No Audio device... I don't know what that means. HELP!!!

Hi,

I really know very little about computers at all so please talk slow...

I have quite an old laptop. Acer travelmate 2200.. Its recently lost sound and i don't know why. It tells me that there are no audio devices and a friend suggested that it has no soundcard (Whatever that is). If it had sound before then it must be fixable can anyone help me???
I'm desperate to get it back and its really getting on my nerves.

Cheers. x

 

Ok, sorry... completely new to this site .. or anything remotely technical for that matter..
Just found a post on here with links to try to solve my own problem and i went to a link to download everest.. (Or something).. anyway, I appear to have downloaded something called 'uniblue' which is telling me that it has detected hundreds of problems...
Uhhh.. So what do i do now.. I really have no idea at all.
It seems i am only likely to make my problem worse if left to my own devices so i would be very gratefull if someone could help me. Just tell me what you need to know!

Thanks again. xx

 

Hi Miss Poppins and welcome to MGs!! That program you downloaded said that if found 100s of problems and, let me guess, it'll fix those problems when you pay a certain amount of money for the program, right? Don't fall for that!! Now, I'm not familiar with 'Uniblue' but any program saying that you have 100s of problems and then says it'll fix them for a price is, to me, a scam. There are a TON of programs here at MGs that are 'freeware' and will do the same thing 'Uniblue' says it will do for nothing. The best part is that ANYTHING you d\l from MGs IS safe and tested before they put it up for download. Here, try this program and see what kind of results you get http://www.majorgeeks.com/Advanced_WindowsCare_v2_Personal_d4991.html

Since you said you aren't too familiar with computers, I hope you at least have a firewall and a good AV program installed. Again, if not, there are plenty here for free and do a great job. Let us know how it goes with AWC, okay?

 

It looks like Stubby answered your second problem. I concur that most programs that ask you to purchase thier product before they will remove something is bogus. Most legit paid programs will remove problems, even if you do not have a current subscription. The subscription is only for updates.

After typing that last paragraph I googled "Everest" and found this:
http://majorgeeks.com/download4181.html
and when googling "Uniblue" i got this:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download6055.html
so they are both legit. Uniblue is sharware, so they would want you to pay before they do anything. I would look for a free alternative.

Now for your sound problem. You probably do have an integrated sound device on your motherboard. You would have to have a computer from the stone ages not to. The more likely explanation is that your sound drivers (the software windows uses to "talk" to your sound device) are malfunctioning. To find out:
1) right click on "my computer"
2) click properties
3) [Windows XP only] click on the third tab that I think is called hardware :confused
4) click on "device manager"
When device manager comes up, you are looking for any devices that have a yellow ? or !. They should be instantly visible if there are any. Post back whether you found any.

 

Hi Stubby.
Thank you so much for trying to help me.
Firstly, I tried to click on that link for AWC and cant seem to get to a page where i can download anything, just a write up about it... ?? (Sorry to be a pain but i might need further instruction. )
And secondly I have a firewall and Asuming that 'AV' is anti virus, I use AVG.

I really couldn't be less technically minded unless i was a 100yr old woman who lived on a farm in North Wales and had never encountered electricity!!

 

Hiya senlis.

I used to have sound on here. I watched films on here but didn't use it for months, when i switched it back on and tried to play music there was no sound.. not even sound when it loads up!
Anyway, Thanks for your help. I did what you said and have found that 'Other devices' has a question mark and when i expand that, 'Multi media audio controller' has a yellow ? AND an !.
A bit further down, 'Communications port (COM1)' has an !

Cheers x

 

As to your first reply email: When you click on the link, you should see the info and description for the program. You should also see a section called "Downloads" in the middle with about 5 different places you can download them from.

Second reply email: Your device manager said exactly what I expected, the software necessary for Windows to interface with your sound device is malfunctioning. I know it was working before, but now it is not. It is kinda like saying "I used to have this really cool vase until my 5 year old dropped it and it broke". And yes, I just compared XP to a five year old.
you need to go to your computer's manufacturer's website and download your sound drivers and your chipset drivers (that should fix the COM1 port problem). If you installed a serial port card into your computer, install those drivers instead of the chipset drivers. It's difficult for me to say more because I am not too familiar with your setup. If you need more help, give me your computers make and model #.

