Audio Driver Install Issues

This is almost my last resort to getting this fixed.


Prefab computer: Sony Vaio Desktop VGC-RC310G

History: Computer originally came with Win XP. I recently reformatted my HD and installed Windows Vista. The version of Vista is Dell Windows Vista Ultimate. The reformat / installation went fine however once I finished updating windows I now have the speaker with the "red X" and despite my attempts to fix it, is still there.

My reasoning told me to visit the Sony Vaio website and see what sound card I have inside and download the appropriate vista driver from the sound card manufacturers website. I determined the sound card was a sigmatel HD Audio Device however I could not get onto the Sigmatel website. The link on the Sony page was/is not working.

Since this problem I have tried many different sound drivers from Sigmatel, Realtek and one other. Without luck. I searched, thinking there would be a generic microsoft audio driver. However I couldn't find a download link, only white papers on such a driver.

As of tonight I found a Sigmatel driver which seemed to load correctly. It shows up in the device manager as the Sigmatel High Definition Audio CODEC, however the speaker with the red x is still there. I have rebooted my system, tried uninstalling and still no luck.

Any help is going to be greatly appreciated! My wedding is in 1 week and I am in the middle of putting together music for it....without speakers I am stumped! Again, thanks!

 

:wave Welcome to Major Geeks! :major

Problem #1:

Does this strike anyone else as possibly problematic?

Problem #2:
What did you do for a product key? Obviously the Sony doesn't have a Vista license....

Problem #3:

In your quest to install the correct driver, you may have conflicting software installed, so even if you did locate the correct driver, it may not install correctly.

My suggestion: since it's a clean install with a non-Sony operating system (which may or may not even be legal due to product key/licensing issues) and there's no data at risk of being lost, I strongly recommend that you format again, and go back to XP. You have a legal license for it, and that's what the PC was designed to run. However, if you're determined to get Vista working (which will probably lock you out after 30 days unless you have a legal and valid license), use the following info to attach an Everest report to a future post:

(above instructions originally posted by MG member musksnipe... thanks muskie!)

I'm not 100% sure that Everest will work with Vista.... if it doesn't, download and run Unknown Devices. Right click on the sound driver listed and select Device Details and post what it says, or take a screen shot and attach that, or click File at the top and select save to file and attach that file....

Good luck!

 

Here is my report. It was over the allowance so I chopped it in half and saved / attached as 2 files.