How to Troubleshoot Sound Problems in Windows XP

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68 Responses

  1. Anthony says:

    @John – From what I know, upgrading to Windows 7 on your E1705 laptop might not be a good idea. You will only be able to run the 32-bit version, so there will not be much to gain. Driver support is even more limited, since many drivers are only available for Vista for that laptop, so you’ll need to see if they work.

    I do think your audio hardware is fine, so it must indeed be a driver/software issue.

    From what you describe, you could try uninstalling the audio driver, and then reboot. Windows should pick up the default audio driver for the on-board ICH7 audio.

    If it does not work, try reinstalling the original Dell driver for your laptop. See if it works, or in an error message shows up.

  2. John says:

    One other thing. My Sigma Tel Audio was not shown in the “Sounds and Audio Devices Properties”/Audio/ Sound playback Default device UNTIL I went into the F2 Bios and did a “Restore to Factory Defaults.” THEN it showed up! But still no sounds when checking the Sounds tab/Program events/Asterisk, Critical Battery Alarm, Critical Stop, etc.
    I tried other .wav files to see if the Windows .wav files were corrupt (or whatever) but still nothing would play when clicking ‘Play sound” button.
    Hope this helps explain my problem.
    Thanks in advance.

  3. John says:

    Hi…I have Inspiron e1705 laptop with Windows XP and Sigma Tel Audio default device. I lost complete sound for some unknown reason. There was sound from the headphones, but that eventually was also lost.
    F12 Diagnostics (Audio) plays great sound from my on board speakers, except for the mono test which failed.
    Analog Sound Playback passed loud and clear during the audio test while using “Intel ICH7 HD Audio with ST9200.”
    I have no idea what “Intel ICH7…” is nor where Win XP found this audio driver(?). I wish I could replace the Sigma Tel Audio CODEC with this Intel ICH7 HD Audio, but I can’t find it anywhere.
    I followed all the above checks and fixes, even d/ling Windows Media Player 11 for XP, but no help.
    Any suggestions please?
    Would installing Windows 7 possibly fix my audio problem?
    Thanks in advance.

  4. varun says:

    when i play music this is what it shows
    Windows Media Player cannot play the file because there is a problem with your sound device. There may not be a sound device installed on your computer, it may be in use by another program, or it may not be functioning properly.

  5. Condor says:

    @aktor edy – please install the operating system again. thank you this is the answer for you even works.

  6. Antonhy says:

    @aktor edy – What is your exact sound issue? Is the sound device visible and recognized in the Device Manager?

    Your suggestion of a reg file, would be the same as as uninstalling the audio driver and then re-installing the audio driver, so try that instead.

    For further help, please provide more details (e.g. motherboard or sound card model).

  7. aktor edy says:

    no work repair sound driver (SoundMax) pls alternative repair!? (example: reg file)

  8. belash says:

    sound

  9. Anthony says:

    @Philp – Regarding the recording, have you made sure that the right audio input source is selected for the recording? By default this would be the line in or microphone input of the sound card, so you need to make sure you set the default recording input to the TV Card, or select it in the recording program.
    The statement about the C-Media driver is not quite clear to me, how do you need to open it manually? Can you clarify that?

  10. Philp says:

    My PC is an Advert T9404 which is preloaded with Medion BDA Analog Capture.
    I presume this works in conjunction with the Medion SAA 7134 Capture Device.
    The Device Manager of my Windows XP tells me that it is functioning OK and the driver is up to date.
    My problem is that I can only capture video but not any sound. I know the sound is imputing as I can connect the anolog output to my TV with full sound as well as video.
    Additionaly,I have C-Media Rear Panel Audio device driver cmudax (C-Media do not now exist according to the web) and this driver now has to be opened manually since a PC repairer re-installed XP on my C disk.
    Can these problems be solved?

  11. Anthony says:

    @steve – The solutions in the article are the most common generic solutions to generic audio problems in Windows XP.
    If you can let me know what your PC or audio card is, and what exactly the problem is, I might be able to give you further tips.

  12. steve says:

    thx 4 sharing with us but it didn’t work out for mi so please try to get for anothrer solution!!

  13. Anthony says:

    @Basit – There are quite a few variations of the soundmax audio device, so can you tell me what your model of computer is? Or what motherboard?
    If not possible, then at least list the hardware id of the audio device in the device manager.
    That way I can check for you and make sure you get the right audio driver for the soundmax audio device.

  14. Basit says:

    And i also tried to update the driver through internet but it’s not updating….

  15. Basit says:

    Hi, i have the same Sound Driver which is shown in the graphics like “SoundMAXIntegrated Digital Audio”. The problem is that since i have installed windows xp golden edition my sound is not working and in the control panel in sounds and audio devices the volume,Audio and Voice tabs are completely disabled but when i go to device manager there it shows that all the devices are working properly. i used windows 7 before but there was no any sound problem but in windows xp it gives me sound error. plz plz plz help me with this problem cause i m just got tired of solving this problem for two weeks….

  16. bhanu says:

    i need which files and directories will be used for audio and mic, inside the windows xp operating system

  17. neil says:

    very very clear advice and infomation thank you

  18. Ranjith says:

    Hi friends,
    For my system audio files playing fine in media player while playing video’s sound breaking. I have tried different video players and also i have reinstalled audio drivers. Please suggent anybody…………..

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