Southtown_43701 said:
Lost all sounds couple days ago, even reboot sounds.
tried everything from the seach base. Nothing helped.
green on light not on on Altec Lansing speaker.
tried know good speaker / didnt work.
5yr old Dell 4600 / p4-2.4 / 1g mem /
if someone might have a awnser, please just mail me @ southtown43701 @
earthlink.net
do i maybe have a internal problem somewhere?
Thanks in advance, Jim S.
Sorry, no free email support. Asked here, answered here. Most certainly the
sound card (or onboard sound) could have died on your elderly Dell. Here
are some things to check:
Control Panel>System>Device Manager - Do you see a yellow exclamation mark
next to the sound component? Do you see any sound component at all? If yes,
then go to Dell's website and get the audio drivers for your specific model
machine and install them. If that works, you're done. If it doesn't, then
you need to troubleshoot further.
If you have onboard sound (not a separate PCI card), check in the BIOS (F2
as the computer starts) to make sure the onboard sound is enabled. This
doesn't become disabled all by itself but perhaps someone else did it for
an unknown reason (if you didn't).
If you have a separate sound card, with the computer off *and* unplugged
open the case. Ground yourself by touching a metal component like the power
supply (or use a grounding strap if you have one) and carefully reseat the
sound card. Go back into Windows and see if you have sound.
If none of that works, you can purchase a PCI sound card for under $25 and
install it. Don't forget to disable the onboard sound in the BIOS first.
Standard disclaimer: I can't see and test your computer myself, so these are
just suggestions based on many years of being a professional computer tech;
suggestions based on what you've written. You should not take my
suggestions as a definitive diagnosis. If you can't do the work yourself
(and there is no shame in admitting this isn't your cup of tea), take the
machine to a professional computer repair shop (not your local equivalent
of BigComputerStore/GeekSquad). If possible, have all your data backed up
before you take the machine into a shop.
Malke
