Just for those still having problems with this fault. Found that it was due to SP2 upgrade disables audio in services.
Try Computer (right click) > Manage > Services and Applications > services > Windows Audio > Start (if stopped)
(Got this from another site but can't find them to thank, so passing on anyway)
Dragomir Kollaric wrote:
Re: I have no sound or audio devices
05-Apr-08
On 2008-03-28, OlChic hit the keyboard and wrote
OK this is a older post. Don't know if you fixed it in th
meantime
The "BIOS" has nothing to do with the Operating System yo
use, at boot-time you will see a few messages (LONG BEFOR
ANY OS IS LOADED) Somewhere on the screen you'll see
message press key "some-such" (F2 "delete" whatever) t
enter setup, (or something like it)
If you do so, you will be able to get into the BIOS and mak
changes there. Normally one gets a manual (printed or o
CD-ROM) with the options one can set in the BIOS "BASI
INPUT OUTPUT SYSTEM"
Dragomir Kollaric
--
This signature is licensed under the GPL and may be
freely distributed as long as a copy of the GPL is included...
Previous Posts In This Thread:
I have no sound or audio devices
I need to find out why I cannot find a compatible device for my computer.
My computer is a Sharp Actius AL 27.I have already went to their site and
downloaded one that was supposed to be right.It did not let me install. Said
it was not right for my computer or something to that effect.I have tried so
many different ones Im confused and ready to buy a new computer.I've been
told so many things to try and nothing worked.I don't really remember all
the things I have tried.Please help!!
OlChic
Re: I have no sound or audio devices
OlChic wrote
The first thing I found, was this
http://forum.notebookreview.com/archive/index.php/t-8381.htm
"On the last recovery cd that the system asks you to make, there should b
drivers that will work for any version of Windows XP.
"Looks like all the drivers are well labeled and organized on disk five.
The first info I found from Sharpsystems wasn't much use
http://web.archive.org/web/20060314112524/www.sharpsystems.com/products/pc_notebooks/actius/al/27
http://web.archive.org/web/20060314114125/www.sharpsystems.com/products/datasheets/AL27.pd
Google only returned 9 hits for that model number. I was hoping someone ha
run the Linux "dmesg", as that would contain a list of the hardware a
it was enumerated. The product datasheet indicates it has some kind o
VIA chipset (another post says K8M800/VT8233), and the product datashee
is from Sept 2004. That isn't enough info to find the right soun
driver, at least not yet
OK, I used the sharpsystems Knowledgebase, and it has drivers under th
Notebook link
This link will be stale by the time you see it. The "r=9.139651E-02" part tell
me it is one of those sites where the "session times out" after a short period
meaning I cannot make a link to all the drivers for you. I tried zapping th
field after "cpc=" and the information page would not appear without it. S
the first link is useless. The second link is your sound driver download
about 10,088,635 bytes or so. That is probably the one you've already got
http://portal.knowledgebase.net/dis...L25sBFnYP&cid=2680&cat=&catURL=&r=9.139651E-0
http://www.sharpsystems.com/kb/PC/PCAL27/SOUND.zip <----- Bingo :-
It is a RealTek driver. Unzip and double click the setup.exe
And since it is ReakTek, you could also try to download a drive
from realtek.com.tw . But right now, I don't see a point i
wasting the time, as the ~9MB driver should be enough fo
some experiments
To verify some of the above, like the VT8233 part, and that the soun
chip is a Realtek ALCxxx device, you could try Everest. There is als
Sisoftware Sandra (free edition). And another one is Belarc Advisor
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4181.html
Sound would have to be enabled in the BIOS, to work. It is possible
on some computers (like mine), to turn it off at the BIOS level. I
have a separate sound card, and that is why my AC'97 is turned off.
If you're not seeing any sound device listed, then maybe something
is up in the BIOS.
HTH,
Paul
Paul, Thank you so much for the info you gave.
Paul, Thank you so much for the info you gave. Im sorry to say that nothing
worked. I went to all of the sites you gave me and some more you didn't give
me.I had been to the sharp site before and whatever I downloaded didn't
work.Im not very computer smart but know I can follow directions. I do not
know where to find BIOS nor do I know what its for, it wasn;t in the device
manager or maybe I missed it. Thanks for your help and consideration.
