Dimension 2400 soundmax integrated audio - no sound

I should have added that the problem existed prior to the installation of the USB wireless adapter.

I see a new post from you, but it doesn't appear you've seen mine.  Don't forget to check out the second page of your thread as we seem to have spilled over the limits of the first page!

I had to wait until grandkids could tear themselves away from soundless Roblox.

I pulled speakers from another computer with working sound and used them on the Dimension 2400.  Still no sound.  All speakers, etc. are properly connected and powered.

The sound passed the diagnostics test with flying colors - there is definitely a functioning sound emitting device in this computer - but it doesn't seem to properly load or launch or whatever the proper terminology is.

Device manager says that all of the following are working correctly.

Legacy Audio Drivers

Media Control Devices

SoundMax

EDIT:  Before working inside your computer, follow the guidance found here:  Before You Begin.

One last thing to do, and then I think you are left with going back through the steps already taken to be sure one hasn't been missed.  The Dimension 2400 is now old enough that the NVRAM (CMOS) battery may have low voltage.  If you haven't replaced it, you should do that at this time.  Begin by shutting down and disconnecting the power cord from the computer.  Follow the instructions found here to remove and replace the battery:  Replacing NVRAM Cell.  Before putting the new battery into the holder, be sure you wait for about five minutes, and during that time push the power on button and hold it in for about fifteen seconds to discharge any stored charge.  This will reset the NVRAM back to its defaults and cause the computer to re-detect its devices on the next start-up.  If you have recently replaced the battery, just remove the battery you have and leave it out of its holder for the five minute period.

If you do not have a diskette drive, you will likely get a seek error on the non-existent drive when you connect everything back up and start the computer.  Just accept the offer to go to system setup (F2), use the arrow keys to navigate to Integrated Devices, find the diskette drive and set it to Off.

If you still have no sound I would say that there must be a source that has been muted in the expanded audio mixer.  If you now have the speaker symbol in the system tray on the task bar, right click it and select Open Volume Control to examine the sliders on all the sources.

During this thread you have looked at everything I can remember having to do with audio, and if none of this has helped, all I can say is that you might need to perform a complete reinstallation to get the sound back.  I had hoped that someone might have picked up something I missed, but you and I are the only ones on the thread so far.  I will send a note to some of the more experienced members of the community in the hope they will see something I missed.  In the mean time, best of luck to you, and best wishes for a Happy New Year! 

Maybe I missed it trying to read through the posts, but have the Intel chipset drivers been reinstalled?  If not, give that a shot and see what happens.

Thanks Jack, but I think that we covered that about post #11.

JudyLloyd:

Another suggestion from a fellow forum member was to try remembering if the sound disappeared following installation of an Intel or Microsoft update.  I realize given your situation that the only practical way to resolve this issue if it exists is to reinstall the operating system.

This suggestion did, however, remind me of another problem.  Does your computer happen to be using BIOS revision A03?  This BIOS has a bug that occasionally causes the computer to forget that it has on-board sound.  It usually manifests itself as a "no sound" problem after you wake it up from hibernation, but it can also happen on start-up so that a restart of the computer will not necessarily bring the sound back.  The reset of NVRAM I suggested earlier may bring the sound back temporarily if this is your problem.  To permanently resolve the issue, though, you must update the BIOS.

To do this, download D2400A05.EXE from the Dell downloads.  Save it to a folder you make in My Documents rather than to the desktop as suggested in the instructions; if you save it to the desktop, Windows XP will sometimes refuse to allow you to delete the file.  Once you have the file, shut down the computer and disconnect all peripherals with the exception of the keyboard, mouse, and monitor.  Start the computer and use F8 to go to the Windows start-up menu and select to start in Safe Mode.  When the computer has finished booting, click Start, Run, and Browse.  Locate the BIOS update file and click on that and OK to run the file.  After it has finished updating the computer it should restart on its own with the new BIOS.  The flash will also set the defaults so you may need to go back to system setup and turn off the diskette drive again.

I should caution you that a BIOS update does have a small chance of bricking the mainboard.  Once you have started the update it must be allowed to run all the way to completion.  You should not perform the update at a time that you could expect power to  be interrupted, or if an impatient young person might be present who cannot resist the temptation to press a key on the keyboard.  I have updated two of my three D2400s without problems, however, so I know the files do work.  One more suggestion; I don't know how you've been downloading the files from the support page, but the download manager has given many members a headache.  To avoid a corrupted file you should use the option to download directly using your web browser.

