SPEAKERS

[Guest]

I have just reinstalled xp home and now my speakers will not work , on the
control panel it says that there is no audio device connected even though
there is , does anybody know what to do

 

[Ron Badour]

If you have disks that came with the PC, look to see if there are drivers
for the sound card. If not, determine what type of sound card and then use
google.com to find the drivers.

 

[tom]

I have just reinstalled xp home and now my speakers will not work ,
on the control panel it says that there is no audio device connected
even though there is , does anybody know what to do

I have to install soundcard/audio drivers on my 3 year old dell after each
reformat form a different installation disc than the windows XP install
disc. Have you, or do you need to do that?

 

[Zilbandy]

I have to install soundcard/audio drivers on my 3 year old dell after each
reformat form a different installation disc than the windows XP install
disc. Have you, or do you need to do that?

Just curious, but why do you need to reinstall Windows so many times
on a three year old machine? I've got three machines currently running
xp and have not needed to reinstall even once on any machine. Total
"xp" years between the three machines, 13 years.

 

[tom]

Just curious, but why do you need to reinstall Windows so many times
on a three year old machine? I've got three machines currently running
xp and have not needed to reinstall even once on any machine. Total
"xp" years between the three machines, 13 years.

System corrupts and won't run windows. Sometimes I can repair of install cd
but frequently that won't work. Probably been forced to reformat 10 times
since getting machine (4 years in January). First 3 times were under factory
warranty and at the request/supervision of dell tech support. Got a
lemon.....consider yourself lucky. Definitely my last dell.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

System corrupts and won't run windows. Sometimes I can repair of install cd
but frequently that won't work. Probably been forced to reformat 10 times
since getting machine (4 years in January). First 3 times were under factory
warranty and at the request/supervision of dell tech support. Got a
lemon.....consider yourself lucky. Definitely my last dell.

Ten times in four years! That's incredible!

However, it has nothing to do with it being a Dell. If it were a
hardware problem with the computer, reinstalling would not have fixed
it. It had to do with how you took care of and maintained the
computer.

You have reinstalled ten times, but almost certainly you weren't
forced to do so. It was your choice--even when Dell told you do it, it
was almost certainly bad advice.

With a modicum of care, it should never be necessary to reinstall
Windows (XP or any other version). I've run Windows 3.0, 3.1, WFWG
3.11, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 2000, and Windows XP, each for
the period of time before the next version came out, and each on two
machines here. I never reinstalled any of them, and I have never had
anything more than an occasional minor problem.

It's my belief that this mistaken notion stems from the technical
support people at many of the larger OEMs. Their solution to almost
any problem they don't quickly know the answer to is "reformat and
reinstall." That's the perfect solution for them. It gets you off the
phone quickly, it almost always works, and it doesn't require them to
do any real troubleshooting (a skill that most of them obviously don't
possess in any great degree).

But it leaves you with all the work and all the problems. You have to
restore all your data backups, you have to reinstall all your
programs, you have to reinstall all the Windows and application
updates,you have to locate and install all the needed drivers for your
system, you have to recustomize Windows and all your apps to work the
way you're comfortable with.

Besides all those things being time-consuming and troublesome, you may
have trouble with some of them: can you find all your application CDs?
Can you find all the needed installation codes? Do you have data
backups to restore? Do you even remember all the customizations and
tweaks you may have installed to make everything work the way you
like? Occasionally there are problems that are so difficult to solve
that Windows should be reinstalled cleanly. But they are few and far
between; reinstallation should not be a substitute for
troubleshooting; it should be a last resort, to be done only after all
other attempts at troubleshooting by a qualified person have failed.

 

[Uncle Grumpy]

Zilbandy wrote:

System corrupts and won't run windows. Sometimes I can repair of install cd
but frequently that won't work. Probably been forced to reformat 10 times
since getting machine (4 years in January). First 3 times were under factory
warranty and at the request/supervision of dell tech support. Got a
lemon.....consider yourself lucky. Definitely my last dell.

I'm sure that Dell support is glad to hear THAT.

 

[tom]

Ten times in four years! That's incredible!

However, it has nothing to do with it being a Dell. If it were a
hardware problem with the computer, reinstalling would not have fixed
it. It had to do with how you took care of and maintained the
computer.

When I bought the machine I asked for and was told I'd purchased a "full"
extended 2 year warranty. Only after the first issue arose after the 1 year
manufactures warranty was up was I informed my warranty only covered
hardware. Tech support repeatedly checked my hardware and stated there were
no problems.

You have reinstalled ten times, but almost certainly you weren't
forced to do so. It was your choice--even when Dell told you do it, it
was almost certainly bad advice.

I'm not a technician and was repeatedly left with a non-functioning computer
with the only solution I am/was aware of being re-format. It has been the
only choice I have given my limited computer expertise.

