Problems with Audio

Hi, chrpen7:

First, since you paid GS and the issue is still not fixed, my suggestion is to take it back there. However, I realize it's Xmas Eve and they may not be availalbe to do it right away.

What I want you to do is open Device Manager and look for any errors, like one of those yellow exclamation points, and tell me what the error code is and which device it's on.

ok ...

I opened it and everything looks right (no yellow exclamation points) 

Hey Osprey and chrpen7. Merry Christmas Eve!

I have a different approach to this if I might suggest it. The error codes 1B63:0268 &.1B63:061B are both from Dell Diagnostics audio tests. Barring user error the codes mean that there is a hardware failure that cannot be fixed by software.  What I mean by user error is that the way the test knows that the audio does not work is that the tester told it so, when the test asked if you heard the audio. I would run the test two more times. Once to confirm the results, and again while listening through headphones to find out if the audio signal is getting as far as the headphone jack.

The audio chip on the motherboard could be faulty, or there could be a mechanical fault (loose solder joint or cable) somewhere in the signal path. The fact that you lost the audio then got it back and then lost it again suggests that it is an intermittent failure.

Thanks Jimco.....so how do I go about fixing this???  When I go to view the audio devices....all of them say that they are not located (location unknown)

what do you think??

Dell Diagnostics indicates that it is a hardware problem. The audio tests work no matter what software problems might be there in Windows or in a Windows driver. When you see problems in Device Manager, mainly it is reflecting what is going on with the device's driver, not the hardware itself. There are all kinds of reasons for a driver to not install or to install incorrectly or partially. Dell Diagnostics was designed to be able to check the hardware independently of all that. But it is limited in that it cannot pinpoint exactly where the fault is.

If the nature of the hardware problem cannot be determined and corrected then the fix is to replace the motherboard, which is impractical due to cost, or use an external audio device to replace the motherboard audio. On computers that are under warranty, when they fail the audio test Dell routinely replaces the MB as the simplest solution, because it is difficult to find the cause of the problem and the individual audio components are not replaceable anyway.

If the problem is intermittent then the audio might come back by itself and at some point you will be able to reinstall the driver. One of the symptoms of a failed audio chip is the inability of the OS to identify the chip and so be able to install the driver -- but there are other reasons for it too, not just failed hardware.

There is one test that is better even than Dell Diagnostics, and that is PC Restore (called Factory Image Restore in Vista). If you use that and the audio does not work immediately afterward, it confirms Dell Diagnostics that the problem is the hardware. If there is any possible software solution then the audio will work after using PC Restore.