Use BIOS to correct audio problem

BIOS Questions that don't belong in the other forums. Read them!
Post Reply
linkot
New visitors - please read the rules.
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun Mar 21, 2004 4:04 pm

I can hear sound when I plug headphones into the jack by the CD drawer and play a CD, but I can't hear any sounds or music from the speakers. When I go to Control Panel/Sounds the choices are black (not grayed out) but when I click on the various sounds, I hear nothing. No Online sound(s) plays either.

The following was suggested to me:
Go to the BIOS, press F2 at the Dell logo, Press Caps Lock, Num Lock and Scroll Lock, so that all the three lights are lit up. Then press Alt + E. Your system will beep. Restart the computer. Check the sound options in the control panel. If this still does not work, reinstall the sound drivers, by first uninstalling them in safe mode.

Is this a wise thing to do? I don't want to blow up my PC.
edwin
The Hardware Archivist
Posts: 6286
Joined: Wed Mar 20, 2002 7:11 pm
Location: Netherlands
Contact:

Most likely this will reset the bios to defaults which is a good thing in your case. And they probably know what they are advising, else you can complain to them about their faulty instructions if it doesn't work.
edwin/evasive

Do not assume anything

System error, strike any user to continue...
Ritchie
BIOS Guru
Posts: 761
Joined: Wed Oct 30, 2002 5:17 am

There are three areas you should be looking at.

First is to check that the speaker cable is plugged into the correct audio jack at the back of the PC. I don't know for sure if you can damage ports or speakers or sound chips/cards by using the incorrect port, so be careful by method of experimentation. Otherwise check a manual or symbols near the plugs.

Next is software. Device manager will tell you whether it THINKS the audio hardware is installed correctly. But I find when all is reported OK, SOMETIMES audio will still not output. You may need to do further investigation, and if you think there is a problem in this area, get rid of the INF files installed for any sound devices, clean the devices out of device manager (even in safe mode as there could be some other devices show up that could still confilict or confuse driver installations), and then obtain the correct audio drivers and follow the installation instructions.

Then there is the BIOS. For on-board audio (on main board) the audio devices will need to be enabled in the BIOS. However, be careful as I have come across a board that had two sets of audio devices in the BIOS, and when I enabled the second set, Windows got confused and things did not function. And as far as I could tell the BIOS image flashed looked fine.

Hope this helps.
Post Reply