Try the audio/sound tests in Dell Diagnostics, which uses no other software, to distinguish between hardware and software problems. It might be bootable from your hard drive by a special function key at bootup, or you can download the utitity from the Dell Support site.
Thanks for responding. I tried to download the utility, but I do not have diskettes. The instructions are not clear on how else to run this utility. I downloaded each of the three choices. I saved the HARD DISK ones to a folder on my desktop. What is the next step?
Also, will this utility tell me if the sound card is 'blown'?
The instructions below each of the three download options indicate they all create a full set of floppy disks for the Diagnostic utility, just by slightly differing methods, so that may be a dead end for those without a floppy drive.
The utility may also be on a Resource CD provided by Dell for some systems, but I've read here that their current policy is not to send disks until/unless requested by the registered owner sometime within the warranty period. You may wish to request this disk (if one is available for your system) and other disks (such as the Windows installation CD) at some point. Some are particularly valuable, and the only means of reinstalling the software contained on them. Some software is also available to download from the Dell Support site, but mostly firmware, drivers, utilities, and patches - not the operating system, CD/DVD burner software, and others that are only available on CD to control distribution.
If your system still has the original hard drive and it's partion and content have not been deleted, F12 at bootup should launch the utility. The utility is installed and used at the factory, and left on the hard drive for each user to use or delete as desired, but it's partition is normally hidden from Windows and the user.
The partition does appear in the Windows Disk Management tool, which may be available from Start / Settings / Control Panel / Administrative Tools / Computer Management / Storage / Disk Management. Alternatively, you may be able to run Disk Management by double-clicking on the file named "diskmgmt.msc" in the C:\Windows\system32 folder.
If the Disk Mgmt. tool is available to you, it will show a graphical representation of all the disk partitions. The presence of Dell Diagnostics would be indicated by a relatively small (32-64MB) partition at the beginning of the disk. The graph may look similar to the ones on this link, but the article there is focused on another topic.
"Also, will this utility tell me if the sound card is 'blown'?"
Yes, all major parts of the system may be tested from the utility and if any part of the system fails the tests it must be considered a hardware failure, presuming you are using the Dell Diagnostics version specified for your system and there is no applicable utility update to correct invalid failure indications. There is an update for the utility version used on your system, but only to add new models to the group covered by that version. See "Applicable Systems" at the bottom of the utility download screen for a list of models covered by the same utility as yours.
There are various failure modes, and the user is required to properly operate the utility and listen for sounds during the audio portion of the tests, but any clearly failed test is a hardware failure. Some hardware failure modes can be marginal and still pass the Dell Diagnostic tests if the problem is "slightly" detectable in normal operation using Windows and other software, such as just a little more background noise than expected, or not quite as clear sounding as another system, in which case the actual level of performance can only be measured as signal-to-noise ratio or IM and THD distortion, parameters that quantify the quality of the audio, but for which Dell has specified no threshold of rated performance. In such cases, the acceptability must be negotiated and judged by other means, such as commonly recognized standards of minimum acceptabile performance, when such exist.
Glad to see you back. Whew...sounds like you already had a big pot of coffee!
I'm exhausted about this. I have spent three days trying to analyse/fix the problem.
I'm not ready for another day of this for now. I ordered a Turtle Beach external sound card.
Did I make a mistake in doing so? Sounds good...but won't arrive until who knows when. I travelled all over town in 100 degrees looking for one...no one has them in their brick and mortar stores, so came back home and ordered one from Circuit City...free shipping!
Will step away from this situation until the litter bugger arrives and will post on how it works.
But one last question. If I inadvertendly plugged the wrong wire into the wrong port would that have blown the card? Otherwise, this machine has hardly been used. Bought it as a spare in case my 2350 hiccuped...so really haven't used it much...but the sound did work prior to me moving it last week since the 2350 went BSOD with a fatal system error. Which took Dell Chat 7 hours to FAIL on helping me. Fixed it myself with Recovery Control. So in the meantime used the Dim 3000 as my backup, only to find the sound went bye-bye.
Restoring the factory image should be just as effective as the utility in isolating the problem to the sound card. If that's what you did, the utility was an unnecessary diversion.
I don't see the potential for wrong wire / wrong port being the root cause of the problem here, unless there's some way to connect one of the amplifier outputs to the sound card. I would expect them to be different connector types to prevent such a possibility, but ...
Moving the PC might have allowed a connection inside the desktop to come loose.
