Member Avatar for Halostatue

Okay…I give up. I’ve got to ask for some help.

I recently re-installed XP Media Center on my Dell Dimension E310. Now, whenever I re-start I have no sound. And when I go the Control Panel, I get the “No Audio Device” with all of the selections grayed-out. And I mean all of them: The Volume section, the Sounds section, the Audio section…all of them. When I troubleshoot the hardware it says the device is working properly.

I’ve searched this site, the web (and lots of other techie sites!) and have noticed this same problem reported by many others. And I’m pretty sure I’ve tried all the solutions presented. Either I’m a dope (real possibility there), or something’s wack.

I’ve reloaded the correct motherboard drivers, the video drivers and the sound card (SigmaTel, onboard) drivers, from both the Dell site and from the individual manufacturer sites. I’ve un-installed and installed again. Everything. In the correct order. I’ve re-installed XP Media Center and even re-installed just plain ole XP Pro, trying to figger this out. I’ve gone through the PNP Device Enumerator “solution”.

I’ve gone to the “services” and made sure the Windows Audio is set to “Automatic” and is started. I’ve stopped it, rebooted and re-started it and re-booted it.

I’ve read and read and read and then tried and tried and tried potential solutions, but it keeps being a bad, bad, misbehaving system. I’ve used both Belarc and Everest Home Edition. When the sound’s not working, neither one even see my sound card. When it’s working, they see it. These programs are how I know it’s a Sigmatel card and how I know my motherboard manufacturer, for the correct drivers.

Periodically, the sound will come on and everything will work perfectly. The machine is fast, the sound is great and nothing seems wrong at all. I will set a restore point at that time, place and configuration. When the sound “fails” again, I go back to the restore point and…no sound.

I can log off and re-logon and it’ll be fine. BUT…if I re-start, it comes back up with the no sound, no device thing I described above.

When I look in the Device Manager, the only yellow question mark I get is the “PCI Simple Communications Controller” one. And when I try to “update” the driver, the system won’t find one. I’ve tried to search the web for one, but nojoy up to now.

Two more pieces of info: When the sound’s not working, many times the PC will just seem to lock up. The cursor “hourglass” will just spin. Like for 5 or 10 minutes (sometimes until I just power the thing off). And periodically, when the PC catches up, the sound will work fine. It’s as if the computer’s trying to bring the drivers up, is having a hard time with it, and once it gets it all straightened out everything works great. ‘Til I re-start.

The second thing is that when I look in the device manager, I have TWO instances of the Plug and Play Device Enumerator. And they’re the same. Maybe they’re colliding. I can’t find out how to uninstall one of them. “Uninstall” isn’t an option presented.

I’m at my wit’s end. I’m not at that particular computer right now (on the road for work), but I’ll try to answer any questions you have to try to help diagnose/solve this deal. I do have logmein working, so I can probably find out whatever’s necessary from where I am.

As a side note, I’ve tried drinking more, but that just makes things fuzzier and doesn’t solve the problem <grin>. Maybe I’m not drinking the right stuff…Any suggestions along this line may not solve anything, except help kill the pain…

Any help would be appreciated.

Halo

  • 3 Contributors
  • 2 Replies
  • 320 Views
  • 2 Years Discussion Span
  • Latest Post Latest Post by malog

Dani AI

Generated

Given the posts from , and , the best way forward is a short, ordered isolation checklist that separates hardware from OS/driver/registry problems and then fixes the likely Windows-enumeration issues.

  1. Quick hardware vs software check — boot any alternate OS (Linux live CD/USB or the other working Windows partition mentioned by ). If the audio device is present and plays there, the motherboard/audio hardware is very likely OK and the problem is confined to that Windows install. If the device is missing there too, treat it as a hardware/BIOS issue.

  2. Gather boot-time evidence — inspect the System event log for plug-and-play or driver load errors (Event Viewer -> System) and note any device error codes (Code 10, timeouts, driver name). These timestamps show what fails during startup.

  3. Remove ghost/duplicate enumerators and nonpresent drivers (this often fixes intermittent enumeration): 

set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1
start devmgmt.msc

Then in Device Manager use View -> Show hidden devices and uninstall any greyed entries under “Sound, video and game controllers”, “Software devices” and duplicate “Plug and Play Software Device Enumerator” entries. Export registry keys before any manual edits.

  1. Clean reinstall sequence and conflict isolation — install chipset drivers (chipset/PCI bridge/MEI) first, reboot, then install the onboard audio driver. Use a clean boot (msconfig -> hide Microsoft services -> disable the rest; disable startup items) to find third-party conflicts. If uninstall from Device Manager does not remove driver files, remove the matching oem*.inf only after backing up the INF and registry.

  2. Last-resort checks — verify BIOS audio setting and BIOS version, try a known-good USB/PCI sound adapter to confirm behavior across reboots, and consider manufacturer service if hardware is suspected (as suggested). Always export the registry and create a restore point before invasive changes.

Notes and cautions: back up registry branches before edits; change one variable at a time and reboot to see effect; keep Event Viewer error text and timestamps — they are the most useful clues when drivers fail at boot.

Recommended Answers

All 2 Replies

Member Avatar for jermaghs07

maybe you should go to the doctor cuz i think your just going def!!! :-)

It sounds like you have covered all the bases that i would have suggested. have you considered that it might be a hardware problem?

Is the computer still under warranty? if so i would send it back and make them fix it since it is causing so much misery.

Member Avatar for malog

I have exactly the same symptoms in my PC. No sound, TWO "PnP Software Device Enumerator" .
But all this are valid only for the first partition. At the other partition (WIN XP SP2 too) the SOUND IS PERFECT. So it is not hardware problem.
Thanks in advance .
Manolis

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.