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Inspiron 1420 no sounds from speaker
Hello All,
I know I may have a dinosaur for a computer compared to everyone's laptop, but my 1420 is still kicking strong. My only issue are the speakers. I can hear sound when I plug in headphones, but they will not produce sound from the speakers when unplugged. I have upgraded to Windows 10. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you in advance
Jim Coates
13.6K Posts
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February 11th, 2017 18:00
Hello. If you were having trouble with the speakers before installing the newer operating system, then possibly the speakers have failed or the connection is loose. To eliminate that possibility, run the PSA (or ePSA depending on which one you have) audio test. Instructions here.
I f you were having trouble with the speakers with the old operating system, but they pass the test, then you might have the failed sense pin issue, which is explained here.
If the speakers pass the test, and were working fine until you installed the new OS, then that is most likely the source of the problem. Win10 is not supported on the 1420 and so not everything can be expected to work right. The latest OS that Dell supported was Vista. Your best bet is to go back to Vista, but if you want to continue using the unsupported Win10, then try to install the Sigmatel audio driver R171786. It is a Vista driver, so you should use compatibility mode, as follows:
1. Download and save the audio driver to your desktop or any convenient location on the hard drive.
2. Double click on the new folder to extract (unzip) the driver files.
3. The extractor wizard will create a new folder for the driver files. It should be at "C:\DELL\DRIVERS\R171786". Write down the exact location that the wizard creates, if different.
4. If the driver begins to install automatically, halt (cancel) the installation.
5. Browse to the driver files on the hard drive (C:\DELL\DRIVERS\R171786, or the location you wrote down).
6. Find the "setup.exe" file.
7. Right click on setup.exe to open the context menu.
8. Select the Properties.
9. Select the Compatibility tab.
10. Check the box "run this program in compatibility mode for"... Vista.
If you manage to get the driver installed, but the audio still does not come through the speakers, then it is probably sense pin failure, assuming that the speakers passed the PSA test.
totallycovered
1 Message
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April 24th, 2017 14:00
Thank you for this! I'm not OP but this fixed my laptop. Since there was nothing banged out in Device Manager, I assumed there was a hardware problem. Installed the sigmatel driver with your instructions, restarted, bing!
Jim Coates
13.6K Posts
0
April 24th, 2017 18:00
@totallycovered, thanks for the feedback and for verifying the answer.