oldronruns

I have an old dell inspiration B120 laptop. There is no sound and control panel shows a bad direct sound driver. It has been impossible to locate the correct driver download. It has been suggested that I install a new pci card. Dell manual lists it as a mini pci and it appears to be an easy install. There is a card available on ebay at a fair price.

Do you think this is the best way to solve my problem or do you have another suggestion?

Many thanks. I don't have much experience with this kind of problem but find it fascinating. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

zerofire

PCI cards do not fit in laptops as there is no place for a PCI slot. Mini PCI is a different form from PCI and there are no sound cards for such a connection. If you wish to buy an addon sound card you can only use a USB connection. In my opinion it might be easier in the long run to just fix the internal sound card if possible.

Riskyone101

Hello and Welcome to TSF,

Go here for audio driver:
http://support.dell.com/support/down...&catid=&impid=

Go here for drive sweeper:
http://downloads.guru3d.com/Guru3D--...er)_d1672.html

1. Uninstall audio driver from add/remove in control panel
2. clean disc
3. clean temp folder
4. run drive sweeper to remove audio driver only
5. reboot pc
6. check in program files or C:drive\dell drivers folder to make sure audio driver and software has been removed, you may also want to make sure it is not appearing in device manager either.
7. Install audio driver
8. reboot pc

oldronruns

Thank you both for your help. Unfortunately it does not solve my problem. Any attempt to
play sound shows "Bad direct sound driver". My research shows this as a "winmm wdm audio capability driver". Google reveals may attempts to download this driver but none of the suggestions pan out. I have given up. What I am wondering now is if would be feasible to install a new mini-pci card or a usb sound card. Both are available at modest cost.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

zerofire

I can guarantee that there are no mini PCI sound cards in existence unless you prove me wrong. Your only choice is USB. The catch to using USB is that you would need to buy speakers as well. In addition you would not be able to move the laptop around much.

wrench97

The mini PCI slot in the B130 is for the Wifi mini PCI card only.
Have you installed the Intel chipset drivers and the Dell notebook systems utility software?

Also are you using Windows Media player to play the music or another program?

Do you hear the Windows systems sounds like when the system starts up?

oldronruns

I have followed all suggestions except for Drive Sweeper, which would not install. I have also restored the computer to original condition, done all diagnostics I could find, installed multiple new drivers and researched to the best of my ability. The only sound was when I did the restore and it was only lasted a few seconds. In addition I have updated all programs.

I am using Windows Media player now but was using Winamp originally.

As stated the only sounds heard was when I did a total restore.

I realize that in this troubled world this is small potatoes but it is driving me crazy. Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks.

wrench97

Did the sound stop after the windows SP3 update?

oldronruns

Thanks to all for your help. I finally tried earphones and lo and behold had sound. The problem must be with the plug in jack.

Anyone have a quick fix, other than replacing the motherboard?

oldronruns

Hurrah!!!!

I squirted a bit of rubbing alcohol into the earphone post and the sound was restored, as if by magic. I do not guarantee similar results to others.

Riskyone101

very nice, glad you got it sorted and I will keep that in mind, but true probably would not recommend this to others only at their own risk....

you can mark thread solved under thread tools tab near top of this page, ty.