After reinstall of Windows XP on Inspiron 1420 audio driver fails to install leaves Sound card showing as PCI device with ?

Also,

The Diagnostic detected the device as Intel ICH8 HD audio.

My colleagues who have the same laptop but are running Linux ran an LSPCI and got the following as the output for the devices. (Edited it to show only 3 lines). If you want to see more let me know.

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile PM965/GM965/GL960 Memory Controller Hub (rev 0c)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile PM965/GM965/GL960 PCI Express Root Port (rev 0c)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) HD Audio Controller (rev 02)

Regards,

Mayank,

Try this step by step guide,   http://forum.notebookreview.com/dell-inspiron-dell-studio/150033-total-guide-1420-xp.html .

DGKPCON, 

Thanks for the quick response. 

I followed the instructions under section 9 of the guide. I followed the steps but at point 9.c I ran into the same problem I have been having.

The set of instructions are as follows:

"c. Okay, so what we need to do now, assuming that you followed all of the instructions so far, is go into the Device Manager (right click on properties on My Computer and go into the Hardware tab). Here, what you need to do is look for the one PCI device with a question mark next to it. It should say Unidentified PCI device or something close to that. What you want to do is right click on it and select "Uninstall." After doing that, right click again on the PCI devices and select "Scan for hardware changes." Now, your integrated audio along with the modem speaker will be detected, and so you should choose the automatically install driver option when prompted. After all of this is done, it will STILL FAIL. That's okay...now what we need to do is just reinstall the SIGMATEL audio driver once more! Go ahead and do that...and this time viola our audio will be detected and the driver will finally install!!! "

: But at the point of uninstalling the  PCI driver (highlighted above), the Integrated Audio Device is not detected. It also does not show up under PCI devices but under the Other devices section (as before) as a PCI device with the same ? next to it.. 

Problem remains unsolved.

Regards,

Mayank.

Hi Jim,

Try this, Go to the PCI Device entry with a ? next to it. Go to the properties and choose to update the driver. Choose to manually find the driver and don't let Windows look for it. Browse to c:\Dell\drivers\R171789\WDM

Have already tried this as this is part of the Audio Basic Facts page. This also does not help. The STHDA.INF file present in the WDM folder when selected return the error "The specified location does not contain information about your computer".

The driver is not usable on my system it seems. I have tried all the AC97 options available in the listing, which appears after choosing to install a Sound, video and game controllers and selecting the Intel option in the list (This is the only one that displays an audio controller option.)

I agree with you about the NSS issue. Looks like I may have to upgrade to Win 7 if I intend to use the laptop.

Regards,

Mayank.

Mayank,

Sorry that did not work for you. I had forgotten that I had put those instructions into the Audio Driver FAQ. The full instructions including installing the UAA patch were meant for XP SP2 and that has worked for people with 1420's with that OS. There is something about SP3 that just makes it harder to install the Sigmatel driver. I don't think it is possible to revert to SP2 from SP3 -- I have pasted in down below a method for making SP# appear to be a different SP. If you have the option to restore the computer to the original factory configuration that would be the way to go because you avoid all of these driver installation issues.

The STHDA.INF file present in the WDM folder when selected

Do you mean that you selected the Sthda.inf file, or do you mean you selected the WDM folder and the file popped up with an error message?

Try running the suhlp.exe file in the WDM folder and see if that helps install the file, or just cycles back into the same problem.

I have tried all the AC97 options available in the listing, which appears after choosing to install a Sound, video and game controllers and selecting the Intel option in the list (This is the only one that displays an audio controller option.)

It appears that you were attempting to install the generic AC97 driver as explained in section 6 of the Audio Driver FAQ. That will not work for your model because it has HD audio, not AC97. AC97 is the old audio protocol that was used on motherboards before HD. I would like to post a list of all the models with AC97 audio and all with HD, but to do that I would need a list of all of the Dell laptops in chronological order of their issuance, but I don't know where to find such a list. I can make one up but I know it will have gaps.

Looks like I may have to upgrade to Win 7 if I intend to use the laptop.

