Member Avatar for Zippyvinman

I have an Inspiron 1520 that I got from my parents. I went an started uninstalling a whole bunch of crap that they added. I think I may or may not have messed up my sound cards. In browser, no sound. In Steam (Gaming platform), no sound. In one game, WWII Online, I have sound. No where else does sound work. Under Steams "System Specs" page it lists that I have no sound card installed. Before, I had Sigmatel installed, and it says I still do. I went to the dell website, got the sound card for my computer, and when I tried to install it it said something about it not being for the correct computer. Help!

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by stormal1

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Quick, practical add-on for . The thread already hit the obvious driver/device checks (thanks , and ). Below are targeted, slightly deeper steps that commonly fix the symptom described — sound working in one app only, Steam reporting no device, and a leftover Sigmatel entry.

Restart and repair the Windows audio stack and system files from an elevated Command Prompt:

sc config Audiosrv start= auto
sc start Audiosrv
sc config AudioEndpointBuilder start= auto
sc start AudioEndpointBuilder

sfc /scannow

Allow sfc to finish; it repairs corrupted system files that can break audio services.

Remove leftover driver packages and any hidden/ghost audio devices so the correct package can be reinstalled. From an elevated Command Prompt:

set DEVMGR_SHOW_NONPRESENT_DEVICES=1
start devmgmt.msc

In Device Manager choose View → Show hidden devices, uninstall any greyed-out or duplicate Sigmatel/Conexant entries, then use pnputil to remove the driver package from the driver store:

pnputil -e
pnputil -d oem#.inf   (replace # with the OEM number for the audio driver)

Reboot after removal. Create a restore point before removing drivers; if removal fails, perform the cleanup from Safe Mode.

If the problem persists, separate hardware from driver problems: boot a Linux live USB and test audio — if sound works under Linux, the issue is Windows drivers/settings. Also run the laptop’s built-in diagnostics (boot-time diagnostics) and check the BIOS setup to confirm onboard audio is enabled. Some installers refuse to run when model/Service Tag or OS don’t match; use the machine’s Service Tag on Dell’s support site or the codec vendor’s package that exactly matches the hardware ID shown on the device’s Details tab. Lastly, check for a stuck headphone jack (plug/unplug or try headphones) and verify per-app volume/output selections (digital/HDMI vs. speakers).

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Member Avatar for tinstaafl

have you tried the Add New Hardware applet in control panel? Also what does the Device Manager say about the sound card? Another place to check is the Sound applet and see where the default audio device is pointing to.

Member Avatar for david.phillips.902

you could try right clicking on 'my computer' choose properties, hardware, device manager, sound video and game controllers, right click the audio device, click properties, drivers, update drivers. may help, alternatively if you have recently updated these drivers you could try rolling back to the previous driver and see if that works, my humble opinion only.

Member Avatar for stormal1

Try using System Restore to restore back to the restore point at which sound worked.
Don't uninstall applications unless you understand just what resources you are removing.

Edited by stormal1 because: mispelling
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