--
OlChic
:
Re: I have no sound or audio devices
OlChic wrote:
The BIOS is what the computer "starts with" when it boots up. There is
a reprogrammable memory chip, with code stored in it. When the power
first comes on, inside the laptop, the processor program counter is
set to point to that code. It starts executing BIOS code (Basic Input
Output System). The BIOS knows how to read the hard drive and the
CD drive. It follows a procedure to read the disk and bootstrap
the operating system (load it into memory). At some point, control
is passed from the BIOS to the operating system. At that point, just
as the desktop screen appears, all the OS drivers are now in control
of their respective hardware.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BIOS
The user manual will mention a key you press, to enter the BIOS
Setup screen. In there, it is possible to disable hardware.
It is also possible to disable hardware, in the Device Manager.
But to do that, you'd still see an entry for the device in the
Device Manager. If you checked its status, there would be a
little option box, to "Enable" or "Disable" it. A disabled
device, won't nag you about drivers, as a disabled device needs
no driver. Similarly, if the device was disabled, I doubt a
driver is going to "take", as it is effectively no longer
there.
To appear in the Device Manager, it would have to be enabled in
the BIOS Setup screen.
The PCAL27manual.pdf user manual is here. Chapter 5 on page 103,
discusses "Setup Utility". That is the BIOS. Turn on the computer
and immediately start pressing F2 function key. Now, it turns
out, there isn't anything in that BIOS to speak of. It is
a "neutered" BIOS, of limited functionality. And I don't see
an option there, to disable sound at the BIOS level. So I
guess that means, the problem is at the OS level. You
can always go into the BIOS and have a look - some products
actual BIOS screens, don't match what is shown in the manual.
http://portal.knowledgebase.net/utility/getfile.asp?rid=35444 (Sharp user manual)
To exit the BIOS, you use the arrow keys, until the "Exit"
menu is highlighted. Selecting "Exit Discarding Changes" and
answering Y for Yes when prompted, will exit the BIOS without
saving any changes made while poking around the BIOS items.
The computer should soon start booting after that.
It is possible you've never needed to be in there, because
the hardware configuration of a laptop is pretty static. I
don't change my BIOS settings, unless I want to boot off
an alternate hard drive in my desktop. You only have the
one hard drive, so there isn't much reason to go into the
BIOS.
I'd poke around with Everest, and see if I could see the
AC'97 sound device listed. Everest can even generate a
text file of its "hardware only" results, but that
list can be quite long (and a large percentage of
the info is cruft). Still, if would give you a chance to
look for "Sound" or "AC'97" in the results.
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4181.html (Everest Free)
If the AC'97 chip itself died, that would be a reason for it
to not respond. But I don't see a reason to suspect that
right now. I wouldn't say that is a common occurrence.
Another test procedure I use here, is to boot a Knoppix or
a Ubuntu Linux LiveCD. Those are examples of operating systems
that you can run on a lot of different computers, and it
doesn't install any software on the hard drive. The OS
is booted from the CD, and instantly you are using Linux.
In the Linux environment, programs like "lspci", "lsusb",
and "dmesg" can show information about the hardware in
the computer. It would be a way of testing the hardware.
Things like "ALSA" or "OSS" sound subsystem, provide
a driver for making sound in that environment.
Knoppix is sited on knopper.net , and ubuntu is at ubuntu.com .
The CD is a 700MB download, and you need a CD burner to
make a boot CD. The download is an ISO9660 image, and
a tool like Nero or other capable burning program, is
needed to convert the ISO9660, into an actual CD.
That is a pretty "geeky" alternative, but if you know
someone who has even a little bit of Linux experience,
they could help you with that. I like Linux as a way
of testing to see if I have busted hardware - for example,
my Win98 machine was acting up, and by booting Linux, I
could see that Linux was having problems too. And that
proved it was a hardware problem, and Win98 wasn't responsible.
So your next logical step, is to look in Everest, and see
if some sound / AC'97 hardware is visible. Everest is a
Windows program.
