[Pat Williams]

Hi,

I was advised by Dakeyras to take my problem here (here's the original thread).

Things were going fine with my computer but my husband thought I should upgrade my speakers, so around six months ago, I put my daughter's Altec Lansing speakers on my computer. They worked fine except that the subwoofer part doesn't seem to be engaging, which we never could figure out.

About a month ago I lost sound -- I did all the troubleshooters, upgraded the drivers, everything I could think of. I put back the original speakers, tried headphones, there is no sound whatsoever except the "thump" you get when plugging/unplugging. The speakers work on other computers, so I don't think this is the issue.

Dakeyras tells me I have no malware or viruses, so I'm hoping you can help. I'm looking for the original software but haven't found it yet.

Thanks!

Edited by Pat Williams, 09 August 2011 - 07:32 AM.

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Altec Lansing speakers

Which model please


Is this a name brand system and if so what is the brand, make and model?
If custom build then brand, make and model of the motherboard?

[rshaffer61]

Altec Lansing speakers

Which model please


Is this a name brand system and if so what is the brand, make and model?
If custom build then brand, make and model of the motherboard?

[Pat Williams]

The speakers are labeled Altec Lansing VS4221.

I don't understand the second question but here's what I think you're asking:

The computer is a Dell XPS 600 with Windows XP Media Center version 2002, SP3.

[rshaffer61]

OK according to the manual on that system the Green is where the speakers plug in. Make sure it is completely plugged in and if still no joy then try the below steps and let me know the results of each.

OK then I need to see what the Audio Properties show as your default audio device.
Go to Start and then to Control Panel
Right click on the Sound or Audio Devices and then click on Properties
At the top of the window click on Audio and what does it say for Default Audio Device?
Click on Playback and same information?




Check speaker connection to back of system
Check volume control in windows by doing the following:
Go to Start and The Run
Type in sndvol32.exe and press Enter
Make sure Master Volume is not muted and turned up
Check Cd Player volume is not muted and turned up

[Pat Williams]

OK according to the manual on that system the Green is where the speakers plug in. Make sure it is completely plugged in

Plugged.

OK then I need to see what the Audio Properties show as your default audio device.
Go to Start and then to Control Panel
Right click on the Sound or Audio Devices and then click on Properties
At the top of the window click on Audio and what does it say for Default Audio Device?

Well, the choices are Realtek AC97 Audio and SB X-Fi Audio [C8E0]. There's no sound no matter which I choose.

Click on Playback and same information?

The choices are SB X-Fi Synth B [C8E0] and Microsoft GS Wavetable SW Synth. Again, no matter what I choose I have no sound.

Check speaker connection to back of system
Check volume control in windows by doing the following:
Go to Start and The Run
Type in sndvol32.exe and press Enter
Make sure Master Volume is not muted and turned up
Check Cd Player volume is not muted and turned up

Nothing muted, everything on max.

[rshaffer61]

OK this is starting to look like the sound on the motherboard has failed.
How old is the system?
The thump you hear is the electrical connection being made from the motherboard to the speakers.
We can try a few things to see if it will work.

Go Start and then to Run ("Start Search" in Vista),
Type in: sfc /scannow
Click OK (Enter in Vista).
Have Windows CD/DVD handy.
If System File Checker (sfc) finds any errors, it may ask you for the CD/DVD.
If sfc does not find any errors in Windows XP, it will simply quit, without any message.
In Vista you will receive the following message: "Windows resource protection did not find any integrity violations".

For Vista users ONLY: Navigate to C:\Windows\Logs\CBS folder. You'll see CBS.log file.
Usually, it's pretty big file, so upload it to Flyupload, and post download link.


If you don't have Windows CD....
This applies mostly to Windows XP, since Vista rarely requires use of its DVD while running "sfc"
Note This method will not necessarily work as well, as when using Windows CD, because not always ALL system files are backed up on your hard drive. Also, backed up files may be corrupted as well.

Go Start and then Run
type in regedit and click OK


Navigate to the following key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup

You will see various entries Values on the right hand side.