With a modicum of care, it should never be necessary to reinstall
Windows (XP or any other version). I've run Windows 3.0, 3.1, WFWG
3.11, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 2000, and Windows XP, each for
the period of time before the next version came out, and each on two
machines here. I never reinstalled any of them, and I have never had
anything more than an occasional minor problem.

You're fortunate then but once again I only have limited tools and knowledge
at my disposal. I done this so many times that it's no longer a big deal and
I'm usually re-formatted and up & running in under 3 hours. I'm meticulous
at backing up and saving programs, files and information. It's an admitted
inconvenience but it's cheaper than replacing the problem machine and better
on my blood pressure to accept the situation and make the best of it.

It's my belief that this mistaken notion stems from the technical
support people at many of the larger OEMs. Their solution to almost
any problem they don't quickly know the answer to is "reformat and
reinstall." That's the perfect solution for them. It gets you off the
phone quickly, it almost always works, and it doesn't require them to
do any real troubleshooting (a skill that most of them obviously don't
possess in any great degree).

But it leaves you with all the work and all the problems. You have to
restore all your data backups, you have to reinstall all your
programs, you have to reinstall all the Windows and application
updates,you have to locate and install all the needed drivers for your
system, you have to recustomize Windows and all your apps to work the
way you're comfortable with.

You're preaching to the choir here.

Besides all those things being time-consuming and troublesome, you may
have trouble with some of them: can you find all your application CDs?
Can you find all the needed installation codes? Do you have data
backups to restore? Do you even remember all the customizations and
tweaks you may have installed to make everything work the way you
like? Occasionally there are problems that are so difficult to solve
that Windows should be reinstalled cleanly. But they are few and far
between; reinstallation should not be a substitute for
troubleshooting; it should be a last resort, to be done only after all
other attempts at troubleshooting by a qualified person have failed.

I appreciate your thoughts on the subject and don't doubt your expertise but
I'm afraid the next time I attempt to re-boot and get that black screen
stating something like "file xxx is/has corrupted and is preventing/stopping
windows from loading" I will again be re-formatting. I just checked and it
was 5-17-07 when I last re-formatted so I am again due for the big one.

 

[Zilbandy]

I appreciate your thoughts on the subject and don't doubt your expertise but
I'm afraid the next time I attempt to re-boot and get that black screen
stating something like "file xxx is/has corrupted and is preventing/stopping
windows from loading" I will again be re-formatting. I just checked and it
was 5-17-07 when I last re-formatted so I am again due for the big one.

I think I'd be investing in a USB external hard drive and get Acronis
True Image or some other imaging type program and make a backup of my
system after a fresh install and again after installing all my
software. That way, should you need to rebuild your system, you could
do it from a backup image in about 30-60 minutes with no input needed
by you other than booting from a recovery cd and telling the program
what to restore and where to put it. I make full backups of my system
once a week and do differential backups daily. I also maintain several
months worth of full backups in addition to the image of the initial
backup.

 

[dobey]

When I bought the machine I asked for and was told I'd purchased a "full"
extended 2 year warranty. Only after the first issue arose after the 1
year
manufactures warranty was up was I informed my warranty only covered
hardware. Tech support repeatedly checked my hardware and stated there
were
no problems.


I'm not a technician and was repeatedly left with a non-functioning
computer
with the only solution I am/was aware of being re-format. It has been the
only choice I have given my limited computer expertise.


You're fortunate then but once again I only have limited tools and
knowledge
at my disposal. I done this so many times that it's no longer a big deal
and
I'm usually re-formatted and up & running in under 3 hours. I'm meticulous
at backing up and saving programs, files and information. It's an admitted
inconvenience but it's cheaper than replacing the problem machine and
better
on my blood pressure to accept the situation and make the best of it.


You're preaching to the choir here.


I appreciate your thoughts on the subject and don't doubt your expertise
but
I'm afraid the next time I attempt to re-boot and get that black screen
stating something like "file xxx is/has corrupted and is
preventing/stopping
windows from loading" I will again be re-formatting. I just checked and it
was 5-17-07 when I last re-formatted so I am again due for the big one.

Sounds like a hardware controller issue.

I had a similar problem with SATA RAID on an Abit board that would install
fine, then everything would run sweet for a while then the PC would take
longer and longer to boot.

I ran chkdsk and saw bad sectors appearing, ran chkdsk again after a few
days, and more would appear.

Re-formatted, same again. Naturally I suspected one of the disks. Checked
and checked again but couldn't find a problem. Gave up on RAID and used a
single disk, (still no problem detected with either disk). No problem there,
till I attached a second SATA drive to the machine. started getting lots of
corrupted downloads and system misbehaviour. Unplug second SATA drive -
everything's fine.

Tried drivers BIOSes etc, still the same.

The problem with these issues is they don't appear in a short space of time,
so any third party trouble shooting probably won't reveal these problems.

Anyway, just count yourself unlucky rather than everyone as being lucky.

Your best installing XP, your programs, then creating an image with
something like BootitNG then when it's time for your restoration, you
restore the image and you will have saved yourself a couple of hours.