Paul
PAUL, Its me again!
PAUL, Its me again! I have been
-- searching and doing the things you suggested but still no sound. In the
control panel I have Reatek AC97 Audio .I tried to unistall because it
OlChic
says the driver is there but has not been turned on.For whatever thats
worth to you ,because I
don't have any idea how to turn it on for there are no options. Thank you
for the info and thoughtfulliness.
:
Re: I have no sound or audio devices
OlChic wrote:
I've been trying to figure out how the AC'97 thing works. AC'97 is
currently disabled on my machine (as I have a separate sound card).
I enabled it, to do some tests.
This is on Win2K (similar to WinXP). In Device Manager, under "Sound, Video,
and Game Controllers", is an entry for the AC'97 Codec. Mine is
"Soundmax Integrated Digital Audio", which means somehow, the computer
figured out the vendor (Soundmax = Analog Devices). Currently, I have
no driver installed.
Yet, when I used my copy of Everest, there I see an entry in Devices
CI_Devices.
My chipset is Intel and the entry reflects the AC'97 interface of the Southbridge.
"Intel 82801EB ICH5 - AC'97 Audio Controller [A-2/A-3]". Everest doesn't mention
Soundmax at all.
Everest also shows the device ID. Mine shows 8086-24D5. (8086 is the number for Intel.)
It is possible that on your VIA VT8233 Southbridge, the ID could be something like
1106-3058. I wasn't able to verify that exactly in Google (the 1106 is VIA, but the
other number I'm not so sure of), so that remains a guess based on another VIA chip.
On another site, I found that the AC'97 devices have different enumerations on VIA
Southbridge chips, so it might also be 1106-3059 or even something entirely different.
In the INF file for the driver, you'd also find the Device ID information.
It turns out, the driver package includes entries for hundreds of
computers (the same driver package can be used by many manufacturers
at the same time). The line would contain PCI\VEN_1106&DEV_3058 for
example, if it happened to match the hardware in question.
This one is apparently for a Sharp computer, so we'd suspect that "13BD"
stands for Sharp brand computer. "1106" is VIA. And the 3059 part depends
on whatever the correct value is for your Southbridge. (I cannot figure that
out for sure, despite searching for the last hour.)
AC97Sharp, PCI\VEN_1106&DEV_3059&SUBSYS_103613BD
In the driver download you got (that 10MB ZIP), the INF files are
in "SOUND\WDM". There are INF files Alcxwdm0.inf through Alcxwdm22.inf.
Somewhere in there, will be lots of entries with PCI\VEN_1106 and so on.
Why is this important ? A driver shouldn't load, unless the enumeration
and the INF (one entry) matches. If I was trying to fix this on my machine,
I'd be trying to determine why there was a mismatch. If it matched, then
I might see a mark in Device Manager, indicating an error number (like some
reason it won't load). And then I could start looking for information about
the root causes of the error number.
So first, I'd want some info from Everest and its Devices
CI_Devices.
Then, I'd look in the files Alcxwdm0.inf through Alcxwdm22.inf, and
see if I can find a match.
Paul
Re: I have no sound or audio devices
On 2008-03-28, OlChic hit the keyboard and wrote:
OK this is a older post. Don't know if you fixed it in the
meantime.
The "BIOS" has nothing to do with the Operating System you
use, at boot-time you will see a few messages (LONG BEFORE
ANY OS IS LOADED) Somewhere on the screen you'll see a
message press key "some-such" (F2 "delete" whatever) to
enter setup, (or something like it).
If you do so, you will be able to get into the BIOS and make
changes there. Normally one gets a manual (printed or on
CD-ROM) with the options one can set in the BIOS "BASIC
INPUT OUTPUT SYSTEM".
Dragomir Kollaric
--
This signature is licensed under the GPL and may be
freely distributed as long as a copy of the GPL is included...
Submitted via EggHeadCafe - Software Developer Portal of Choice
SharePoint List Usage and Statistics
http://www.eggheadcafe.com/tutorial...d-9723a79fdb14/sharepoint-list-usage-and.aspx