Yes GreyMack...I thought the 'move' could have caused a loose connect...but checked all. Since the audio is on-board...tough to decipher.
Thanks for your input...checked your website...excellent! We have a few things in common...
Sound card should be arriving this evening (Thurs) I'm interested in how it will fare. I always was an 'internal' kind of user, but have found that the 'external' devices have been lifesavers in some instances...
By the way, this forum has been much more pleasant and interesting than dealing with DELL support...I can see why their stock hasn't been doing well...
I was kind of wondering why you went with an external instead of a PCI sound card, but figured maybe you had all of them full. I've never had a desktop, so it's a bit out of my element.
Dell could do themselves a big favor in several areas, but the entire industry needs a wider gene pool. :smileyvery-happy:
Turtle Beach External Sound Card arrived. Looks like a Flash (Jump) Drive.
Installed and played the demo...sound was incredible for about 5 seconds...then gone...same as what happened with the on-board SoundMax card!
I check the Bios...the integrated sound was on.
It showed as Legacy Select Options (???)
I disabled the on-board SoundMax and enabled the new TB USB card.
No sound.
Checked Microsoft site, only reference to Legacy has to do with compatibility issues/licences for older products???
So, once sound plays, it lasts for a couple of seconds, then dies.
This is too quirky for me...
Any buyers for a very gently used Dimension 3000 who does not require sound? For sale cheap!
Off to the APPLE site! Need to buy a new machine...
Just for laughs, also had a problem with my HP All-In-One printer...spent 3 hours on chat session. Of course they couldn't help but at end of session determined I had a serious hardware problem and would sell me an upgrade with a discount...that turned out to be a pretty bad deal and told them so...today I fixed it myself...it needed a new black cartridge!
I've been working with ths via PM, but I've got to think it's either an Operating System or speakers problem. I don't suspect hardware as in almost all cases it either works or doesn't work - not "works for 5 minutes".
Check the speakers by connecting them to some other audio device (you can connect them to an IPod or similar device, the headset jack on a CD player, etc) and see if they work OK - and work continuously for more than "5" minutes.
My suggestion is to do a complete "clean" reinstall, which is reformat the hard drive, (1) install the Operating System (2) Install the Dell Chipset Drivers (3) install device drivers (3) install any Dell applications that you want to reinstall (4) install user applications and restore backed up user data (5) reinstall any peripherals (e.g. printer). Or if you have a system with a complete restore partition that will restore it to the original factory power up condition run that.
'Been-there-did-that'...at one point I think I installed the wrong chipset, but went back to Dell and think I found the correct one. Then did that whole secenario all over again.
The new sound card seems to have been also 'blown-out' after I installed it and it played for about 10 seconds (just like what happened with the on-board Sound Max).
I installed it into my laptop and the old Dell 2350. No Sound from it. But did get sound from the original sound cards in each device.
Something in the 3000 is blowing the sound card...I'm stumped. If we can figure out what could cause this, that would do the trick.
Thank you both GreyMack and Fireberd...stay with me if you like a challenge.
I'm having the same problem. Well not quite. I'm starting to loose audio. the sound is all distorted. At first i thought it might be windows media player but i tried other players like the jukebox one that came installed from Dell. Still sounds . Like bad connection on cell phone.
I've only had my computer for a year. Would new speakers be the only option?
GreyMack
2.2K Posts
0
August 1st, 2006 07:00
GM
Dim3000
8 Posts
0
August 1st, 2006 14:00
GreyMack
2.2K Posts
0
August 1st, 2006 23:00
Yes, all major parts of the system may be tested from the utility and if any part of the system fails the tests it must be considered a hardware failure, presuming you are using the Dell Diagnostics version specified for your system and there is no applicable utility update to correct invalid failure indications. There is an update for the utility version used on your system, but only to add new models to the group covered by that version. See "Applicable Systems" at the bottom of the utility download screen for a list of models covered by the same utility as yours.
(Geeze, is that windy or what? Got coffee?)
Message Edited by GreyMack on 08-01-200605:26 PM
Dim3000
8 Posts
0
August 2nd, 2006 00:00
Glad to see you back. Whew...sounds like you already had a big pot of coffee!
I'm exhausted about this. I have spent three days trying to analyse/fix the problem.
I'm not ready for another day of this for now. I ordered a Turtle Beach external sound card.
