No Sound

[jjong]

No Sounds After Getting Desktop OEM “Help”!

Hello, hoping someone could help me on this major sound ssue.

Running Windows XP on an old Compaq Presario 5000a. Using Soundblaster Audigy MP3+ for about a year and recently updated drivers. Sound was working before I called Compaq/HP on a memory issue. After working with them I’ve found there are no system sounds at all. No sounds from cds or dvds, although I get video. I have a cd drive (TDK Velocd) and dvd drive (Dynex) that don’t automatically recognize formats anymore. Connections were not changed from before their assistance. Their conclusion after I called back and told them of my new experience: Use Quick Restore cds, (which I am cautious of doing if there are other solutions that I might not have tried yet. Perhaps something with the BIOS settings). Not sure if I might need some Windows XP driver in addition to the updated Soundblaster ones I've installed.

What I did so far:
Checked all volume levels
Checked all connections
Checked for system sounds
Checked correct device selected for audio playback (Audigy)
Checked devices and Sound, Video and Game Controllers in Device Manager (states all is running well)
Uninstalled and restarted reinstalled all drivers
Unplugged interior/ exterior connections with soundcard and cd and dvd drives, reconnected, started up again.
System Restore to point before getting Compaq “help”

None has worked so far.

Please help if you’ve got any ideas.

Thanks,
jjong

[Donn]

1. It would probably help if you clarify what you did as a result of their advice on your memory problem.

2. Did you do anything inside the box?

3. Do you have the kind of speakers that you can plug into something else to see if they are in working order?

4. When you say you checked all the connections, do you mean just in back of the tower, or ALL the connections, like the speaker wires, the plug for the power unit to the speakers (assuming you have one like I do on my Compaq)...?

5. If you giggle the speaker wires at their connection points to you get any kind of static rattle?

What about the keyboard, is it possible that the mute button is locked on and not indicating, or the keyboard is faulty in that area?

[ski]

Not sure if I might need some Windows XP driver in addition to the updated Soundblaster ones I've installed.
Were there sound problems after updating the sound drivers, but before talking to Compaq??

If your sound hardware is in working order per Donn's suggestions, then what software changes or modifications did you make, if any, to the system during your Compaq discussion?

Anything muted in volume control?

Is 'Use audio features of this device' checked for the sound card in Control Panel/Multimedia/Devices(click on the + next to Audio Devices, double click the sound card)?
Is there a long list of codecs for 'Audio Compression Codecs' at the same location?

Are there any sound problems listed in DirectX(dxdiag.exe)?

Go to Start/Run, type system.ini, click OK, and check the the following entries(or similar):
[boot]
sound.drv=mmsound.drv
[drivers]
wave=mmsystem.dll
[mci]
cdaudio=mcicda.drv
waveaudio=mciwave.drv

[jjong]

Thanks ski and Donn (sorry to answer both here),

Disconnected and reconnected all interior soundboard/cd/dvd drive connections and speaker to power to computer connections
Yeah, speakers work when not on my computer
Possibly very telling, is there are NO STATIC sounds (as before) when jiggling connections to soundcard, and no power surge "pop" when turning on speakers as before(just a faint small one).
No problems after downloading drivers and before talking to Compaq
They had me run Spybot, adaware, usual scan disks, defrags. I think doing something in Safe Mode..uh oh, forgot (I'll call them back)
Nothing muted
Use Audio Device is checked
Yes-I tried leaving the long list as well as deleting long list (per their suggestion) and rebooting-same result
DirectX--thanks-one avenue I had not tried. Below is what I have-nothing like what you suggested I should be seeing. What should I do re this discrepancy?

; for 16-bit app support
[drivers]
wave=mmdrv.dll
timer=timer.drv
[mci]
[driver32]
[386enh]
woafont=dosapp.FON
EGA80WOA.FON=EGA80WOA.FON
EGA40WOA.FON=EGA40WOA.FON
CGA80WOA.FON=CGA80WOA.FON
CGA40WOA.FON=CGA40WOA.FON
ebios=*ebios
mouse=*vmouse, msmouse.vxd
device=*dynapage
keyboard=*vkd
display=*vdd,*vflatd
EMMExclude=C000-CFFF
[vcache]
MaxFileCache=524288
[Password Lists]
default=C:\WINDOWS\Pwls\DEFAULT.PWL
[TTFontDimenCache]
0 4=2 4
0 5=3 5
0 6=4 6
0 7=4 7
0 8=5 8
0 9=5 9
0 10=6 10
0 11=7 11
0 12=7 12
0 13=8 13
0 14=8 14
0 15=9 15
0 16=10 16
0 18=11 18
0 20=12 20
0 22=13 22


Thank you,
Jason

[ski]

Go to Start/Run, type system.ini, click OK, under [boot] look for drivers=mmsystem.dll (or similar).
If mmsystem.dll is not in the 'drivers=' entry, then look in the C:\Windows\System and the C:\Windows \System 32 folders for mmsystem.dll.
If it exists in both of those folders, then make a backup copy of the system.ini file(it's in the C:\Windows folder), place it in a temporary folder, and either add mmsystem.dll to the 'drivers=' entry in the system.ini file., or add the entire 'drivers=mmsystem.dll' entry(without the ') if it does not exist in system.ini

[ski]

Also, make sure the sound card is assigned 01 for DMA(Direct Memory Access) in Device Manager(You may have to look in the 'Game Device' component for this).

