[LennySun]

NO SOUND, Audio Drivers Missing or Corrupt

Here is my tale and trail of woe. I'm stuck and need some direction.

I am running XP Home, SP2 on an IBM ThinkCenter A50p desktop, Type 8194, Model E6U.

All five of the device drivers under my Device Manager "Sound, Video and Game Controllers" category show yellow encased exclamation marks, but I'm only concerned about the audio ones for the moment since I've had no sound for a couple of weeks. (Don't ask.)

One of two audio drivers is listed under the above referenced category as a "Legacy Audio Driver" and the other is a "Multimedia Audio Controller."

(The three remaining ones are Legacy Video Capture Devices, Media Control Devices and Video Codecs if you are interested.)

The properties tab of each driver describe these conditions:
1. LEGACY~"Windows cannot load the device driver for this hardware. The driver may be corrupted or missing. (Code 39)"
2. MULTIMEDIA~"The drivers for this device are not installed. (Code 28). To reinstall the drivers for this device, click Reinstall Driver."

The Microsoft Help and Support Troubleshooting lead advises me to uninstall and reinstall the LEGACY driver but following the instructions does not reflect the process described by the instructions. So I abandoned this route.

My PC Doctor (Lennovo provided) says that the device driver for my MULTIMEDIA AUDIO CONTROLLER sound card "is not installed or installed incorrectly." I tried downloading the SoundMAX Integrated Digital Audio driver but the dialogue box said that it "has not passed Windows Logo testing--hardware will not be installed." I changed the setting to just give me a warning but the Microsoft warning was so strong it scared the living bejesus out of me, and of course I cancelled the download. (Driver Signing setting was moved from "block" to "warning,” hence the strong message.) Another analytical review told me that the Audio Controller is misconfigured but I can't recall the source.

I had all my drivers analyzed by DriverAgent. It identified the MULTIMEDIA AUDIO CONTROLLER as possible problem and downloaded one audio file listed as "incomplete detection," a yellow exclamation mark. DriverAgents suggests I download a Realtex AC'97 Audio file named "WDM_A399.exe" dated "2007.03.08" version 5.10.0.6230 storing 17.4 MiB. I downloaded that item but--I think--it also had the Microsoft Logo testing warning and stopped me too. No mention of the LEGACY driver in the DriverAgent analysis table.

A review of the IBM-Lennovo site appears to say there are two updates that would fit my audio configuration but I am unsure what drivers came with the preloaded software. Their list shows two audio drivers, both updated Dec. 15, 2005. One is an “ADI SoundMAX onboard audio driver” and the other is an "ADI SoundMAX onboard audio driver with Cadenza software".

After looking at some posts on several sites re missing sound, it "sounds" like I should be downloading the two Lennovo drivers. My insecurity of where to go is driven by all of the apparent inconsistencies I am experience between the various companies and names used to describe the drivers. All of this is foreign to me. However, these posts seem to indicate that the manufacturer supplied drivers are the preferred way to make driver corrections. But I need to be sure.

One before-the-final question. When downloading a driver update, do I have to uninstall the old driver before installing the new driver?

Where do I go from here? What is the best procedure to follow?

[abbyk]

Nomal procedure is to download the audio driver install. Delete all devices with exclamation marks in device manager, then install the audio driver.

Just try the driver you suspect is good. If not - remove & try the other.

Ignore the M$ Stop Not tested warning box.

[tech13]

the drivers on your system got corrupted. you must right click on each one and uninstall. then in device manager you should see a device that says audio drivers with a yellow ? mark under unknown devices. (this will be after uninstalling drivers and rebooting). then download and install the latest drivers for your audio card. that should resolve the issue. if you recieved disks with your computer, there will be drivers on it for your sound you can reinstall those then update them later. (or check in C:/drivers)

[LennySun]

Sorry guys, no results from your suggestions. I have the proper SoundMax driver from IBM but it will not install and continually reverts to the Code 39 procedures. These are ineffective in resolving my problem. Is it possible that I have a video card that needs replacement????

I presently have 15 devices under the Sound,Video and Game Controllers folder on Device Manager--up from the 5 I hade when I originally wrote for assistance.

[LennySun]

P.S. IBM's "tech" support finally gave up and told me to get another computer if I did not want to trash the HD and reload XP Home that is now three and a half years old. I told them I did not have several days to reload all my programs, drivers, etc., particularly the web based software I purchased.

[LennySun]

FINAL SOLUTION. Reload XP from the factory installed partition after removing all my data files and making a list of my programs. Reloaded all new drivers as identified. Reloaded each program afterwards, a very tedious process.