Did I make a mistake in doing so? Sounds good...but won't arrive until who knows when. I travelled all over town in 100 degrees looking for one...no one has them in their brick and mortar stores, so came back home and ordered one from Circuit City...free shipping!
Will step away from this situation until the litter bugger arrives and will post on how it works.
But one last question. If I inadvertendly plugged the wrong wire into the wrong port would that have blown the card? Otherwise, this machine has hardly been used. Bought it as a spare in case my 2350 hiccuped...so really haven't used it much...but the sound did work prior to me moving it last week since the 2350 went BSOD with a fatal system error. Which took Dell Chat 7 hours to FAIL on helping me. Fixed it myself with Recovery Control. So in the meantime used the Dim 3000 as my backup, only to find the sound went bye-bye.
Thanks for your help...
GreyMack
2.2K Posts
0
August 3rd, 2006 01:00
Restoring the factory image should be just as effective as the utility in isolating the problem to the sound card. If that's what you did, the utility was an unnecessary diversion.
I don't see the potential for wrong wire / wrong port being the root cause of the problem here, unless there's some way to connect one of the amplifier outputs to the sound card. I would expect them to be different connector types to prevent such a possibility, but ...
Turtle Beach would sound real fine from here ...
Dim3000
8 Posts
0
August 3rd, 2006 11:00
Yes GreyMack...I thought the 'move' could have caused a loose connect...but checked all. Since the audio is on-board...tough to decipher.
Thanks for your input...checked your website...excellent! We have a few things in common...
Sound card should be arriving this evening (Thurs) I'm interested in how it will fare. I always was an 'internal' kind of user, but have found that the 'external' devices have been lifesavers in some instances...
By the way, this forum has been much more pleasant and interesting than dealing with DELL support...I can see why their stock hasn't been doing well...
GreyMack
2.2K Posts
0
August 3rd, 2006 12:00
http://www.goodells.net/dellrestore/index.htm
http://www.goodells.net/dellrestore/mediadirect
http://www.goodells.net/multiboot/index.htm
I was kind of wondering why you went with an external instead of a PCI sound card, but figured maybe you had all of them full. I've never had a desktop, so it's a bit out of my element.
Dell could do themselves a big favor in several areas, but the entire industry needs a wider gene pool. :smileyvery-happy:
GM
Message Edited by GreyMack on 08-03-200606:32 AM
Dim3000
8 Posts
0
August 3rd, 2006 22:00
GreyMack
2.2K Posts
0
August 4th, 2006 02:00
I wonder if the amplified speakers damaged the sound cards. Were they plugged in both times when failure occured?
fireberd
9 Legend
•
33.4K Posts
0
August 4th, 2006 09:00
I've been working with ths via PM, but I've got to think it's either an Operating System or speakers problem. I don't suspect hardware as in almost all cases it either works or doesn't work - not "works for 5 minutes".
Check the speakers by connecting them to some other audio device (you can connect them to an IPod or similar device, the headset jack on a CD player, etc) and see if they work OK - and work continuously for more than "5" minutes.
My suggestion is to do a complete "clean" reinstall, which is reformat the hard drive, (1) install the Operating System (2) Install the Dell Chipset Drivers (3) install device drivers (3) install any Dell applications that you want to reinstall (4) install user applications and restore backed up user data (5) reinstall any peripherals (e.g. printer). Or if you have a system with a complete restore partition that will restore it to the original factory power up condition run that.
Message Edited by fireberd on 08-04-200606:33 AM
Dim3000
8 Posts
0
August 4th, 2006 10:00
'Been-there-did-that'...at one point I think I installed the wrong chipset, but went back to Dell and think I found the correct one. Then did that whole secenario all over again.
Download for the SoundMax I used R94481
Download for Chipset I used R58201
Is it possible I still have the wrong Chipset?
Dim3000
8 Posts
0
August 4th, 2006 13:00
UPDATE:
The new sound card seems to have been also 'blown-out' after I installed it and it played for about 10 seconds (just like what happened with the on-board Sound Max).
I installed it into my laptop and the old Dell 2350. No Sound from it. But did get sound from the original sound cards in each device.
Something in the 3000 is blowing the sound card...I'm stumped. If we can figure out what could cause this, that would do the trick.
Thank you both GreyMack and Fireberd...stay with me if you like a challenge.
Dim3000
8 Posts
0
August 4th, 2006 15:00
Dillyweed
1 Message
0
September 18th, 2006 21:00