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From: Bruce Chambers on 2 Jan 2010 13:20
Sally Bowen wrote:
> I always used to be able to hear sounds thru the speakers connected to
> the back of my PC. I know there was no special soundcard (e.g.
> Soundblaster) in my PC but figured it worked,...


All this means is that while you had no discrete expansion sound card
installed, there was/is an audio controller built into your computer's
motherboard.


> .... so what the heck, it
> must be using some basic default Windows property.
>

There's no such capability.


> Anyway, for one reason and another I had to re-install XP SP2, and
> ever since then it says "no audio device" everywhere. On Control Panel
> / Sounds and..... / etc. all the screens are "greyed-out" with no
> device to select.
>
> Under My Computer / Properties / Device Manager / Sound and.... / it
> just lists the 5 standard entries (codecs, legacy wotsit etc.)
>
> Is there something fundamentally wrong somewhere?
>

You need to re-install the drivers for the motherboard's built-in audio
controller, and probably all of the other drivers (Chipset, network,
etc) for the motherboard's built-in components. You would have received
a CD for this purpose when you first purchased the computer. If you've
misplaced the CD, you'll need to download the various drivers from the
computer manufacturer's web site.



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Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:
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killed a great many philosophers.
~ Denis Diderot
From: Paul on 2 Jan 2010 13:20
Sally Bowen wrote:
> I always used to be able to hear sounds thru the speakers connected to
> the back of my PC. I know there was no special soundcard (e.g.
> Soundblaster) in my PC but figured it worked, so what the heck, it
> must be using some basic default Windows property.
>
> Anyway, for one reason and another I had to re-install XP SP2, and
> ever since then it says "no audio device" everywhere. On Control Panel
> / Sounds and..... / etc. all the screens are "greyed-out" with no
> device to select.
>
> Under My Computer / Properties / Device Manager / Sound and.... / it
> just lists the 5 standard entries (codecs, legacy wotsit etc.)
>
> Is there something fundamentally wrong somewhere?
>
> Thank you.
>
> Sally.
>

If you wanted some help, you might have mentioned the make and model
of computer. Motherboards can have integrated sound (AC'97 or HDaudio).
You need to install a driver for that. Look for a "?" in Device
Manager, indicating something isn't set up right.

With the make and model information at hand, you can look for drivers
on a download page.

If you built your computer from parts, then you'd be more interested
in the make and model number of the retail motherboard used to build
the computer. If it is a Dell, you'd want to know if it was a
Dell Dimension 8100 or the like. And naturally, if you added a separate
sound card to it, and hooked the green computer speaker cable to the
separate sound card, then you're looking for a driver for that sound
card. Some computers have two clusters of speaker jacks, just to
confuse matters. At minimum, you install the driver for the audio
hardware which the computer speakers are connected to. The green
jack is "Line Out", the one you want out of the three or six jacks
you might find in a cluster.

Paul
From: Shenan Stanley on 2 Jan 2010 13:28
<snip>

Roger wrote:
> That's a really BIG plug, larger than those used 50 years ago! ;)

Oops.

1/8" - my bad.

--
Shenan Stanley
MS-MVP
--
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html


From: Sally Bowen on 3 Jan 2010 06:30
On Sat, 02 Jan 2010 13:20:20 -0500, Paul <nospam(a)needed.com> wrote:
>If you wanted some help, you might have mentioned the make and model
Oooooh, I think that's a little harsh! I'm quite happy to divulge
everything down to my bra size and recipe for coquilles sans jacques,
but for an initial post, I was merely putting out feelers in case it
was something really mundane - as opposed to throwing every last nitty
gritty detail at everyone straight away.

Anyway, I've taken the back off, and as I suspected, no sound card. I
even took it in to work so a tech guy could check, and he agrees with
me. So everyone who suggested I need to re-install the original disc
blah blah, no can do! In fact I didn't get ANY discs with the original
computer.

> If it is a Dell, you'd want to know if it was a Dell Dimension 8100 or the like.
It is a Dell and I will certainly look up the motherboard info online.
If some download is suggested, I will do so. I have to be honest, I'm
not sure why a Windows re-install should mess up something that (to
me) seems related to the PC itself rather than any operating system,
but then I'm not an engineer.

If I have no joy, I shall stick to playing music on my other PC, and
just give Dell a wide berth in future.

But thank you everybody for your time nonetheless.

Sally



From: Shenan Stanley on 3 Jan 2010 14:50
Sally Bowen wrote:
> On Sat, 02 Jan 2010 13:20:20 -0500, Paul <nospam(a)needed.com> wrote:
>> If you wanted some help, you might have mentioned the make and
>> model
> Oooooh, I think that's a little harsh! I'm quite happy to divulge
> everything down to my bra size and recipe for coquilles sans
> jacques, but for an initial post, I was merely putting out feelers
> in case it was something really mundane - as opposed to throwing
> every last nitty gritty detail at everyone straight away.
>
> Anyway, I've taken the back off, and as I suspected, no sound card.
> I even took it in to work so a tech guy could check, and he agrees
> with me. So everyone who suggested I need to re-install the
> original disc blah blah, no can do! In fact I didn't get ANY discs
> with the original computer.
>
>> If it is a Dell, you'd want to know if it was a Dell Dimension
>> 8100 or the like.
> It is a Dell and I will certainly look up the motherboard info
> online. If some download is suggested, I will do so. I have to be
> honest, I'm not sure why a Windows re-install should mess up
> something that (to me) seems related to the PC itself rather than
> any operating system, but then I'm not an engineer.
>
> If I have no joy, I shall stick to playing music on my other PC, and
> just give Dell a wide berth in future.
>
> But thank you everybody for your time nonetheless.

You have no idea why a windows reinstall would....

You wiped the system. Windows - no OS - has all device drivers.

Download and install the motherboard/chipset drivers from the manufacturer.
Do the same for all other hardware. Since you have a Dell - this is EASILY
accomplished through their web page and knowing your Service Tag (usually on
at least one sticker on your computer.)

--
Shenan Stanley
MS-MVP
--
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html


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