No system sounds

I got hold of a used Dell Inspiron. It didn't have a hard drive so I put one in and I went through the process of installing xp with my disks. Everything went fine. However, there are no system sounds and it won't play music. It says:
"Windows Media Player cannot play the file because there is a problem with your sound device. There may not be a sound device installed on your computer, it may be in use by another program, or it may not be functioning properly."
Do you think it may be a problem with the motherboard? Is there anything I can do? I need help asap because I've asked them to hold my check until Saturday lunch time. Everything else is working perfectly. I need the sounds. The laptop is in beautiful condition though it is a 2005 model. it's obviously been looked after. I hope it isn't a motherboard problem as that means it's kaput. Please help me.

 

First, check "Device Manager" in Vista by clicking the Start button , clicking Control Panel, clicking System and Maintenance, and then clicking Device Manager.* If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

For XP. richt click "My Computer", go to "Properties" then "Hardware", then "Device Manager."

Now, check in the list that appears for a catagory named "Sound, Video and Game controllers" Expand the list. Do you see any question or exclamation marks? This indicates there is a problem with that device. Right click the device, and go to "Properties" on the list that appears. What does it say in the dialogue box? It's probably going to say something about the driver being outdated or not installed, which is an easy thing to fix.

Go to the dell website and find the page for your model laptop, and download the audio drivers listed there to your desktop (or somewhere you will find them again. Last time I re-loaded windows on a lappy I had to manually install the audio drivers. It is not a diffucult process. Below are a few Microsoft help files on downloadng and installing driver files.

For Vista:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/...river-for-hardware-that-isnt-working-properly

For XP: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/283658

If that fails to work let us know, and we can try something else.

 

It's possible the onboard audio isn't working, if so you can add a sound card... but steer away from Soundblaster, as their drivers are problematic most of the time.

 

I went to the device manager and it has yellow ? on a few things like video controllers etc too. I am trying to get it to go online so I can download the drivers from the support site. I suspect it is correct that the drivers didn't install properly. I ave 4 hours before my check is put in the till. Arghhhhh.... I'm having a problem getting it to go online. I thought it had a built-in wireless but I could be wrong. It's an Inspiron 6000. Does it have wireless. Anyway I inserted a a usb wireless device. It says I'm online, the signal is good but it keeps going on and off again. The whole thing hinges on me being able to get online. I can with my mac, but that's no good for drivers ... or is it. Can I download the drivers as files onto a flash drive and then insert it in the Dell for it to upload... I doubt it.

 

Yes you can download the files from another computer and use them to install on the one needing them. That may need to happen for the internet to work properly on the machine.

 

Oh you guys are amazing! Update ...
I reinstalled xp from my disks (sp3) no sounds
I upgraded it to vista, which I hated doing because it is excruciatingly sloooow ... no sounds. Time running out .... Went to windows site ... couldn't do anything there.
Up pops a solution window with a link to the dell site for the driver. Downloaded it with some reservations because I thought it was a motherboard problem. Maybe that's the reason the owner got rid of it. It's a thrift store buy. Anyway after uploading I restarted ... waiting heart in mouth .... no sound yet .... THEN THE SWEETEST SOUND CAME OUT the startup sound of Vista. Now I have a fully working dell laptop for $75 bucks to replace my Dell Latitude 8 years old and it's big and swish. Yippeeee
One question ... Can I go back to installing xp ... or should I wait til I can afford 7?

 

What was the original OS on the laptop? XP or Vista? I would stick with the original OS as it's most supported with drivers, you can see if it's compatible with Windows 7 by downloading and running this.

You may also want to check the driver site to ensure there's drivers for Windows 7, if you want to upgrade.

 

David, I think the laptop is younger than 8, I believe she meant she was replacing an 8 year old laptop with this one.

 

Yeah that's right. The old Dell Latitude is 8 years old, and this new one is 5 years old... Lots more scope with this one. The original OS with the Latitude was 98 believe it or not. I went to xp and it's worked fine... always been a good one, but then Latitudes were meant to last. The inspiron was originally an xp home edition, which I have disks for but upgraded to vista, but I'd like to downgrade again. Fortunately I have not registered my vista yet so I an still change it about until I'm sure it's ok. Don't like vista though... the inspiron has only 512meg ram but expandable to 2 gig... so that'll be my next purchase, plus a bigger hard drive... and even with that it'll still be a cheap laptop. I'm over the moon. My money goes to animals in distress so I'm doubly pleased.

So can I go back to xp on the inspiron do you think or should I just leave well alone and may (if I can) upgrade to 7?

 

Only issue I see is if you want to go back to XP from Vista, it's not as easy as it was going from XP to Vista, there are tutorials online for removing Vista and installing XP though.

Definitely the RAM would be the first thing to upgrade, and go with the max (2GB), as even XP will utilize all of that RAM. I'm surprised Vista runs on 512MB, it's pretty RAM hungry usually.