laptop problems

hey everyone... i have a NEC versa 4050C laptop

it has a 90mHz pentium... 40mb of ram, and windows 95... its really annyoing me that i cant get the sound working... it has a ess audiodrive 688 and ive tried almost everything to get it working.. windows says that there is a problem with the device, so i unistall it, reboot, and windows recognizes it again?!? ive tried a whole bunch of driver versions???? and when i plugged my headphones into the headphones jack, all i get is a high pitched noise.. and it doesnt go up or down as i change the volume control right beside the plug... someone please help, as i really need to get this sound working please help!!! if theres anything else you need to noe please ask!?! i cant tell the sound is getting power because my headphones detect that theyre being plugged in (you know what i mean when you plug speakers in they go pop??) please please help!!!!!!!

cheers

 

I found this somewhere and it fixed my problem.

Can't give credit for the author.


found this instructions when looking for an answer to this exact same problem, I followed the directions and wala! I now can see my sound card inthe greyed out areas again! Try it out fellas! Carl's solution worked like a charm for me, once I actually read it carefully enough to understand what was going on. It's truly a stroke of genius, and I strongly suggest you try his process before you go reinstalling your entire operating system. To recap in detail (for Windows XP; YMMV): 1. From Device Manager (be sure to select View/Show hidden devices), find the 'ISAPNP Read Data Port' device from the System Devices list. (Of note: once I successfully repaired this problem, this device no longer appears.) 2. Right click the ISAPNP device, and select "Update Driver" 3. Select "Install from a list or specific location" 4. Select "Don't search. I will choose the driver to install." 5. The step I left out on prior trials: UNSELECT "Show Compatible Hardware" 6. Be sure that "(Standard System Devices)" is selected under Manufacturer. 7. Under Model, scroll down until you see "Plug and Play Software Device Enumerator". Select this item, and select "Next>". 8. You will receive some frightening error message that you should probably disregard. 9. Complete the installation of the driver. You will see your device list magically change before your eyes. The other PNP devices will mysteriously become enabled and active. If not, restart. Thank you for posting this solution; it has saved endless hours of reinstallation, and perhaps a marriage as well.

Here's another that may help:

Just stumbled across this thread and remembered losing nights of sleep over this (not to mention missing uni for about a week). Being a novice I'll try and explain everything as simply as I can (because I am majoring in economics not computing and also because I have a learning disability called "...and where the hells that!" : symptoms of "no audio device": - greyed out volume controls - missing "volume control" on task bar remedy: reinstall sound drivers (I suspect that a virus is going around messing with the registry not to mention our heads) How to 101 (windows xp) 1) start -> control panel -> system 2) system -> Hardware -> "Device Manager" 3) Device Manager -> Sound, Video and Game Controllers. Expand (i.e. click on plus sign) Hear comes the tricky surgery. From the list of codecs and devices look for your audio controller e.g. my computer's audio control device was an "Intel(r)82801CA/CAM AC'97 Audio Control". 4) Double click on it to bring up properties. Ignore all the "this device is working properly" like you would an ex girlfriend. than move to Driver (top panel). 5) Driver Panel -> Uninstall (Advanced) 6) go back to to start ->control panel -> "add hardware" 7) the automatic search should detect and reinstall the "audio controller driver". 8) Now play that Elvis song, shake your hips in an anti-clockwise manner and book a vacation to come visit me in Fiji (wire transfers and marriage proposals accepted) Legal Disclaimer: in the event that the above wrecks havoc on your computer please direct all death threats and anthrax laced letters to the following address. Bill Gates, Microsoft, USA.

 

it didnt work ... can anyone else think of somin?
btw thnx for the suggestion!