Sound problems, XP

[rgb]

Before upgrading my OS I want to be sure that the machine is in good condition. Maybe the recent sound problems--no sounds at all, not even windows sounds--are hardware related, or software related. Does this mean I should put this new topic in the XP sub-forum? If they end up being software related will the topic be moved somewhere else?

I read the help article here Missing or lost sound in Windows. I'll review the steps I followed as in the order in this article.
I cannot see the icon for sound in the tray icon area. Cannot get it back.

No conflicts or errors were shown in Device Manager.
Under "other devices" the only item is the one listed below: "Audio device for High Definition Audio Bus", which has a yellow ?, and the message "The drivers for this device are not installed. (Code 28)".
"Sound, video and game controllers" is there. No named "sound card" is there.

Was not willing to do this:"Under Sound, Video and game controllers highlight each device and press the delete key to remove the device." but did delete the drivers. (How would windows know which devices were there? Maybe some are not standard for this machine?)
On reboot the message came up that the drivers were installed except for one: "Audio device for High Definition Audio Bus".
And now on every boot I get a "Found new Hardware" dialog to install the driver for this HDAB. But the driver is never found by the wizard.
I read elsewhere that allowing windows to install drivers is a recipe for disaster because it won't know the specific driver model for my machine. So I have to use the drivers from the manufacturer, in my case Lenovo (T61).
Speakers are fine.

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OS Version: Microsoft Windows XP Professional, Service Pack 3, 32 bit
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T7500 @ 2.20GHz, x86 Family 6 Model 15 Stepping 11
Processor Count: 2
RAM: 3070 Mb
Graphics Card: NVIDIA Quadro NVS 140M, 512 Mb
Hard Drives: C: Total - 145744 MB, Free - 66684 MB;
Motherboard: LENOVO, 889279G
Antivirus: avast! Antivirus, Updated: Yes, On-Demand Scanner: Enabled

[patio]

You need to DLoad and install the audio drivers from Lenovo...
Or use the Driver CD that shipped with the PC.

[rgb]

OK thanks. But I'm having problems there too. Since it was Computer Hope's article I used to delete the drivers, I hope someone can reply to this problem:
I use Soundmax in my system and have tried to reinstall it, but get the error message from System Migration Assistant:
"The feature you are trying to use is on a network resource that is unavailable. Click OK to try again, or enter an alternate path to a folder containing the installation package "smasetup.msi" in the box below. Use source C:\DOCUME~1\[username]\LOCALS~1\Temp\_is10F\ "
and there's a Browse link.
I checked the folder above and "is10F" is not there.
Repeated attempts to install it do not work. I searched my system for "smasetup.msi" and it does not exist. Have I uninstalled too much of Soundmax? Please advise.

[patio]

Forget soundmax for now...thats an app..
See my Post for re-installing the proper drivers...then reinstall Soundmax.

[rgb]

But when I go to the Lenovo driver update site and input my machine info, under the category Audio, there is only Soundmax listed.
There is no other driver category for audio or sound.

[patio]

Then DLoad it and re-install it...reboot after.

[rgb]

But as I wrote in reply #2, I cannot download it because a file is missing from my machine: "smasetup.msi"

[patio]

Thats a Lenovo file...
Probably included in the setup file with the sound drivers above...

[rgb]

I don't understand your reply.
I cannot install Soundmax for the reasons I mentioned before.
There are no other audio or sound drivers listed for my machine on the Lenovo driver updates.
It appears that the Computer Hope article I mentioned that I used to delete drivers was mistaken in telling me to do this deletion. And that one that I deleted led to the driver for Soundmax. Maybe the missing file is one that must be paid for.

[jason2074]

What OS are you trying to upgrade? FWIW, Chipset and Sound drivers for Lenovo T61 is available in their support site. http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/detail.page?LegacyDocID=MIGR-67853

If there is a problem currently with the audio chip from your laptop, then a driver install or Os clean install will not solve your problem.

[rgb]

The thread title is "Sound problems, XP".
The link you gave is the link for my machine, the link I use. But once I input the OS--XP, there is only one sound/audio item listed, Soundmax.
And if I input "Audio" in the Category link, the only item is Soundmax.