[jjong]

I disconnected my Audigy card, and am now just trying to get sound with the onboard card. Below are my followups to your suggestions.

RE: Your suggestion on checking sound card assignment. In Device Manager under Sound, video and game controllers, out of;
Audio Codecs
ESS Allegro PCI Audio (WDM)
Legacy Audio Drivers
Legacy Video Capture Devices
Media Control Devices
MPU-401 Compatible MIDI Device (my MIDI device driver since disconnected from my Audigy)
Standard Game Port
and
Video Codecs,

the only types that list location as something other than "unknown" are:
1) ESS Allegro (original device)--PCI bus 1, device 5, function 0
2) MPU-401--Intel(r) 82801AA LPC Interface Controller (perhaps odd as it the cable is not physically attached to anything inside any longer)
3) Standard Game Port--on Intel(r) 82801AA LPC Interface Controller

I didn't see anything with DMA-should be associated with my ESS Allegro if I follow what you're saying, right? Not sure how to proceed here.

RE: system.ini . I'm really confused here. When starting with Run, and entering system.ini, I get a Notepad note with the text I pasted on thread in an earlier reply. There is nowhere on the list showing "[boot]", so I'm not sure what to do next. There is, however:
[drivers]
wave=mmdrv.dll
timer=timer.drv

Although mmsystem.dll is showing in both the SYSTEM and SYSTEM32 folders, I don't know how to take your next step of backing up system.ini because it does not appear anywhere in the C:\Windows folder--because when entering it in Run and the Notepad pops up, am I only looking at the note and not the actual file, or is the actual file a note? Should I just cut and paste the text of "mmsystem.dll" to the notepad of system.ini that I have open?

Thank you,
jjong

[ski]

My mistake.
Forget about the system.ini entries that I mentioned. They do not apply to Win XP.
Sorry about that.

Check if the onboard sound is disabled in BIOS.
If it's not, then disable it.
If there's no setting in BIOS to disable the onboard sound, then double click on it in Device Manager, check the box for 'Disable in this hardware profile', click OK, and reinstall the Audigy card.

If no luck, then click on the Audigy card in Device Manager, click Remove/OK, click Yes or OK at the warning, restart the computer, and let Windows recognize it and reload its drivers.

If still no good, then double click on the Audigy card in Dev. Mgr., click on the Resources tab, and look for 'Direct Memory Access 01' in the 'Resource Type window.
If it's not there, then check the Audigy's 'Game Device' in Dev. Mgr. for it.

If nothing works, then you may want to consider doing a system restore to a point that predates the Compaq discussion.

[jjong]

Hello again. Since I don't have the xp restores, I'm still hoping there might be a solution out there some where. I also did try to check that the onboard was disabled in my BIOS, but when I was in what I think is my BIOS (pressed delete upon reboot), and on the screen with a few options at the top; I didn't see much that jumped out and said "disable onboard sound" but under Advanced saw:

Advanced -->
PCI Devices -->
[Onboard] VGA Controller IRQ3
[Onboard] USB Controller IRQ11
[Onboard] SM Bus Controller IRQ5
[Onboard] Audio Controller IRQ5
[Slot1] ATM IRQ3
[Slot2]16450 Modem IRQ11

Still no system sounds at all.

jjong

[deddard]

Check the simple stuff first - go into control panel>sounds
on the first screen you see (there should be a volume slider at the bottom) check to see if there is an icon of the speaker - does it have a red circle/line through it? if so, just click on it to re-enable sound.

[ski]

If '[Onboard] Audio Controller' has a Disable/Enable option, then make sure it's enabled.

If that dose not work or it's already enabled, then start in Safe mode, remove all sound card/sound adapter items from Device Manager, and restart.

[jjong]

Thank you checking icons and cable were the first things I did. Also started in safe mode and removed already-onboard was enabled before when it was working. Onboards have since reloaded. Anything else you can think of? Thank you.

[ski]

If the current situation is one where you have no sound with the onboard sound adapter enabled, and with the sound card removed from Device Manager and from the computer and its software is uninstalled, then see if doing a system restore to a date that precedes the Compaq discussion fixes it.