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Dell Inspiron 9300 issue with SigmaTel C-Audio drivers

I reinstalled XP onto my laptop and installed all drivers, which all worked fine, except for the SigmaTel C-Audio driver that was downloaded from the Dell support website. I have not had sound since I installed Windows but everything else on the computer works fine. The only sound from my computer is the motherboard beep and it changes volumes at random. Usually it's loud enough to scare everyone who happens to be in the same room. At this point it's either reinstall Windows and all drivers again or get out the hammer. I've also tried various other drivers in the process so I really don't think it's an issue of the wrong driver. As noted in the details, I get the Code 39, driver not existant or corrupted driver error message. Any ideas?

PUNKY

Did you install the driver in the link below:
http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/driverslist.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=gen&ServiceTag=&SystemID=INSPIRON%209300&os=WW1&osl=en&catid=&impid=

Try this and reinstall drivers again:
- F2 to access bios
- Turn on cap lock, num lock, and scroll lock
- Hold the ALT key down and typr EFB
- You should hear some beep
- Try install drivers again.

Roybeez

ASKER

That is the driver I've tried installing a few hundred times now.

I followed your suggestion, heard the beep, and tried reinstalling drivers to no avail. The only thing that really changed was my monitor has lost brightness for some reason. What is it that the EFB commands are supposed to do? Any way to fix my monitor brightness again?

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PUNKY

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jamietoner

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Gary Case

Did you install the Microsoft UAA HD audio driver FIRST? (Universal Audio Architecture High Definition audio driver)

IIRC, this is included in SP3 ... so if you simply update XP to the latest service pack, the SigmaTel driver should work fine after that update (although you should uninstall it before doing the upgrate ... then reinstall it afterwards).

Roybeez

ASKER

Did download the Dell Notebook System Software. Don't know if I'm supposed to do anything with it manually after install or not.

I ialso nstalled SP3 first without SigmaTel driver and then installed driver again. Doesn't seem to help. Still get the same error code.

Roybeez

ASKER

Additionally, I ran the hardware checks in Diagnostics and the speakers seem to work fine there. It's definitely a software issue but absolutely nothing on the entire internet has helped me so far.

Gary Case

I may be wrong about Microsoft incorporating this driver in SP3 ... simply way to test it: download the driver and install it (uninstall any Sigmatel drivers first -- then reinstall them after the UAA driver is installed). Microsoft requires you to "jump through hoops" to get to the download ... but it's readily available here:
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareDescription.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&swItem=ob-45958-1&jumpid=reg_R1002_USEN

Roybeez

ASKER

Still isn't sticking. Code 39 again and again. I even redownloaded the driver several times in the event that it was somehow corrupt. Thanks, guys. Keep it coming!

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Gary Case

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Roybeez

ASKER

I did a clean install and afterward installed the SigmaTel driver alone (without even bothering with the UAA driver for now) and the sound works perfectly. The thing is, and I think this is just with certain Dell laptops, that the sound driver has to be installed first, or at least first thing after you install the network drivers so that you can access the internet in order to download the drivers from Dell. Your advice would have worked, garycase, I believe, but obviously the UAA driver is not necessary in this case. It must be an issue specific with SigmaTel and maybe certain other drivers. Thanks for the help, everyone. Case closed!

Gary Case

As I noted earlier, I believe SP3 includes the UAA driver (SP2 may even have it ... I'm not sure). So with a clean install it's probably already there. Glad it's working now.