no sound on alienware m3200 laptop

[magnets&miracles]

hi,
brought a second hand laptop that arrived without some drivers not operating. I've got drivers from the alienware website & also tried drivers downloaded by "driver genuis"... but still hasn't worked. I read some problems with XP SP2 so i intalled SP3 & also tried a fresh install of vista with still no success, so i'm back to my XP sp2 image. After reading other posts on here i checked my BIOS but its got no audio options
Device manager has a yellow mark on "Vinyl AC'97 Codec combo driver (WDM). Legacy audio drivers has no yellow mark but nothing listed in its properties.
Please help as this has been driving me nuts for about a week now!
thanks
jason

 

[magnets&miracles]

Device status of "Vinyl AC'97 Codec combo driver (WDM)" is
"This device cannot start (Code 10)"
Also having problems with other drivers like the modem & an unrecognised network controller, but i'm not to worried about them but thought i should state it incase it's related.

 

[crjdriver]

I looked at the alienware site and it just about useless unless you register. You first need to find out what sound your system uses. To do so, there are several apps you can download and run. Everest is one of these. Download and run it to see what hardware is in your system. Once you know, then you can proceed to attempt to download the correct driver.

You have already installed the chipset drivers correct?

 

[magnets&miracles]

The image on the laptop is from my desktop with obviously different hardware & XP SP2. A fresh install of XP SP1 doesn't work on the laptop because from memory a file called "pci.sys". Ive read that this problem doesn't happen with XP SP2 install but don't have that available.
So i've uninstalled many of the drivers from the image & install all these drivers from alienware that match my model
http://support.alienware.com/Suppor..._processed.aspx?os=WXP&cat=32&manu=8&item=753

Thanks for advice, any others ideas will be much appreaciated

 

[crjdriver]

So if I understand your post, you installed xp on a desktop then made an image and restored that image to your laptop.

Unless you have universal restore, you just cannot do that and expect it to work properly. You need to clean install on your laptop; then install the proper drivers.

If you are in-fact doing it as I posted above, you are just asking for a problem AND you must have two licences for the os. One for your desktop and one for the laptop.

 

[magnets&miracles]

Thanks for the image advice, i thought i could just uninstall drivers & reinstall them.
XP wouldn't install from disk because bluescreen pci.sys. So i slipstreamed SP2 & completed fresh install. I've got all correct drivers from manufactures website with matching model numbers. I've installed chipset drivers, restarted & tried to install audio drivers but still same problem as mentioned above. Modem driver install gets stuck on a file name something like speaker.dll which makes some sences considering the sound isn't working.
Any more help or ideas appreaciated

 

[crjdriver]

What does device mgr look like? Do you have any yellow marks and if so, post a screenshot of DM.

I am wondering, did the sound ever work for you?

 

[magnets&miracles]

i've only just got this second hand laptop. rang the lady i purchased from & she said the sound worked for her. She sent it to PC guy to remove her data, arrived with fresh install of xp with same driver problems i'm having. i've never had sound

 

[crjdriver]

I really see no reason why your drivers will not install.
Just to be sure when you clean installed xp, you did boot with the xp CD and run setup from there correct? Deleting the existing partition and creating a new one/format with ntfs. What I am asking is you did not start the install from within windows.

Next you generally install in this order.
1 Install the os
2 Update to the latest service pack; for xp sp3.
3 Install chipset driver
4 Install sound, nic, etc
5 Install video driver

 

[magnets&miracles]

thansk again 4 help crjdriver,
did everything exactly as you've said in that last post.
fresh install by booting from CD on startup, not in windows. Deleted & formated C: partition that windows was on.
Installed chipset drivers, rebooted, installed sound drivers, rebooted.
Then that device manager screen shoot was taken.
Is there anyway to test the speakers or sound card for just a beep sound like my BIOS does on my desktop, just to test if it's hardware or a drivers problem? cos i've never had trouble with drivers like this before.

 

[magnets&miracles]

I finally got the entire back off the case to expose all the hardware. I found a screw that didn't belong sitting against the face of one of the speakers. the screw wasn't very big & no idea where it came from(different to the 2 types holding case together) but looked big when stuck to the face of the tiny speaker. I removed the screw. Uninstalled audio drivers, & reinstalled. Sound still doesn't go, but could have this srew damaged the speaker some how? It was sitting against the cone & magnetised. But the cone didn't look broken.
i'm gonna get this thing going one way or another!

 

[crjdriver]

The screw should not stop the driver from installing. I have asked someone else to look at this thread since I can see no reason why the driver will not install.

 

[magnets&miracles]

thanks for your help anyway crjdriver with this frustrating problem.
I even found a newer driver version than listed on alienware website but still no luck
Is there any info i can give from everest that may help?

 

[crjdriver]

Let's see what T6 has to say when he checks this thread. I PMed him to take a look at it. I will be off line for most of the day doing a test for work, yard work, AND I have to build a system later today.

 

[Triple6]

Unfortunately I'm not able to assist much either as I cnnot find much time lately to be around here lately.

But you can try the latest VIA driver from here: http://www.viaarena.com/default.aspx?PageID=420&OSID=1&CatID=1010&SubCatID=104

I'm surprised its a VIA CODEC in fact, I would have thought they would have used a Realtek or Sigmatel one with an Intel board in a laptop. Actually, you could probably even try the Realtek AC97 driver from here: http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads...1&PNid=14&PFid=23&Level=4&Conn=3&DownTypeID=3

Otherwise use either SIW or Everest to confirm what sound chip is in the laptop, maybe the laptop doesn't have the correct board and has one from a similar Sentia series laptop. Look under the hardware and PCI sections to see what it says there.