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General discussion

No Sound - card/driver problem

Oct 31, 2005 2:46PM PST

Hi

I recently reinstalled WinXP on a Dell Laptop and am having sound trouble. Nothing inside the box has been touched...

Multimedia Audio Controller (under 'Other devices') in Device Manager has an exclamation (and question) mark beside it. I've tried every option here (besides uninstalling the device) but have had no luck.

Hardware scan via XP help and support center says the sound card isn't installed. Before the XP reinstall it showed a SigmaTel C-Major Audio card with driver file 'stac97.sys'.

I'm unable to install SIGMATEL STAC 9750 AC97 audio driver from Dell resources cd, even though it is the detected device driver for my system - when I go to install it a 'Severe' dialogue box appears with the message: ''Device object not present, restart system and run setup again''.

FWIW, WMP says there is a 'problem with your sound device'.

Any help/pointers appreciated - I need to hear some sounds! Cry

Cheers

K.

Discussion is locked

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Go to Dell's website
Oct 31, 2005 7:19PM PST

download a copy of the sound drivers and install them. It's not uncommon for Dell to put several sets of drivers on their resource CDs. That way it will work for a variety of computer configurations. If you can't find the drivers at Dell.com, try driverguide.com. You must register but it ia free.

http://members.driverguide.com/index.php

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I have sound!
Nov 1, 2005 6:00PM PST

Thanks a lot for your replies, glb613.
I found the correct driver at Dell - I realise its a more recent version, but other than that its identical to the one 'identified' by the resource cd ...which I find a little puzzling. I can listen to music again which is the main thing! Happy

Thanks again

K.

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(NT) (NT) You're Welcome
Nov 1, 2005 7:13PM PST
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sound problems on Dell Latitude D800 laptop
Dec 3, 2005 5:41AM PST

according to the BIOS i have a sigmatel-c 9750 sound card in my laptop. The sound has stopped working. Device manager tells me all devices are working properly, but if i look at sound in control panel it says there is no default device set up. I've tried uninstalling/re-installing/re-booting/disabling/re-enabling (& other things i might have forgotten!) many times & have re-loaded the sigmatel-c major audio driver from the Dell website, but still i don't hear a thing, & still, apparently, no default device. The bios doesn't let me set up a default device - it's set to the sigma 9750.. I'm at a loss what to try next.. Can anyone help???

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River, Sounds Like The Device Has Gone South...
Dec 4, 2005 2:44AM PST

...and you may need to replace/repair it. That's not easily done on a laptop because most laptops use a sound chip which is integral to the motherboard. You may need to go to an external sound card.

Hope this helps.

Grif

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sound problems on Dell Latitude D800 laptop
Dec 4, 2005 8:35PM PST

hi Grif - it sort of helps to have my worst fears confirmed, but not if that is actually the problem as an external sound card is a pain :-/ I guess alternative is new mobo? Ouch! ******!!

atb

Alan

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I do have the same problem
Oct 16, 2011 11:38PM PDT

Hi,

I am also suffering from this issue. It has taken a lot of time, but still i am unable to get the solution.

I have Dell Vastro 500 laptop. I use Window XP Sp-2, i have just formatted my laptop and installed all the drivers. But i am unable to install sound driver. I have even downloaded the driver from Dell.com but still i am getting the same response message "Device object not present, restart system and run setup again".

I went to few repair centers but even they are unable to help me out.

Please help me.

Thanks a lot for your response in advance.

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identify the audio chipset
Oct 17, 2011 12:55AM PDT

@Chandraketu

Try identifying the audio chipset present in your laptop, as Dell may have different drivers for different chipsets. Chances are you downloaded the wrong one.

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Thanks
Oct 17, 2011 4:16PM PDT

Thanks a lot for your quick reply, but i have downloaded the audio driver from dell website using my service tag number. There ia an option on dell.com to identify the exact drivers for your laptop by putting your service tag.

Please see if there are any other way to do that.

Again thanks a lot.

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Re: no audio
Oct 17, 2011 4:56PM PDT