But there is no 7 version of the Sigmatel driver, so you would install the Vista version in compatibility mode as in section 8 of the Audio Driver FAQ. That should work, but if it doesn't at least there is the generic HD driver in 7 to fall back on.

*****************************************************************************************************************

I don't know if this will be of any use to you. There was a Forum member B34m3r with a Latitude D520 with XP SP3. His theory was that in SP3 not all of the cab files get loaded when installing the Dell NSS and the Intel Chipset driver, and that those installations essentially fail. His solution was a Registry edit that made it appear that the computer has SP1, then to re-install the NSS and Chipset driver. Here is how he did it.

Step1:Run Regedit. Navigate to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Control/Windows 

Edit the value for "CSDVERSION" from 300 to 100

(300 = sp3 200 = sp2 100=sp1)

Reboot

 
Step 2: Reinstall the Notebook Support Software. Reboot

 
Step 3: Reinstall the Intel Chipset Driver. Reboot

 
Step 4: Reinstall the Conexant Driver and Application. Reboot

(Here he means the dial-up modem driver. He wrote, "The Conexant driver and the sound card are joined at the hip somewhat... they are both on the HDA Bus."  I would also make sure the modem is enabled in the BIOS.)

 Step 5: Install the Sigmatel Driver. Reboot

 Note: Steps 4 and 5 may be reversed depending upon your computer's setup.. If one way does not work, try the reverse.

 Step 6: Change that registry value back to 300. Reboot

**************************************************************************************************************************************

His model also uses the Sigmatel R171789 driver. A difference between his system and yours is that his did have an XP version of the NSS. However this method might possibly work for you if the root of the problem is that not all of the Intel Chipset driver files are being registered under SP3. I don't know -- it would just be an experiment, but I don't believe the lack of the NSS should be a problem as long as you point the updater to the WDM folder.

Jim,

Thanks for the detailed response.

If you have the option to restore the computer to the original factory configuration that would be the way to go because you avoid all of these driver installation issues

I unfortunately have just moved offices and in the move the driver cds have been misplaced. The person in charge is unable to fond them. So that is not an option.

Do you mean that you selected the Sthda.inf file, or do you mean you selected the WDM folder and the file popped up with an error message? Try running the suhlp.exe file in the WDM folder and see if that helps install the file, or just cycles back into the same problem.

I have to select the INF file when I use the Don't search. I will find choose the driver to install option. I get the error as described before.

If I use the search in the particular folder and provide the WDM folder. I get the "Cannot install hardware" dialog. It says was unable to find the necessary software.

But there is no 7 version of the Sigmatel driver, so you would install the Vista version in compatibility mode as in section 8 of the Audio Driver FAQ. That should work, but if it doesn't at least there is the generic HD driver in 7 to fall back on.

That is what I am hoping for.

Will try that after I try the Registry edit experiment you suggested, I am going to reinstall, haven't got much to lose anyway. Will let you know if that worked.

I am glad that worked, and thank you for posting the exact steps you took. I want to put this into the Audio Driver FAQ if I can think of how to do so without being totally confusing.

PS What I said about restoring the computer to the original factory configuration apparently is not available on the Inspiron 1420. Almost all the other models have it but the 1420 Owner's Manual makes no mention of it, only how to manually re-install Windows and the drivers. On most of the Dells there is an image of the operating system, drivers, everything just as it was when it left the factory on a hidden partition on the original hard drive. It just takes a few minutes to restore the image (assuming that one's data is backed up) and afterward the computer functions like new. Besides being easy and fast it is also a great diagnostic tool, because anything that does work not after the process can be deduced to be a hardware failure. But for whatever reason Dell seems to have not included the image with the 1420.

Jim,

Yes, you should put it in the FAQ.

I want to put this into the Audio Driver FAQ if I can think of how to do so without being totally confusing.

You could put in a section "When all else fails with XP SP3". :)

Wrt the Recovery Partition, Yes that would be a great feature to have, but I'm not sure that the partition would have survived the format that I did when installing XP the first time round. 

You could put in a section "When all else fails with XP SP3". :)

Will do. Thanks.