[PinchasLandis]

Howdy,

My wife recently went traveling, and put her laptop into the bag with the headphones plugged into it. Ever since then, the sound has not worked. It seems that the headphones must have gotten knocked around during the trip, and in process broke the sound card.

1. Does this make sense?

2. Does the Inspiron 1501 have a replaceable sound card?

3. If not, what are the options? Will we need to change the Motherboard? How much does that run?

Thanks!

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[Pauldo]

My first thought was that it didn't make sense. Not to say that it didn't happen.

There usually is a switch inside the headphone jack to turn off speakers when headphones are plugged in. This can get damaged but you would still get sound, either only through headphones or only through speakers.

The sound card is a part of the motherboard so, no, you can't just replace the sound card by taking out the old and putting in the new. You can get a usb sound card. Some of them are quite small, similar to a usb thumb drive, but you would be limited to headphone use only (or hooking up external speakers, the speakers on the laptop would be out).

Replacement motherboard cost anywhere from $250 - $400 but you will need to do the work. Look at doubling that amount to have somebody else do the work (like a certified Dell servicer).

Not sure what troubleshooting you have gone through to come to this conclusion but have you looked at Device Manager? Have you looked to see if Sigmatel is your default audio device. Have you tried uninstalling and re-installing?

Pauldo