Have lost sound on Gateway DSM 350X (WVN) C&C Laptop -- Please HELP!!

Hi folks,

I'm new to your forum but very very much hoping that you can help me with this problem as I rather desperately need sound out of this laptop. I'm running windows XP professional.

I've already checked all of the settings for sound and volume is up just fine, nothing muted, etc.

Have run thru the control panel troubleshooter for sound, with no success there either.

Have checked under device manager, and it shows that all devices are enabled and running fine -- including sound (sigh) -- with no conflicts or other obvious problems.

Not sure where I found it, but somewhere in control panels I think, found a sound and microphone check system that shows colored moving vertical bars as sound is detected by the system as supposed audio output or voice into the microphone (separate indicator for audio v. microphone) -- everything appears to be working fine there for both. Obviously its not, however, since I can't get any sound from either speakers or headset plugged into the audio output jack.

Used the gateway driver update page, and updated the sigmatel audio driver, still zip. On booting up, I do hear a brief "tick" or "chick" from the speakers, just the sound you hear when a brief electrical signal goes thru them, but that's it. Otherwise, nada, zip, zero.

I've spent hours trying to figure this out and am stumped. I'm rather stuck from spine problems in my neck and so I've been watching a lot of video on this laptop until suddenly the sound dissappeared..... so I could really use some help on this one!! I can't even figure out if this blasted thing has a soundcard or if the sound is on the motherboard.... or if either would even be "fixable" practically, if the problem is basic to the hardware somehow.

The sound dissappeared shortly after I installed the latest version of Real Player, and opened an online streaming video where there seemed to be a conflict between real player and divx for which was going to open the stream -- already tried uninstalling real player without success however, and suspect the timing was coincidental but figured I'd best mention it in case I'm off base there.

As you can imagine, this is driving me buggy!! Any help would be most appreciated!!

http://www.pcguide.com/vb/images/misc/progress.gif​

 

Have you tried to do a system restore to before you lost your sound?

 

I'm sorry I forgot to mention it, but yes, tried system restore to the day before sound dissappeared. When that didn't work, went back 2 days further with a second system restore attempt. Still no sound, so I undid that second system restore.

I also tried ccleaner's registry cleaner (which I'd been too chicken to try before I got desperate from the lost audio), but that didn't help either.

 

Are you certain about the model number?
Gateway doesn't have any information about a DSM 350X

 

Pretty certain. I used the gateway system to find the model, by entering the serial number at http://support.gateway.com/support/default.asp and it returned:

Model: Gateway DS M350X (WVN) C&C
Ship Date: 12/13/2003
Warranty Expires: EXPIRED

I'd also noticed that a lot of their pages will refer to M350's, but hadn't seen the 350X, yet that's what their system returned...

Hum.... the plaque on the bottom of the computer just says M350WVN tho, so I'm not sure why the discrepancy or if its just two differnt ways of noting the same item?

 

I've also tried running a couple of the different driver search type programs and apparently there is a newer sigmatel audio driver than the one the gateway driver update system showed me. I'd installed the one from the gateway driver update, because I've been told that its best to stay with drivers recommended by the computer manufacturer, but perhaps I ought to give the newer one direct from sigmatel a try since I'm still soundless? Although I can't help but wonder if drivers have anything to do with it since I had sound just fine with the original/old driver until it suddenly dissappeared a few days ago.

Any way to tell if the sound is actually integral to the motherboard since this is a laptop, or if I've got a soundcard? I'm assuming (maybe incorrectly?) that if its motherboard I may be out of luck, but that I might be able to replace a soundcard? Although that durned hardware check of both audio and microphone displayed as if the hardware is working properly.... I'm stumped. :-(

 

OK
researching your laptop now.
Gateway M350WVN is the designation at Gateway

 

The sound is definitely intergal to the motherboard.
I too, doubt that this is a driver problem, but trying the updated driver can't harm anything and it might help.
Drivers can be "rolled back" if there is any problem.
I would check and make sure that you audio is being played through the correct device.
Start>control panel>Sound and audio devices>audio
will tell you what device is receiving the audio signal.
Make certain it is the "Sigmatel® Soft Audio AC97"

 

Ok, thanks on motherboard, good to know.

A bit of discrepancy with the control panel --
control panel, then option I get is "sounds, speech, and audio devices"
click on that, & option closest to your suggestion is: sound and audio devices
Click on that, & "sounds and audio devices" with 5 tabs comes up.
Tabs are: volume, sounds, audio, voice, hardware

If I select audio, the sound playback default device shows just "SigmaTel Audio"
the recording device shows the same. That's the only option too, e.g., nothing else
available in the dropdown menu where the Sigmatel audio is shown.

I DON'T see: Sigmatel® Soft Audio AC97"

could this be the problem, and if so, how do I fix so its specific for the Sigmatel® Soft Audio AC97?

 

The difference that you see in the control panel is different from mine because I'm using what is called the "classic view".
Regardless of that, the path you took brought you to the same place.
SigmaTel Audio and Sigmatel® Soft Audio AC97 are the same thing. Sorry for the confusion.
All this tells us is that Windows is sending the audio to the correct device.
I fear that I'm running out of ideas.
The specs for your laptop tell me that there is no output jack for external speakers, so we can't try hooking up speakers.
I'm going to sleep on this and get back to you tomorrow.
Hopefully someone else here will take notice of this thread and have aome other ideas to try.

 

Ok, thanks so much. I was hoping that perhaps the slight difference might be significant & fix it, but so it goes. Sigh. Computers can be horribly frustrating -- especially when it seems that the very thing that takes one hours and hours to figure out is something that a computer OUGHT to be awfully easily able to diagnose itself and tell one exactly what's going on. Durned blasted things!

 

I just had another thought.
In your "Sound and Audio Properties">Audio
Right under where it says SigmaTel Audio is a button labelled "Volume" when you click it you should see a series of controls for your sound types.
http://joelkilgore.com/image1.jpg
Make sure that these are not muted.

 

Yes, have checked those too, all are at max volume or at least up near the top and none are muted.