The one we want is called: SourcePath

It probably has an entry pointing to your CD-ROM drive, usually D and that is why it is asking for the XP CD.
All we need to do is change it to: C:
Now, double click the SourcePatch setting and a new box will pop up.
Change the drive letter from your CD drive to your root drive, usually C:
Close Registry Editor.

Now restart your computer and try sfc /scannow again!


Thanks to Broni for the instructions



Revised and Simplified:


Do you have a valid XP CD?

If so, place it in your CD ROM drive and follow the instructions below:

• Click on Start and select Run... type sfc /scannow (note the space) (Let this run undisturbed until the window with the blue progress bar goes away)

SFC - Which stands for System File Checker,
retrieves the correct version of the file from %Systemroot%\System32\Dllcache or the Windows installation source files, and then replaces the incorrect file.
If you want to see what was replaced, right-click My Computer and click on Manage. In the new window that appears, expand the Event Viewer (by clicking on the + symbol next to it) and then click on System.

[Pat Williams]

OK this is starting to look like the sound on the motherboard has failed.

That's pretty much the conclusion we came to. I was hoping there was something else that could be done.

How old is the system?

Maybe three years or so.

Go Start and then to Run
Type in: sfc /scannow
Click OK.
Have Windows CD/DVD handy.
If System File Checker (sfc) finds any errors, it may ask you for the CD/DVD.
If sfc does not find any errors in Windows XP, it will simply quit, without any message.


If you don't have Windows CD....

Note This method will not necessarily work as well, as when using Windows CD, because not always ALL system files are backed up on your hard drive. Also, backed up files may be corrupted as well.

Go Start and then Run
type in regedit and click OK


Navigate to the following key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup

You will see various entries Values on the right hand side.

The one we want is called: SourcePath

It probably has an entry pointing to your CD-ROM drive, usually D and that is why it is asking for the XP CD.
All we need to do is change it to: C:
Now, double click the SourcePatch setting and a new box will pop up.
Change the drive letter from your CD drive to your root drive, usually C:
Close Registry Editor.

Now restart your computer and try sfc /scannow again!

I do not have the CD's. SourcePath was already set to C:\. I thought I would go ahead and run the scan anyway and see what happened.

When I ran the SFC scan I just hit "cancel" and "yes" at the prompts and it kept going. It did this 15 times during the scan, most of the times at the very end, then it quit without a message.

[rshaffer61]

Do you have access to a soundcard you could put into the system?
That is all you need to resolve the issue I believe. Instead of using the onboard sound a add on sound card would bypass it thus it should allow everything to work correctly.
just by chance have you gone into the bios to make sure the onboard audio is enabled?

[Pat Williams]

Do you have access to a soundcard you could put into the system?
That is all you need to resolve the issue I believe. Instead of using the onboard sound a add on sound card would bypass it thus it should allow everything to work correctly.
just by chance have you gone into the bios to make sure the onboard audio is enabled?

We haven't found a sound card that fits my computer, can you recommend one?

I haven't gone into the bios, would you tell me how to do that?

[rshaffer61]

OK then lets make sure the audio is enabled in the bios.
Reboot the system and at the first post screen tap the Del key normally and it should get you into the BIOS
In there find either the Advanced, Onboard or Integrated Peripherals areas.
Using the keyboard arrow keys scroll down to the Audio entry and make sure it is Enabled and if not then look at the bottom of the screen it will tell you how to adjust or modify the values to Enable it.
When done make sure to click F10 to Save and Exit with the setting.
You will then be asked to click Y to Verify the Save and Exit
The system will now reboot with the new settings saved.
Let me know if this helps.


You have 3 PCI slots that you can put a PCI soundcard in it.

[Pat Williams]

The audio was already enabled.

I have ordered a PCI sound card online, it should be here early next week. I'll let you know how that works out.

[rshaffer61]

Yes please and what card did you order?

[Pat Williams]

6CH C-Media 5.1 Surround 3D PCI Sound Card

[rshaffer61]

Nice card and it is the right PCI connection so no problems there.

[Pat Williams]

IT'S WORKING!!! Thank you so much, I have had no sound for two months at least, this is wonderful.