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General discussion

Sound Problem

Sep 23, 2007 10:56AM PDT

I have a Dell Dimension cp. Purchased in May of this year. The sound on this system is "Sigmatel Hi Dif.

I cannot receive sound when I play a cd from my cd player thru the line in on my cp.

Dell is very dis-interested in helping me solve this problem.

I am trying to find out if it is vista, dell or microsoft problem.
I cannot find a way to contact microsoft with out paying an ugdodly fee to find out wherein the problem lies.

Would anyone have information on how I could contact microsoft.

The said thing about this is that while I don't know a whole lot about these things, I found out that in an hour and half I knew as much as the tech I was talking with.

Thanks

Discussion is locked

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RE: Sound Problem...
Sep 23, 2007 11:29AM PDT

Microsoft only provides free technical support for the first three months of ownership, and even then OEM cases are referred back to the manufacturer. Thus, if you want to contact their support department you'd have to pay $59. That leaves you with Dell and us.

If it were me, I'd start by trying the following:

1.) Line In and Microphone are, by default, muted for playback so you don't get the annoyance of hearing yourself speak should you be doing dictation. You'll need to unmute this by going Control Panel->Hardware and Sound->Change system sounds->Playback, choose Properties on your speakers, and check the Levels tab...unmute Line In.

2.) Go Control Panel->Hardware and Sound->Sound and make sure that Line In is listed as Available/Working under the Recording tab.

3.) Try setting it as the default recording source...same window.

4.) Use a third-party program, such as Audacity (freeware), and attempt recording the feed from Line In.

5.) Repeat with Microphone...it's essentially the same thing.

Hope this helps,
John

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Sound
Sep 24, 2007 2:51AM PDT

Hi John and thanks for replying. I had tried all those moves in the past. Line in under recording is set and working so it sez.

One thing I notice under that same area is that the rear mike and micro not available I tried to set them but when I do it makes the line in unavailable.

I'm not familar with audacity but I will give that a shot. I am pretty sure that this Sigmatel sound system is not a good one.

Will post back to your attention when I try audacity.

Thanks again.

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Sound-Attn John
Sep 25, 2007 10:56AM PDT

Downloaded audacity. Pluged in my cord from cd player to line in on computer.

Opened audacity, hit record and started song, when finised I saved it to hard drive.

I could not hear the music while it was recording. Tomorrow nite I am going to play a cassette tape the same way and see if tht works.

I tried to do this with wmp but could find no way to do the same.

I think the best thing is for me to go to another sound system. My son is a Compter guy, he is in charge of the computer system a fairly large financial institution and I could have him do the change.

Do you know of a freeware converter that can convert ram files to wave?

The illustrate converter that I was able to use before they upgraded to a new versions I can install on my new cp, but I cannot get any sound. That puzzles me.
BTW I am 72 going on 73 and probably should not be fooling around with this but I have no lost the desire to try new things and learn,

Thanks John