 

[tom]

I think I'd be investing in a USB external hard drive and get Acronis
True Image or some other imaging type program and make a backup of my
system after a fresh install and again after installing all my
software. That way, should you need to rebuild your system, you could
do it from a backup image in about 30-60 minutes with no input needed
by you other than booting from a recovery cd and telling the program
what to restore and where to put it. I make full backups of my system
once a week and do differential backups daily. I also maintain several
months worth of full backups in addition to the image of the initial
backup.

Quite frankly after all the frustration with this machine I believe the next
$ I'll be spending on a computer will be a replacement. I've lost faith in
both this computer and its manufacturer despite whatever the source of the
problem(s) may be. The "fun" of a computer has been sapped from me and as
dependent as I've become on a computer for daily activity's I just want
something dependable, not something I'm constantly trying to second guess
and wondering if it will be functional tomorrow.

 

[Unknown]

"It has nothing to do with it being a Dell"? I disagree---you're in hell
with Dell.

 

[Bruce Chambers]

I have just reinstalled xp home and now my speakers will not work , on the
control panel it says that there is no audio device connected even though
there is , does anybody know what to do

What happens when you download and install the WinXP-specific audio
drivers, as provided by your sound card's manufacturer? Do you have
speakers correctly connected to the sound card? Do the speakers require
a separate power source and, if so, are they plugged in and turned on?


--

Bruce Chambers

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They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. -Bertrand Russell

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I appreciate your thoughts on the subject and don't doubt your expertise but
I'm afraid the next time I attempt to re-boot and get that black screen
stating something like "file xxx is/has corrupted and is preventing/stopping
windows from loading" I will again be re-formatting. I just checked and it
was 5-17-07 when I last re-formatted so I am again due for the big one.

Your choice, of course. But if I were in your shoes, I would post here
describing the problem and asking for help. It's very likely that one
of us could help you and reformatting and reinstalling wouldn't be
required.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Quite frankly after all the frustration with this machine I believe the next
$ I'll be spending on a computer will be a replacement. I've lost faith in
both this computer and its manufacturer despite whatever the source of the
problem(s) may be. The "fun" of a computer has been sapped from me and as
dependent as I've become on a computer for daily activity's I just want
something dependable, not something I'm constantly trying to second guess
and wondering if it will be functional tomorrow.

I'll repeat what I said earlier. If reformatting and reinstalling
Windows solves your problem, the problem is not with the computer or
its manufacturer. Reformatting and reinstalling doesn't solve hardware
problems. *You* are doing something wrong (or not doing something
right) to cause the problem.

 

[tom]

Your choice, of course. But if I were in your shoes, I would post here
describing the problem and asking for help. It's very likely that one
of us could help you and reformatting and reinstalling wouldn't be
required.

I appreciate the offer but when the problem presents itself I have no access
to Newsgroups as my computer is dead.

 

[tom]

I'll repeat what I said earlier. If reformatting and reinstalling
Windows solves your problem, the problem is not with the computer or
its manufacturer. Reformatting and reinstalling doesn't solve hardware
problems. *You* are doing something wrong (or not doing something
right) to cause the problem.

During the 3 years of warranty I had dell check the hardware repeatedly.
Always no problem. When it's up and running it performs flawlessly.....right
up till the time it won't run windows upon re-boot. If I'm lucky it allows
me to do a repair off the installation CD, otherwise I reformat. The only
thing I haven't resorted to is paying a tech an exorbitant fee to probably,
as has been the case with dell tech support, tell me I need to reformat.
Again, I'm not questioning your expertise but you're not here, or accessible
when I'm computerless.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I appreciate the offer but when the problem presents itself I have no access
to Newsgroups as my computer is dead.

There is usually free access to computers at places like your local
public library.

 

[Jack Ass]

I appreciate the offer but when the problem presents itself I have no access
to Newsgroups as my computer is dead.

But MVPs either don't appreciate this or they are completely thick! To
them the fault is yours and they make you look stupid! This is the
level of their intelligence!! No wonder they work for nothing for the
richest man in this world!

Jack Ass

 

[Zilbandy]

Quite frankly after all the frustration with this machine I believe the next
$ I'll be spending on a computer will be a replacement. I've lost faith in
both this computer and its manufacturer despite whatever the source of the
problem(s) may be. The "fun" of a computer has been sapped from me....

I totally understand. I've had two Dells and had decent luck with both
of them, although I am somewhat disappointed by the noise level of the
system fans in the latter one. The area that has frustrated me the
most is with their phone support - I'm just tired of trying to
communicate with non "English as a first language" speaking, heavily
accented, script reading droids at some tech center in India or
thereabouts. My next system will likely be built locally by a company
that has been around a while. I have no idea who that might be at this
moment. I'm not looking forward to a new computer with Vista,
though, so, I'm just hoping my old computers keep on ticking.