As mentioned, I have tried installing the soundmax a few times, but cannot because of the missing file on my machine.

Maybe other drivers have something to do with sound, but I cannot tell which.

Eventually i want to go to Win7.

[Geek-9pm]

The missing file is part of another  package.
He needs to download ALL ate drivers for his model that apply to XP.
Chip-set
Graphics
Metalwork card
Soundmax
A reboot is required for some items.
Run the Sound max last.

[rgb]

OK thanks. I was wondering if the list of drivers on the Lenovo page mentioned above is just the drivers that have updates, not the full list of all drivers on the machine.

What does "ate" mean in this sentence:
"He needs to download ALL ate drivers for his model that apply to XP."

What is the "metalwork card"?

Looks like you are saying that the main issue is hardware? not software?

[rgb]

Sure wish that Geek-9pm would reply to my previous post.

I tried installing the 2 Chipset drivers, but found out that they are not Chipset drivers or updates to chipset drivers: they just are there for when you do a OS upgrade or new installation so as to configure the already installed drivers to work with the new OS. I tried installing them anyway but they were already installed.

[Geek-9pm]

Sorry about my bad spelling.
What I meant was this:
In some (many) castes the system does not work right unless ALL drivers  are installed in the  commended order.
The 'chip set' refers to the support chips for the motherboard. It goes first.
Next come the video driver for the built-in video.
After that, the network card. The Ethernet adapter chip driver.  Often not in the chip set.
The sound card is most of the time last. Again, it may not be in the chip set.

BTW: Before installing a graphics card,  one must have everything else working good. And even  then it might go wrong.

I hope that clarifies the point. Drivers must be installed in a special order. This is from the instructions of the computer makers.  You will find people say it didn't matter to them how they did it. Ask  how many installs they have done it on desperate machines.

[rgb]

Thanks for the clarification.

First, how do I know if the driver list above has all drivers for my machine?
Maybe it shows only drivers which have updates.

Second, I don't have a sound card that I can see in Device Manager. Maybe it's part of something else.

Third, I can't find any motherboard support chips. How would I identify them? Which categories in the driver list?

[Geek-9pm]

From Archives:
How do I find the computer motherboard chipset?
The article has other links related to your post.

[rgb]

OK thanks for the link. Device manager has a line in System devices for Motherboard resources:
Device type: System devices
Manufacturer: (Standard system devices)
Location: on Intel(R) ICH8M LPC Interface Controller - 2
Driver provider: Microsoft
Driver date: 7/1/2001
Driver Version: 5.1.2600.2180
Digital Signer: Microsoft Windows Component Publisher
Conflicting device list: No conflicts.

There is no listing for Microsoft or Lenovo on the Computer motherboard links page. I guess i could contact MS for help. Or just update the driver from it's location in Device Manager.
I don't have a driver CD.

And likely there are other parts of the motherboard with other drivers. Like the MS UAA Bus Driver for HD Audio. Have to be careful with this one, I've already read about problems with its update.

[Geek-9pm]

Is the system mostly stable? Does the hard drive check OK?
If so, and you have enough drive space, you  could create a small partition on the drive and do a second install of the OS. That does not violate the license.
The purpose is to see if a new install of Windows does a better job of finding suitable drivers.  It might. If not, it could mean there is a problem with the hardware. This is a diagnostic trick to see if something went wrong on hate first install.

Or, a more conservative thing is tyo try and boot from a USB or CD that has a Linux Live OS. Linux does a fair job of finding drivers. Again, the objective is to see if the hardware is alright.
Just suggestions.

[rgb]

System seems mostly stable. Main issue is the lack of any sound.
You can see my system specs in the OP.
Hard Drives: C: Total - 145744 MB, Free - 66684 MB
Disk management says C: is Healthy. I run chkdsk /r once in a while. Disk cleanup every day. Defrag once in a while. MBAM at least once a week.

I don't have the installation disk for XP.
Are you suggesting something like creating a new partition for a second install of XP?

I tried the Linux Cd thing but it did not work. I took out the HDD and although the Cd started, I could never get it to run Linux. Spent hours and days trying it ... several new coasters later, I don't want to try it again.