No Sound In Windows Xp

I have not been able to get my sound to work recently after installing XP, again! the volume icon is there, but the slider is disabled and i cannot click/unclick the mute. when i open the volume control i only have wave, synth and cd. nothing else, the computer reports that everything is fine! i have had the speakers working before in Win XP thanks -jimmy

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This sounds like a driver or settings issue. Go into control panel and open up the sound and audio devices control. Go to audio and make sure that the proper sound card is selected for playback and recording. If you don't see your card listed in the drop down menu, try reinstalling drivers for your sound card.

~Viz

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Sometime the driver might be for different version of windows. I've seen vista driver install properly in winxp, but no sound. Either that sometime it's the OEM driver provided by the chipset/soundchip manufacturer but differ from the one supply by board. Maybe the board manufacturer implemented a special design, thus the OEM default driver will not work. Other than that, it could also be the version conflict with another driver. Say your sound card driver is the older one, but you've updated your chipset driver to a newer one since your last install. The old sound card driver might not be compatible with the new chipset driver and so on.

Try download a full set of drivers for your system, that way you're sure all your driver is up to date

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Thsi is the same problem from earlier? I'd recommend reinstalling windows as you did everything else, right?

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yeah, this is the same problem, same laptop, tried vista not working! im now trying xp and its still not working!

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Different operating systems, but no difference? If there are no reports on hardware failures/errors, then I'm pretty sure it's a driver problem. You could always look into a different sound-card. I know that's a crappy suggestion, especially considering all the hassle in configuration and compatibility with laptops.
So try a different driver? It's a fact that the drivers provided by windows are by far the best drivers available.

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thanks for your advice Kenshin, i have tried several drivers, including those from the original system cd, the manufacturers website, windows update (online driver search through device manager) and the device manufacturers site. none of which seem to be working. the new drivers (that have come out this year) dont seem to work and give an error 10 code, the device cannot start!

i have reinstalled windows xp using the recovery cds that came with the laptop and that didn't do anything cept waste my time and erase some of my files

i attempted to contact the device manufacturer and all they had to say was that they couldn't do anything more without a device number (something like ALC-***) that should be written on the motherboard, and im not pulling my laptop apart, the furthest i will go is taking the memory cover off!

i'm starting to the its time to send it back to the manufacturer and get them to have a look at it! there seems to be nothing else i or anyone else can do! thanks for all your help, and if you have any other suggestions, i would LOVE to hear them
-jimmy

EDIT: Is it somehow possible that with the memory cover off when I was upgrading memory (thats when the problems started, when i installed new memory and upgraded the OS) i might have damaged the motherboard/sound card? the input/output ports for the motherboard are right next to the memory opening, could i have done something by accident? just a thought!

 

 

 

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There's another simpler way to get to know the exact device in your system.

Just goto device manager(system property->hardware->device manager), then look for your sound device, right click, select property. Then under the details tab, you'll see "Device Instance Id", under it was big text box, it should show a text like "PCI\VEN_XXXX&DEV_XXXX&SUBSYS_XXXXXXXX......"

VEN_XXXX where XXXX is the vendor code
DEV_XXXX where XXXX is device code

Do a search for these 2 code (VEN_XXXX DEV_XXXX), you'll see your device name and model pop out, mostly in forum or some driver site. That's how i look for the exact model of my hardware without digging into the physical hardware side.

Good Luck

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That's a great tip faulty.lee Didn't know about that but have seen it in the Details area in the Device Manager. Will try this out next time I get a machine with a driver issue

@Jimmy: I doubt you damaged anything inside the motherboard just be adding more memory inside. I assume you discharged any static you may have before working inside the laptop right? Try the suggestion by faulty.lee (see above) and see if Google can locate that correct driver for you. I would go into the Device Manager and delete that sound card entry first. Then restart the laptop and go back to the Device Manager and get the VEN and DEV information from the Details area.

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Did you mention ... are your headphones working?

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