Selective sounds certainly can be caused by settings found on the master volume control.  When you open that feature you see about half a dozen different sliders, each having a mute box.  There is a main control for the overall volume, plus a control for .WAV sounds, .MID sounds, and yet another for the line input on the audio card.  That is why I suggested you look at that feature early in our conversation.

Patience is required when working with computers, and a sense of humor as well.  We will be here if you need to ask additional questions.  By the way, don't forget to check out the BIOS revision.  This information should be available in one of the System Information tools if you have any, but the easiest way to find it is to restart the computer, press F2 during self test, and read it from the top of the system setup screen.

Thanks much for all your help.   Confirm that the chipset drivers were reinstalled.

I live in the middle of nowhere so it will take me a day or two to procure the correct CMOS battery to try that option.  I am also surrounded by numerous impatient youngsters for the next few days so it will take a bit of time to follow all of the most recent suggestions.

I do not recall any particular point in time at which the sound stopped working.  In fact it has worked intermittantly for the past several months.  On certain online games (can't remember which ones) there has been sound.  The system disks I have that came with the computer are WinXPPro SP2, but installed system is SP3 and I recall that the person from whom I purchased the computer did reinstall the operating system in 7/06 which is when I purchased this computer.

Just to make things more confusing, today I was standing by one of the grandkids as they were playing Roblox on the Dimension 2400.  Surprisingly, it does produce select sound such as a sound effect when the Roblox character jumps or takes a tumble, but it will not play any music.  When I test the sound I try to play the Mario theme song on YouTube and that never works, but then that's music.   Could something be disabled that would effect music but not sound effects?

If so that would be truly strange as the Windows startup sound does not play at system startup nor or shutdown.   Are system sounds  "sound effects" or "music"?Probably a dumb question but it certainly seemed strange to me.  You mentioned something about a source muted in the expanded audio mixer so I'm  going to see if I can figure out how to check that out.

Thanks again for your patience and perseverence.  I will post again when I've completed the most recent suggestions.

Just in case you have some time to play with the machine, fellow member Alexandra has made these suggestions:

1) Try a different (or new) user account and see if there's sound there - just on the off chance an app or registry entry in the current user account is the problem.    Thread below isn't really the same problem, but the MS link has some other suggestions (including a link to some Kelly's Korner fixes).

http://en.community.dell.com/forums/p/18956334/19081459.aspx#19081459

2) How far back does system restore go?  Worth a try if it goes back far enough.

3) There were scattered reports of SP3 causing odd audio problems on some machines.  Uninstalling it usually restored the sound  Though never did find out exactly why, other than the standard "don't install SP3 with with your AV running" kind of answers.

4) The intermittent nature makes me wonder if it's a possible background conflict - maybe a run through MSCONFIG startups would help?

On the first suggestion, in addition to suggesting a new account to check out the sound there is a link to an older post dealing with a similar issue.  There is a helpful link within that post, but noticed that not many of the links in the referenced thread still work.  The link to Kelly's Korner does; the executable file makes registry changes to correct the most common causes of no sound.  If it works we won't know for certain why, but the important thing would be that it works, I think.

With regard to the second suggestion, you have already stated you don't know for sure when the sound stopped working.  You could still try going back to the oldest restore point you have, however.  Just remember that you will need to re-install any programs you have installed after the date of the restore point.

So far as the Service Pack 3 audio troubles, I am presuming that the computer was delivered to you with Service Pack 3 installed, or at least that your sound worked after you installed Service Pack 3.  That is a particularly long shot; as I recall, if you had a sound problem due to Service Pack 3, the computer emitted no sound whatever.  I suspect the problem had to do with the update to the UAA High Def Audio Driver that was contained in that service pack.

The last suggestion has to do with possible conflicts with other applications that have been installed.  It is certainly a possibility, but I would not know which items would be a problem by looking at the list of start-ups.  If you would like to look at MSCONFIG and post a list of what you find on it, however, we will do a bit of research and see if anything obvious can be seen.

I was installing new memory strips which I completed successfully and when I re-booted the PC I had no sound.  Any Ideas?