No audio devices windows XP

[cason24]

Hi all I have recently purchased a second hand dell dimension 3100. I assume that previous owner reset it back to factory settings as not alot on there and I had to do all the usuall update, but the problem Im having is that the pc is telling me that there are no sound devices installed but in device manager its telling me everything is working ok in the sound department. With this dell the sound card is on the motherboard so I have disabled that one and put in another one and it installed fine but the computer is still telling me that there are no audio devices installed. Ive tryed everything I could find on google but still cant fix the problem.

 

Has anyone had this problem before or come across this. Its really starting to get on my nerves now.

 

PLEASE HELP

Thanks Mick

[Plastic Nev]

Hi Mick and welcome to Extreme Tech Support - Free PC Help.

I am surprised that the sound card you fitted doesn't work.

However the first bit of advice I must offer is to try and get your money back from whoever you bought it from, the sale of goods act does cover buying second hand goods you know, especially if bought through a dealer.

 

If however you wish to ignore that we can try and help, if you can go back to device manager as we shall work from there first.

open the sound video and game controllers and then the drivers tab, have you tried updating the drivers? Also can you tell me please which manufacturer is listed for the sound, is it for example AC97?

Also in device manager are there any red or yellow marks against any other entries, if so what are they?

 

Next thing is to look in BIOS and see if sound is disabled.

Turn off the computer completely and reboot it, then start tapping the F2 key as soon as the DELL logo appears.

Have a good look round the BIOS and see if the sound is disabled. (It may be disabled due to the sound card being fitted, if so try removing the card and re-enable the sound)

 

Nev.

[Synapse]

Also, did you remove all of the onboard sound drivers before fitting the card? If not, I would recommend uninstalling your new card and software, reboot, uninstall the software and onboard sound from device manager, then make sure it is disabled in the BIOS, and finally install the new card and drivers.

[terry0912]

If you have the XP CD, try the following:

 

Put the CD i the drive and when it has finished spinning up, exit the CD

 

From RUN type in sfc /scannow

 

Note the space between sfc and/ this is required.

 

The diagnostics will run, checking your system against the correct files and replace / reset as necessary. Unless the sound card is faulty this should cure the problem.

 

DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS WITHOUT THE XP CD as it may make your system unusable.

 

Terry