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November 26th, 2005 00:00
Inspiron 4000 Sound card problems
I had bought a Inspiron 4000 in the year 2000 and it had Windows ME installed, but I installed windows XP Pro on it.
I think it has either:
ESS Maestro 3 (WDM)
or:
ESS Allegro
I don't know but I think it is the WDM. The sound card hasn't worked since... I have wXP SP1 and SP2 doesn't work so we stayed with SP1... I need to know what kind of drivers I need because I installed several versions and it still didn't work... sometimes after i installed the drivers, it said something like, "error 10: the device could not start" and some just say " your drivers are installed properly"
It says that they are installe properly, but the only sound that works is the windows error messages like the BIOS messages you know... but it doesn't play sound because it says "there are no sound devices installed" but I installed them already!
Does anyone else have this issue?
I think it has either:
ESS Maestro 3 (WDM)
or:
ESS Allegro
I don't know but I think it is the WDM. The sound card hasn't worked since... I have wXP SP1 and SP2 doesn't work so we stayed with SP1... I need to know what kind of drivers I need because I installed several versions and it still didn't work... sometimes after i installed the drivers, it said something like, "error 10: the device could not start" and some just say " your drivers are installed properly"
It says that they are installe properly, but the only sound that works is the windows error messages like the BIOS messages you know... but it doesn't play sound because it says "there are no sound devices installed" but I installed them already!
Does anyone else have this issue?
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Jim Coates
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13.6K Posts
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November 26th, 2005 02:00
link
Jim
jlabramoff
2 Posts
0
April 20th, 2008 09:00
I have the same problem. I tried installing the driver found at that link, but it did not work either.
jlabramoff
Inspiron 4000
Celeron 801 Mhz
Windows XP Pro
Jim Coates
6 Operator
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13.6K Posts
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April 20th, 2008 11:00
Is this the one: ESS Maestro 3i M3XUA14I XP audio driver? If you click 'other versions' beneath the words 'download now', you can find the older versions of the driver.
Dell has not used Maestro chips since I have been on this board and so I haven't seen much here about them. I don't know why the driver won't install but some possibilities come to mind. There could be a certain order of driver installation that must be follwed after you install a new operating system (that is the case with Sigmatel audio drivers), or the modem might have gone bad. That will affect the audio driver installation. The way to diagnose that is to remove the modem and try to install the driver again.
Jim
jlabramoff
2 Posts
0
April 21st, 2008 12:00
I tried that driver; I'll try an older version. I had a lengthy GoToAssist session with a technical support representative, and he(she?) took control of the laptop and could not get it to work. I likely would have to re-install Windows Me (which I can't do because I don't have the CD), and then install XP agani (which I can't do because I don't have the CD).
Thanks for your help.
Jay