No Sound

time to give this another shot

Sorry for the late reply. We need

This next step may be risky, so best to read carefully.

Please Note: take all the necessary personal safety and antistatic precautions. If you are not 100% familiar with and understand exactly what precautions you need to take, then it would be best to seek the services of a local competent technician. It is good to save money and to learn, but not at the expense of personal safety or the risk of damaging your machine or data.


So if you're happy to open up the computer, lets do so. Having a Dell myself, i know they're reasonably easy to open.
Can you tell me what Model of computer you have? E.g Dell Dimension 3000

*MAKE SURE THE PC IS UNPLUGGED AT THIS POINT*

Hopefully, you can open the tower up yourself, if not, let me know..

But once opened, you should see the motherboard. Check for your sound card, which will be in a PCI port, or PCI-Express port on the motherboard. You're looking for a sound card that looks similar to this:

[external image: Posted Image]

There should be a wire from it, going into your cd/dvd drive.

If you can take out the sound card *carefully* and check what brand/model it is for me? E.g Vortex

Once done, put it back in and make sure it is seated in correctly.

Then when ready, get back to me

Thanks again,

'Bob

I hope that you don't mind me adding a step or 2 to this !!!! i am new to the site and don't want to step on a any toes !!!! #1 click on ( control panel #2 click on (add hardware { if in clasic veiw !!! if not switch so you can access this option !!!!to switch look at upper left corner and left click ( switch to classic veiw #3 click on ( next { a scan will activate ( just wait !!!{click on (yes ,I have already conected the hardware(click on { next (scroll down to {add new hardware and select it (click on { next(click on { next again(a scan will activate and look for non installed devices and will ask if you want them installed !!!! {normally you will want all devices installed !!!{ if not you will be given the choice of what to install { look for any of the devices that concern sounds and select them to be installed !! NT Amp/Legacy Support or Sound, Video and Game controllers { you will have to install each one independantly so this process will have to be repeated again with a restart for each action !!!! if this dose not solve your problem !!!! #1 turn off pc , unplug pc , put on a rubber glove , remove the access panel/case cover , gently push on your sound card until it snaps into place , put back to gether and restart pc !!!! hpoe this helps with your problem !!!!

Hi Bob and Mike, Very sorry about the delay in posting. The Model is Dell Dimension 3200. I have yet to open the computer to check the make of the sound card, but will do so shortly. After reading Mike's post about adding hardware, I figured I'd also give that a try. Here is what happened when adding hardware: All installations, when finished, showed a screen that said Windows has finished installing the software, until I installed the "Standard Game Port". The screen said, "Software for this device is now installed, but may not work correctly. Windows cannot determine the settings for this device. Consult the documentation that came with this device and use the resource tab to set the configuration (Code34)". Could this possibly be the problem? I await your reply. Beth

Since the machine is a Dell Dimension 3200, it will have a "Service Tag Number" printed on a sticker pasted on the outside of the case. You can access the original configuration/hardware/and Driver Downloads from the Dell website - Support and Driver Downloads You will need to Create a User Account with Dell (free) Then input the Service Tag Number to identify the specific Dell 3200 machine that you are interested in. Go ahead and download all the indicated Drivers for your machine to a specific Folder like C:\Dell Drivers\ Download even the ones not related to sound, so that you'll have the drivers available for future reference. I generally burn the drivers to CD for easy and safe access for every machine I service. ___________ You "may" be able to resolve this problem simply by reinstalling the Chipset Drivers listed at Dell. Keep us posted with your progress. Best Regards

Hi again, I did as you recommended Doug, and downloaded drivers. I'm happy to say while playing a game online, the sound came on (not sure how or why). I quickly restarted my computer to see if it would say, "Welcome, you have mail", and it did not. Strange thing was, I logged back onto the game, and the sound was still there. I'm so excited to have "some" sound and I can't thank you all enough for your help. I guess we can consider this matter "Resolved". I am truly grateful, Beth

Eldize Good for You! The sound alert (Welcome, you have email) <– is that part of a browser Portal like AOL? If so, the "on-off" or volume for that particular BHO/toolbar may be a component of the Portal itself and may be set/adjusted from inside of the Portal application. Thanks for deciding to become a Member here at TomCoyote! Visit back to learn whenever you can, and offer help when you are able. Best Regards, Doug

Hi Doug,


The sound alert (Welcome, you have email) <– is that part of a browser Portal like AOL?

I'm embarassed to say I'm not sure exactly what you mean. When I log onto AOL, it will say, "Welcome", and if I have any new email's (which I always do), it also says, "you have mail". When I sign off AOL, it will say "Goodbye". I also do not get a chime when someone instant messages me.

If so, the "on-off" or volume for that particular BHO/toolbar may be a component of the Portal itself and may be set/adjusted from inside of the Portal application.

I'm not sure what a portal is , but if you wouldn't mind taking a minute to explain it to me, I'd certainly like to check if thats the problem.

Thank you for your patience, lol

Beth

AOL is a "Portal". Essentially, AOL makes decisions about what its customers ought to be interested in. AOL then downloads that "sampling" of internet content to their online "cache" so that they can "serve" it to subscribers like yourself in the form and format that looks like and feels like its coming from AOL, especially for you the customer. In truth, AOL uses IE 6.0 and then dresses it up with their Logo, colors, and supposedly proprietary information. They install "add-ons" into your machine to run and create the AOL look and feel, as well as the "chimes" and "you've got mail" notifications and all the other panels and features that AOL customers have come to believe represent their best access point to the wonderful world of the internet. Other "portals" like Yahoo, Excite, and Prodigy try to do the same thing, but haven't been as successful, so they mostly use Browser Helpers, Search Engines, and ToolBars, leaving the version of IE up to the owner/user and just try to add their content and advertisement as much as possible. Are you getting the sense that I don't like AOL? I don't mean to hurt your feelings. Using AOL, you do not actually have access to "the internet". Instead, you have access to an AOL sampling that they serve to you as if it were the real thing, through their "portal". If you are an AOL subscriber, you can actually get direct access to the Internet. Just open AOL. Then Open a second instance of IE 6 or 7, depending on what you have installed. You can make the "homepage" of your IE, anything you like, including abcnews.com, forums.tomcoyote.org, or anything else including your favorite game or educational site. You can then use whatever search engine you want to find stuff directly. I use google almost exclusively. OK. I better climb down off my soapbox and stop ranting. The AOL Portal has various "features" like the chimes and "you've got mail" that are controlled by the AOL browser presentation. I used AOL back in the middle 1990's for a brief period, and haven't since then. so I'm not going to be of any use to you at all with regard to how to get those notifications to sound off. You "could" post another fresh New Topic here in Other Computer Problems. Title it "How to get sounds and notifications in AOL" Somebody will know the answer and pick up on the thread to help. I gotta go soak my head in a cold bucket of water now, as penance for being so opinionated. Please accept my apology for the rant.. I'll try to be of help to you with your machine but I really know nothing about how the modern version of AOL is set up. Best Regards Doug

I most certainly understand what a portal is now. I will take your advice and post another topic about the sound problem. Opinionated is a good thing. Who wants to befriend a person with no opinions? Boring. Have a great day ! Beth