Inspiron 1525 - Audio on Vista has stopped

Question

Here's my friend's Dell Inspiron 1525 with Vista 32 bit SP2 - 3gB RAM - large disk 25% full.  She's lost her sound.  I've reloaded the SigmaTel HD drivers from the orig disk that came with the Dell and I've gone to the website and downloaded and installed the latest from that source.  No sound.  Device manager reports no problems with the sound hardware.  So I don't think this is a driver or audio software problem - I believe it's a deeper Vista issue. When the system first boots, I get a message that says:  LogonUI.exe - bad image.  C;\win\sys323\avrt.dll is either not designed to run or is corrupt.  Etc. Etc.  The desktop appears and all other functions appear to be working properly.  So, I ran SFC /scannow which produced a CBS.log file.  At the bottom of the log you can see where SFC was unable to recover and correct AVRT.dll.   In the systray, the sound icon is present but hovering announces 'Windows Audio Service is not running'.  If you clik that icon, it offers to start the service but fails without any error being given.  If you go to Services.msc and attempt to manually start Windows Audio Service, one of the dependencies (Multimedia Class Service) is not running and fails to manually start with a cryptic error of 0X1c. I'm versed in XP but this Vista is another animal altogether with it's UAC controls.  It's one reason I can't seem to view CBS.log unless I copy it to the Documents folder.  Plus it has forbidden (access denied) a lot of other things I've attempted. She has a Dell disk that professes to be the 'Windows Reinstallation CD'.  Obviously we want to avoid that if at all possible.  I was hoping that SFC would go to this resintall CD and extract the correct file(s) but it didn't appear to (from watching the CD light not turn on). So, my good people, what do we do now?   I thank you all for your time.   H

Jim Coates · Answer

Instead of using the Windows re-installation cd I would use Factory Image Restore (page 130 of the Owner's Manual. If you do use the disc only format the c drive so that the hidden partitions remain untouched, as both the Dell Diagnostics and the Factory Image Restore partitions are important for diagnosing problems.

I agree that it is a Vista problem. I don't know enough about repairing the OS to help. Someone else might answer here or you could post on the Microsoft Operating System Board.

Jim Coates · Answer

I googled avrt.dll and see a number of discussions on how to repair it, where to get it, etc.

Hoibie · Answer

Awww!

Rather ashamed I didn't do the simple thing! Been plugging away at it for over an hour - lost sight of the forest...

I've d/led a copy and will try that tomorrow. Will try to get back with results.

Wish she had the manual - oh wait! Maybe it's not in paper but on a disk in this collection!

Gotta get at it again.

H

Hoibie · Answer

And now the saga continues....

I did manage to rename the old avrt.dll (what a struggle with Vista this was!) and moved the downloaded copy into position. No help - same error. I did further reading. Some suggest wholsale replacing WMP11 so I went that route first trying to uninstall WMP. It's not showing up in Add/Remove (Vista's version of it). I d/l'd a fresh copy from MS and attempted to install on top. Error reports that I can't install an "older" version -11.5 versus 11.6. If only I could find 11.6 to uninstall it. And, wonderfully enough, when you try to launch WMP 11.6 (or whatever version this thing really has) you guessed it... "C;\win\sys32\avrt.dll is either not designed to run or is corrupt blah blah blah..."

So, I can' uninstall it, I can't install over it, I can't replace the faulting .dll or I can't determine what faulting piece of the OS is calling avrt.dll.

Wonderful Vista.

Question: Is there a command switch in SFC to force it to look at the CD (orig install media) instead of what may be corrupted on the recovery partition?

Question: Is WMP 11 tucked away in some quiet place on Vista and I'm just not finding it?

Any suggestions from this group?

Jim Coates · Answer

I would post on the Microsoft Operating System Board. for help with that company's products.

Thankfully I have XP. To remove WMP in it one goes to the Add/Remove Programs and clicks on the Add/Remove Windows Components icon on the left of the main window. I don't know if it is the same in Vista but as I recall Microsoft has gotten into legal trouble in various countries because WMP is a component of Windows instead of a stand alone program.

Hoibie · Answer

Jimco - I hope you can see this: you may know the answer to this one. I'm going to have to use the factory image (not the disc). I found instructions on page 265-269 not 130 but maybe you have a different manual. If I do this reimage, does that also reimage the G: drive? This Dell came with a C: logical drive and a G: logical drive labeled "Media Center". Does reimaging also hit this G: drive. I'm calling it G: because that's what Hiren's Boot CD calls it. Hiren's is what I'm using to take off the files

because...

While, I managed to fix the audio but a chkdsk /r found many orphaned files, folders, clusters and on reboot now it's blue-screened into a doorstop. Windows almost fires up but stops just short of the desktop. The only way out now i can see is the reimage option.

I'm curious if you (or anyone) knows exactly what am I to expect once I pull the trigger...

H

Jim Coates · Answer

I am sorry but I just don't know. I always assumed Factory Image Restore is an image of the entire hard drive because it is supposed to "restore your hard drive back to its original factory configuration as when you first ordered it from Dell".

This is news to me about Media Center being in a separate partition. I thought Media Center was incorporated into Vista and XP MCE. Could there be 2 operating systems on that hard drive? But in any case it would seem that Factory Image Restore is worth a try.

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