 

Okay Miss Poppins, let's get you going here!! When you go to that link, you'll see a heading 'downloads' with about 4 Major Geeks download sites. Just click on any of them and your download should start. If, for some reason it doesn't, click on the 'author' heading, which is IObit and click on that. That will take you directly to the authors site and you can download it from there. However, there is one thing I do need to say, Miss Poppins there's NO need to appologize for being 'technically disadvantaged!!' When I first came here in 2004, I WAS that 100 yr. old person that you described in your reply, and that's no joke either:-D You've got to start somewhere and, luckily, you came here. They have taught me so much here that now I can build my own machine and if I ever got stuck, well the people here got me 'unstuck!!'

Now, to the sound problem, Senlis had the right idea about going into the device manager and from what you posted back, it's apparent that you somehow lost the drivers for your sound card. No biggie!! Do you have the CD that should have come with your machine that has all the drivers, etc on it? If not, I'll try and find them for ya! Also, you're running Win XP, right? Another option would be to go back to a configuration BEFORE you lost your sound and restore it. I'm running Win2000Pro, so I don't have that option and am unsure how to do it. Not much help, huh? Be right back!! http://support.acer-euro.com/drivers/notebook/tm_2200.html I decided to find them anyway just in case you don't have the CD. The 2nd item on that list are your sound drivers. Try downloading them and installing them. If you have any problems, just com'on back......we're open 24\7

 

Ok.. Well i THINK that i have sucessfully installed 'everest' (I have no idea waht it does though??) but when i try to download the sound thing from the Acer link that you gave me, I get a winzip message that tells me "Your evaluation period has expired" I then have the choice of 3 buttons...
"Use evaluation version" "Buy now" or "Enter registration code". What is that?

As for the 'System restore' Someone already tried to do that for me but it doesn't work. It fails to restore.. and no, I don't have the CD.

I'll keep trying to download it whilst i wait to hear back...

Cheers x

 

When that winzip message comes up, click on use evaluation version. That way you can keep using it for free.

 

If what Senlis suggested, for some reason, doesn't work, here is a link to a free zip utility. http://www.majorgeeks.com/7-Zip_d4603.html At least with 7-Zip, you won't get any nag screens asking you for registration or payment. That, hopefully, will make it easier for you. Let us know how you fair, okay?

 

I tried to click "use evaluation" and nothing happened, the box just dissapeared. So i downloaded 7-zip and tried again, that has now downloaded a file called "audio[1]". when i open it, i have just one file on the page called "Audio" and down the left hand side it says.
"Extract file"
"Other places"
"Details"

Have i downloaded it? If so, what do i do with it now?

:-o

 

you want to extract it.

 

Ahhh i see... Anywhere specific i should put it or will anywhere do?

uh-oh!!! It says that there are no files to extract... I must have dine somethign wrong.

 

Okay Miss Poppins, it looks like you got a bad download, so let's do this. These are updated drivers for your sound card, which is a Realtek AC97 so download these from MGs http://www.majorgeeks.com/Realtek_AC97_Drivers_d4400.html The version you downloaded was 3.60, this is the newer version 4.06. This new file is an exe. file and should install itself so you won't need 7-Zip, but I'd keep it, because you never know when something you download is zipped. Let us know how you make it with these new drivers, okay?

 

Oh my god!!! You guys are the BEST!! I have sound.

I went back anch checked the device manager and my 'communications port' still has an !.
So i read back and noticed that senlis said something about downloading 'chipset drivers'.. Can you help with that too or have you guys had enough of me??
What is the com1 anyway and what will that be affecting?

 

WHAT??? It actually works??:-D Seriously, I'm just glad we could help And, NO, Miss Poppins we are not at all tired of you!! Let's face it, ALL of us has been where you are at one time or another and the only way you're going to learn is to ask. Okay, enough of the lecture for now!!

As for your com port, I have to admit that I am not too familiar with them simply because I've never had a problem with them, not even when I was using Win98. Here is a list of the drivers I could find for your machine http://support.acer-euro.com/drivers/notebook/tm_2200.html Now which one is the chipset driver, I have no idea. Maybe Senlis could help you there. However, it sure wouldn't hurt to update the chipset drivers. The problem is, we don't know what chipset you have. Do you have the manual for your machine? I downloaded the online version of your manual, but it has no listing for your chipset. All I learned from that is you have either an Intel P-III, or an Intel Celeron CPU! Hopefully, if you have the paper version, it may list it in there. Let us know and then maybe we'll be able to find you some updated drivers, if there are any!!

 

I looked at the driver list suplied by Stubby and did not find anything that would get you your COM1 port driver back. Just for clarification, the COM1 is your serial port. It should be automatically installed with Windows, and may be part of the motherboard's chipset package, but I do not see it. Try Windows updates and see if you can get it there. Be sure to look at the "Hardware" section when you go there.