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Please help no sound
Can someone please help. I suddenly have no sound. Can't hear a DVD or mpeg video. I tried restoring to the day before when I had sound but it still doesn't work. I tried
calling Dell but they wanted to charge me $99 plus $8 per month for continued phone support. I guess my 4 year warrantee which I purchased is worthless.
Any way, I checked the device drivers and everything seems to be installed. I installed a new antivirus program (got rid of the old one which stopped working properly). It found a worm virus and removed it. I then tried reinstalling windows XP but it told me that I had 2 incompatible programs installed & would NOT install. I'm getting very frustrated.
All I want to do is get my sound back. Everything else seems to be working just fine. Can anyone provide step-by-step instructions to help me out here. Otherwise, I'm planning to buy a new computer (a $500 one would provide all I need).
By the way, does anyone know of a company that provides real support any more (the way Dell used to do)? Thank you all kindly for any help or advice you can provide.
Natb
calling Dell but they wanted to charge me $99 plus $8 per month for continued phone support. I guess my 4 year warrantee which I purchased is worthless.
Any way, I checked the device drivers and everything seems to be installed. I installed a new antivirus program (got rid of the old one which stopped working properly). It found a worm virus and removed it. I then tried reinstalling windows XP but it told me that I had 2 incompatible programs installed & would NOT install. I'm getting very frustrated.
All I want to do is get my sound back. Everything else seems to be working just fine. Can anyone provide step-by-step instructions to help me out here. Otherwise, I'm planning to buy a new computer (a $500 one would provide all I need).
By the way, does anyone know of a company that provides real support any more (the way Dell used to do)? Thank you all kindly for any help or advice you can provide.
Natb
198
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Posted April 4th, 2006 21:00
I have a Dell Dimension 8300 (about 3 years old). The operating system is win XP home edition with service pack 1. When I tried to reinstall winXP a message came up saying that XP was incompatible with QUICKTIME (I thought I erased this garbage spyware a long time ago but it leeched its way back into the system) and Norton GoBack (I didn't want to get rid of this cause it saved me from disaster several times). I can't get any sound at all - not even system sounds (I tried that first). I'd like to try reinstalling the sound drivers but I don't know how to do this. Can this be downloaded from the internet in case I can't find the Dell resource CD or do I use the winXP CD? I never was able to use headphones even when sound did work so I won't bother with that now. I did check all connections and everything is plugged in and attached. Any other help would be most appreciated. Thanks again.
Natb198
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Posted April 4th, 2006 23:00
With Quicktime still on the PC, in some cases the only way to get rid of it is to do a "clean" install - which is reformat the hard drive and reinstall everything. Along with Goback (which I don't use), Windows XP has the built in "System Restore" which will restore your PC to an earlier date/time for many system problems. The Windows XP will not restore the sound, in fact if you happen to get some generic Windows XP sound drivers installed it will cause the sound to fail. You must use Dell drivers with Dell supplied OEM sound cards.Most all the Dell drivers are available for Download. Click Desktops at the top of this page, then Dimension. Enter your Service Tag number and then access the Downloads for your specific model. As there are several sound options, make sure you download the appropriate driver.As I do not know what else you have installed or what you have done to the PC, that's about all I can offer.
Inspiron 16 5630 Laptop and WD22TB4 Docking StationSelf-built desktop for recording studio application198
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Posted April 5th, 2006 00:00
Thanks for your help. I found and downloaded several files but I don't know which one or ones to install. How can I tell?
Natb198
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Posted April 5th, 2006 09:00
You can download the Belarc Advisor www.belarc.com it will scan your pc and give you a profile of what you have. Depending on the conditon of the PC it may tell you what sound card or module you have.
I don't think there was more than one "integrated" sound for the 8300 (sound module built into the motherboard), so if you don't have a separate PCI card sound card then you can discount the SoundBlaster downloads and that should only leave you with one integrated audio sound drivers (may say SoundMax).
However, as mentioned before, depending on what you have installed or had installed on the PC, nothing short of a complete install may be the only option to restoring the PC to full functionality.
Inspiron 16 5630 Laptop and WD22TB4 Docking StationSelf-built desktop for recording studio application198
0
Posted April 7th, 2006 22:00
Thanks for trying to help. I finally resolved the problem by:
(1) locating the Creative SB Live! in the device manager.
(2) I deleted it by selecting it and pressing the DELETE key
(3) Then I rebooted the computer. WinXP informed me that it found
new hardware. It automatically reinstalled the sound card.
(This was given to me by a smart user at another forum. I posted the info here for anyone who needs this. DO NOT PAY DELL TECH SUPPORT $99 for simple fixes. They are leeches who take advantage and feed off of our lack of knowledge. I also believe that they withhold simple info so that we have to pay for it. We can all be patient and learn. I'll never ever purchase a Dell again! They're just out to legally steal your hard earned money.)
Natb
fireberd
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Posted April 4th, 2006 20:00
First; what model PC and what Operating System? There are many different Dell models and configurations and we can't really do anything other than offer general suggestions without that information.
I'm not sure what the "incompatible programs" meant.
Is ALL sound bad or just certain types of sound? e.g. do you get the system sounds?
If there is no sound, make sure the speakers are connected and all speaker connections fully inserted. Also, make sure the AC power is OK for the speakers.
Have you tried headphones to see if you get sound in the headphones?
Finally, even tho the sound is shows OK in the Windows Device Manager, reinstalling the sound drivers may help.