and reset the machine...it reinstalled and no change. In addition, I checked the BIOS to confirm that audio was enabled. This one is really strange. Any other thoughts?
 
Thanx!

fireberd

9 Legend

 • 

33.3K Posts

March 29th, 2007 09:00

Some more thoughts.  I once had a problem with a customer's PC that it wouldn't play certain sounds.  In that case it turned out that Quicktime was causing the problems.  I uninstalled QT and the problem was fixed - may not be your specific problem but one that I ran across. 
 
Also, go into the Control Panel/Sounds and Audio Devices and make sure the Sigmatel sound card is set as the default device for the various sound types. 

firofiro

50 Posts

April 3rd, 2007 06:00

If no luck so far, in the Sounds tab in the Sounds and Audio Devices control panel, make sure the Sound Scheme box doesn't say "No sounds" which will cause the "test" button to be grayed out. It sometimes happens. If it is a case, select Windows Default in the drop-down list or the name of a custom sound scheme that you created.

astralpoint

9 Posts

April 3rd, 2007 19:00

Thanx for the information. Even when I select Window Default the test button stays grayed out.

firofiro

50 Posts

April 4th, 2007 07:00

You could also try running system file checker which will scan your system and replace missing protected Windows files as explained here (you will need install disk): http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=sw_winxp&message.id=73897&query.id=215612#M73897 and also check in system local services that "windows audio" is started

astralpoint

9 Posts

April 10th, 2007 00:00

Thank you for the suggestion. I tried running SFC and it wanted the OS CD. Dell sent me a DVD for OS reinstall with the system. SFC does not like that.
 
Soooo....I figured I would try the Dell Technical Support Chat and see if they could help. Huge Mistake. The technician spent 2 hours going though everything that I had tried and getting annoyed when the problem was not fixed. At the end, he wanted to try an OS Restore and I had had enough of this joker. Dell needs to deal with this type of technical support...it is unprofessional and quite annoying.
 
 
 
 

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