Inspiron 5160 - Sound stopped working, no clue.

Question

got this laptop in october. so i've had it for about 3 months and this is the first problem i've had with it.   today the sound just stopped working. i had it hooked up to the tv yesterday and watched a movie on it. then today i was using it for a few hours (muted) and when I tried to run doom3 (which i've run before no problems) the sound was not working at all. I made sure the mixer was set properly I checked my device manager and there are no conflicts I checked the bios I plugged in known good headphones to see if just the speakers had blown but those didn't work either. Volume's maxed out for every compenent I'd normally use in windows and i've gone through the whole 'troubleshooter' and nothing has worked thus far.   Any ideas for help? or should i just be making a system image asap and firing this thing back to dell for repairs? after having some quality time with them on the phone of course.

procras · Answer

Weirdly enough, same system, same original purchase time.

AND SAME PROBLEM!!!

I was listening to a track and it sounded a little garbled so I thought since I had been doing a bunch of different stuff that I was experiencing some sort of slow down so I closed everything up and reset the machine. When it had rebooted I had NO SOUND. Ran the same tests you did and no obvious problems.

Wish I could help, but I'm hoping that this suggests that it's something extremely strange. Hope someone can help us,

nickcua · Answer

Sorry no help here still...except that I have had the same problem occur.  I have an Inspirion 5100 however and bought mine approx 15 mos ago.  I did all the troubleshooting and BIOS stuff, still doesn't work.  Please help, thanks.

Terminus · Answer

Same thing just happened to me... I had my speakers plugged in and went to switch to my headphones. When I plugged them in I heard some garbled noise. So I restarted the computer and now I have no sound whatsoever. Even the laptops own speakers are not working. Computer says the audio device is fine. I have an Inspiron 5150. Dell please help. The computer is only 6 months old!

nonamer1028 · Answer

I am experiencing the exact the same problem with my Inspiron 600m! Any help? It was purchased around October as well. I have tried everything and installed the latest drivers. Nothing works. Message Edited by nonamer1028 on 01-22-2005 07:37 PM

procras · Answer

Talked to Dell Help and ran the dell full self diagnostic test. Came up with two error codes :

4c00:0619

and

1b22:061b

Ran both of the audio tests with both the normal speakers and a set of headphones.

After I sent that info to dell they said - time to replace the sound card - annoying but it should be under warranty in all of our cases.

Sounds to me like they got a bad batch of sound cards installed

Terminus · Answer

Anyone know how long it typically takes them to get your computer back to you if you send it in?

jordan4real · Answer

Same problem here! Worse is that i haven't heard any sound whatsoever on the 600m laptop since i got it a few weeks ago!

I tried the device manager: everything's seems to be working fine! But still no sound.

I installed a new sigmatel driver from the dell site, still no sound.

I ran the 32-bit diagnostics test and got two error messages

1B22:061B

and

1B22:071B

I aint happy at all with this cos i aint even got to enjoy any sound from the laptop once!

nickcua · Answer

man this is terrible.  so many people have had the same thing happen...do you think its from something that a lot of people do, such as leave their cpu on for a long time?  maybe a virus from looking at unsavory material?

5160_User · Answer

I had similar problem. Was listening to a CD, took my headphones off for a minute to talk to someone and then put them back and no sound from CD or anything else.

I have a 5160 and it is less than six months old and this is the second problem I have had with it. The Dell help line did not help with the first one either.

muts · Answer

Hi,

I bought my laptop Inspiron 9100 on October-24. And i am having exactly the same problem as mentioned by all you guys. The funny thing is if i connect my headphone i can listen to some garbled sound.

Is this forum looked up by some Dell Support people and if they are they should give us the solution and spare us from sending our laptop to and fro.

Hope somebody knows the solution to this.

Regards,

macsbetter · Answer

Same thing happend to me with mine while I was in an online class

I've spent days on the phone with their tech and customer support. Has to be sent back. Waiting a week for the box to get here. Very unhappy with Dell

I think there is a problem with Dell;'s speaker jack and sound card. I had trouble with sound thru external speakers one night and then the next day no sound at all . Bad soundcard If sound card is bad entire motherboard has to be replaced

Call tech support they will walk you thru process to determine if it is the computer or you This is the 3rd Dell this year that I've had hardware problems with

I'm returning my computer for exchange

PaulVP · Answer

I think I've got a solution...

I have an Inspiron 8600 and a friend has an 8500. Both of us have experienced this problem. It has occurred to both of us when we inserted the plug from our headphones into the speaker-out jack on the computer. In the headphones you hear a "static zap" and zappo, the sound is dead. I tried it once with the sound playing though the laptop's speakers, inserted the headphones, the sound became low & distorted in the headphones (had to crank all volume levels and could only hear soft/distorted sound), pulled out the headphone plug, and the sound was still low & distorted.

I fixed the problem by updating the BIOS (the first time it happened, I updated the BIOS to the latest version, then the next time it happened, I just re-ran the same version update... I think there is an ESD problem with a static zap to the speaker-out jack somehow zapping the system's BIOS NVRAM. Since others have fixed the problem by running the Dell diagnostics program this seems to confirm this. I wouldn't doubt this program examines errors in the BIOS and resets it.

Any other thoughts out there?

Paul

nickcua · Answer

I ran BIOS, no luck.  Inspiron 5100

bringit · Answer

I have a Dell Inspiron 5100.  I have had a similar problem twice now.  Both times is after one day of playing my music for 6+ hours straight.  I take it to work the next day and hook it up to my desktop speakers and I don't have any sound.  Both times this has happened I have shut my laptop down and removed the battery.  I only leave the battery out for about ten seconds and when I put it back in and restart my sound is back.  I figured that I would post this so you don't send your laptop back into Dell if you can't afford the down time.

nick8601 · Answer

I also have a Inspiron 5160 and the same problem has happened to me, with the code of 1B22:061B.  Has anyone learned how to fix this, or does the computer have to repaired internally.  I did all the checks, and I've had no luck, I believe it is hardware problems now.

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