Help Required - Soundcard Problem

Trotter

Hi all,

Ive a problem with my soundcard on my dell dimension 3100. In the hardware device manager, Im getting an error that "this device cannot start".. its showing a problem with the Sigma Tel High Definition Audio Codec.

I went to the Dell page for downloading drivers and using my service tag, I downloaded the driver. When I try to run the driver it says that its the incorrect one and exits.

Ive an online lecture in a couple of hours and Im in deep doo if I cant hear it.
If anyone has any ideas, I'd be delighted to hear them.

Thanks!

Trotter

Christ the dxdiag is now telling me I have no soundcard installed at all.

8T8

Was the sound working beforehand did you do a re-install of the OS are you positive its a Sigmatel device ?

You could try removing the device from the device manager to see if it re-installs itself properly.

Or try re-installing the Microsoft UUA driver for HD audio.

Falling the above you can find various Sigmatel drivers located here, try the top most one from the HD audio section.

formatman

when did it start going wrong , what did you install , hardware /software

did you get driver cds with the dell ? , i know they don't ship as standard now

is it enabled in the bios ?

formatman

whats the service tag of the machine?

Trotter

formatman wrote:

when did it start going wrong , what did you install , hardware /software

did you get driver cds with the dell ? , i know they don't ship as standard now

is it enabled in the bios ?

Basically I was getting an error saying the card couldnt start. Then I tried downloading the drivers from the Dell site but it said they were the wrong ones. I uninstalled the one marked Sigma Tel Audio codec so that it'd pick it up on the restart but no joy there.

On the dxdiag Im getting "No sound card was found. If one is expected, you should install a sound driver provided by the hardware manufacturer."

Ruu_Old

Have you removed the soundcard from the Device Manager altogether, or just the codec?

Trotter

Ruu wrote:

If you give us the model no of the card might be able to get you a working driver.

Where would I get that? Sorry if its a stupid question..

Ruu_Old

Sorry that was my mistake, do you know what type of soundcard you use? Should find the name of it in Device Manager. Maybe we can look online for a working copy of the drivers for it.

Trotter

Heres whats happening so far. Its the one marked sigma tel audio codec that I removed. Initially, when all was working fine, there was an exclamation mark on that one with the error message "this device couldnt start" on it. Its when that stayed there after a few restarts that I removed it , hoping windows XP would pick it up fresh.

formatman

ok the sigmatel shouldn't be installed

uninstall it from device manager , don't reboot and then run the audigy setup as advised in the PM

advise back

Trotter

Sorry formatman, while you were typing that, I was going through the system restore process because a noticed a checkpoint from earlier today. I restored it to there, and hey presto, my soundcard kicked in again.

Thanks a lot for the help, If it kicks up again in the future I'll have a better idea what to do.

As a matter of interest, why do you think the sigmatel shouldnt be there?

formatman

if it the same as the integrated 9150 chipset , the sigmatel ships on the board and then the Audigy driver unlocks another part of the chip to give you the better soundcard

had issue installing the audigy driver before and had to remove the sigmatel first in device manager , the audigy set will rededect it but preceed with installalling the proper driver

TimTim

Something similar happened to me recently.

Go into start -> run -> services.msc

Go find Windows Audio/Sound (something along those lines) and check if its started, if not go start it and your sound should be back.

Trotter

Thanks for all the help lads.. Im gonna save the thread so that I can come back to it if needs be. Cheers!

Trotter

Mad things happenin again today lads
When I boot up, it seems theres 2 soundcards kicking in?
I suspect its the Sigma Tel and the Audigy Soundblaster.

Heres a couple of screen shots to explain what I mean. The two audio symbols in the small Jpeg are loading up on startup and when I click them, theres the two windows that open.

Whats goin on??

Trotter

Anybody recognise this problem before? Maybe someone else will have spotted the two icons and dealt with it. You might let me know whats happening with it. Thanks!

formatman

sigmatel shouldn't be installed

uninstall it from device manager , don't reboot and then run the audigy setup as advised in the PM

advise back

Trotter

Yep, tried that, but when I uninstalled sigmatel, and then installed the Audigy software, then rebooted... Both of those little icons said no device found and dxdiag says theres no soundcard at all.

Somehow.. It seems theres one soundcard but two functions of some sort. Ive no idea.