Hi

I've just installed XP Pro after WinMe fell apart at the seams ans had a nervous breakdown.

Install went fine and it is working well except for the sound. I have no audio at all. I've been through the troubleshooter and still no joy.

I can't check the BIOS settign right now as it's originally a japanese market laptop and the BIOS is all japanese.

Troubleshooters advice was to seek help elsewhere, so here i am!

my pc specs are

NEC LaVie LC800j/8
PIII 800mhz
30gb HDD (split 20Gb/10Gb with Mandrake Linux 9.0)
248mb RAM
VIA AC'97 Audio Controller (WDM)

I've tried these programs to update the drivers

VIA Chipset Drivers
http://downloads.viaarena.com/drivers/4in1/via_hyperion%204%20in%201_v453v.zip

VIA AC97 Audio Drivers
http://downloads.viaarena.com/drivers/audio/550a/Vinyl_AudioCodec_V550a.zip

Double checked all the opbvious stuff like cables and volume controls (including the one on the side).

I email both NEC uk and worlwide. NEC UK said the model wasnt theirs so go blow myself. NEC worldwide replied in finest japanglish that they dont know jack diddly. I've emailed them again for details abot the soundcard but i dont hold out much hope.

In device manager here's what I got.

In control panel>sounds and audio devices>Volume Tab. The volume control is now grayed out.. And 'No audio device' is shown.

>Audio Tab.
-Sound playback is grayed out with 'No playback devices' showing. Sound recording has 'No recording devices' and midi is grayed out too.

The Voice tab has a similar look to it, all grayed out.

>The hardware tab
Audio Codecs
-Manufacturer(system standard devices)
-Location unknown
-Device status. This device is working properly.

Legacy Audio drivers
-Manufacturer(system standard devices)
-Location unknown
-Device status. This device is working properly.

Media Control Devices
-Manufacturer(system standard devices)
-Location unknown
-Device status. This device is working properly.

Legacy Capture Video Devices
Manufacturer(system standard devices)
Location unknown
Device status. This device is working properly.

Video Codes
Manufacturer(system standard devices)
Location unknown
Device status. This device is working properly.

Microsoft WINMM WDM Audio Compatibilty Driver
Manufacturer Microsoft
Location: Location 0
Device Status: A driver(service) for this device has been
disabled. An alternative driver may be providing the functionality
(code 32)


Any idea where to go from here?

thanks

Why didnt you just download the VIA 4in1 drivers and use those?

remember also - Intel and Cmedia and Opti - both use the ac97 codecs - i would try lookin for those drivers also.
Dont take it for granted, because its a VIA chipset it has via sound - i have seen intel boards with cmedia cound - and VIA boards with opti sound - so try a few different ones till it works...

OK. I figured out an additional step.

For some reason, after I installed either SP2 or one of the other critical fixes, my audio devices stopped working. Uninstalled and reinstalled the hardware in device manager with no luck.

The audio device appeared just fine in the Device Manager, but in the Sound and Audio Devices Control Panel, I kept getting the "No Audio Devices" message. All options in this control panel item were greyed out.

SOLUTION:

Go to the Services, and look at Windows Audio. Seems that MS set the service to DISABLED. Enabled it, and all of my Sound options appeared!!!

BTW, the solution above was posted by OLDSTLRAVER