Sound Card Replacement?

Hi, I need to know which sound card I need for an integrated Dell optiplex 790 model # 59x66v1 and how to replace it, Thanks

 

You need to be more specific. That system already has integrated 2-channel (stereo) sound. Does that not work? What are you trying to do?

Unfortunately, even with you including the model number, I cannot tell exactly which version of the 790 you have, but it appears even the mini version has at least 1 PCIe slot that will support a card. Simply installing it "should" allow the OS to use the card instead of the integrated, once the system boots after you install it and its drivers.

 

Digerati, quote >>>
Unfortunately, even with you including the model number, I cannot tell exactly which version of the 790 you have, but it appears even the mini version has at least 1 PCIe slot that will support a card. Simply installing it "should" allow the OS to use the card instead of the integrated, once the system boots after you install it and its drivers!<<<


Yes, I believe it does have one PCIe slot, do you know the exact card Number to buy, and yes we will be using it instead of the integrated one? Thanks

 

There are hundreds of cards. Much just depends on how much you want to spend and what you want to do. But do note if you have a slim case, you may need a "low profile" card, or a card that comes with a low profile bracket you can swap in, like this card. You also need to make sure your current OS is supported.

 

Thanks This is for a friend of mine, I believe it is considered a slim case and we want anything cheap that will put sound back on his system. using windows 10. This is a refurbished pc and the sound was working good until the last windows updates, I went back in and restored and updated all the drivers and it states the device is working properly but when putting the mouse on the sound icon it states "NO AUDIO DEVICE INSTALLED".

 

It is unlikely the hardware "broke" after an update. This most likely is a driver issue.

Did the HW have specific drivers for that OS?

Generally, after driver updates, I recommend performing a “cold” reboot. By “cold”, I mean shut down the computer and flip the master power switch on the back of the power supply (if your supply has one) to off (or “O”) or unplug the power supply from the wall for about 15 seconds. Then turn the master power switch to on (or “|”) or reconnect power and boot up and see what happens. By totally removing power, you remove the +5Vsb standby voltage all ATX Form Factor power supplies are required to supply whenever the power supply is plugged into the wall and (if applicable) the master power switch is set to on. This standby voltage is distributed throughout several points on the motherboard, including RAM for faster boots and the USB ports too. This also keeps alive several features, including “wake on keyboard” and “wake on mouse”, and the network interface for “Wake on LAN” commands. A cold reboot ensures any device settings that may be held by the standby voltage are released, then reset when power is restored.

 

Digerati, I will try as you mentioned, I am going to pick up the pc from my friends house next week to work on it at my home, in lives in another state, but all the correct updated drivers are on his pc. as I think I mentioned, in Device manager it states the device is working properly but No Audio Device Installed is stated on the Sound Icon on Taskbar. I believe the physical sound card is broken, I could be wrong but another sound card sound card will prove or disprove it?
I will try what you mentioned the first thing when I get the pc and let you know. Thanks

 

Why? Do note that integrated sound is not a "card" but an IC or chip surface mounted (soldered) on the motherboard. There is no reason a software update would break a physical piece of hardware.

So it really does point to drivers - either corrupt or incompatible.

And since that computer is getting pretty old, compatibility could be the issue. There is no incentive for hardware makers to keep developing drivers for old hardware. That is just throwing money down a pit.

A new sound device will not prove anything. And it may not work. If me, rather than installing a card internally, I would go for a USB sound card and cross my fingers.

 

Thanks will get back to you on this, will be picking up his dell by this weekend coming up and will be in touch while I am working on it at my home!!!

 

ok, I am now home with my friends pc, I went and made sure all the driver updates were installed, it still states "no audio output device installed" it must be the sound card itself, I know it is integrated but was told I could still add a Sound card, I don't know what card is compatible, if I take the case off what do I look for? Thanks

 

I downloaded a pdf and these are the expansion slots


If it is a Desktop( DT) or Minitower (MT) you have slots.
Size height, width,depth in inches of DT 14.17 x 4.02 x 16.14 and of MT 14.17 x 6.89 x 16.42

Here is info on the size, wattage and color of expansion slots.


You can grab the pdf from here

Code:

https://i.dell.com/sites/csdocuments/Shared-Content_data-Sheets_Documents/en/us/optiplex-790-tech-guide.pdf

 

While waiting for a reply here I went into the bios diagnostic and it passed all test and it had a separate test for Audio while the test was running I was suppose to hear 8 sounds, i ran the test 7 times and each time i heard the test sounds., can a mother board integrated sound be heard but not the speakers when plugged in? I tried a couple of speakers and non of them worked, i did not even see the speaker installation window come up by the sound icon. So what is that telling me? can the mother board sound play but not the speaker sound? Thanks

 

Plodr: Here hopefully is a picture of where the sound is plugged in and inside the pc where they are connected, also there is a one black slot and one blue slot, dont know if they are for sound or memory but they are empty here are the pictures the first is the two holes for plug in on front of pc and the second picture shows two grey wires that are connected to a flat plug that slide into the slot in back of small silver square box that has the two holes for the plugs, any thoughts please let me know and Thanks>>>
https://apis.mail.yahoo.com/ws/v3/mailboxes/@.id==VjN-g8fZFGVrBfQC_4EUCDTInj18Qu2YGazWdEbhP9IYtp33AQJ5wJhBkrYPKPbuJE5sUWhjIv2uHVC2R0Wv8Q9VgQ/messages/@.id==ACd335Zcyjm8YYgbaAeJsBynK1U/content/parts/@.id==2/thumbnail?appid=YMailNorrin&downloadWhenThumbnailFails=true&pid=2

https://apis.mail.yahoo.com/ws/v3/mailboxes/@.id==VjN-g8fZFGVrBfQC_4EUCDTInj18Qu2YGazWdEbhP9IYtp33AQJ5wJhBkrYPKPbuJE5sUWhjIv2uHVC2R0Wv8Q9VgQ/messages/@.id==AP4xteZxvMzGYYgcIg0H8AuTsnM/content/parts/@.id==2/thumbnail?appid=YMailNorrin&downloadWhenThumbnailFails=true&pid=2

 

Why do my pictures I sent have x's through them?

 

Did you upload the pics from your PC?
Also, in what format are they?

 

Eldon, What I did was took a picture with my android but after I put them on my pc(pictures) they came up as>>>>
Sound Plugs.jfif. <<<< I don't recognize the extension, and I think that may be causing the problem, How to change them to an acceptable extension for MajorGeek? Thanks

 

You'll have to convert the pics to JPEG or PNG.

https://www.zamzar.com/

 

Thanks Eldon here they are any questions let me know?

 

AS MENTIONED>>>

Here hopefully is a picture of where the sound is plugged in and inside the pc where they are connected, also there is a one black slot and one blue slot, dont know if they are for sound or memory but they are empty here are the pictures the first is the two holes for plug in on front of pc and the second picture shows two grey wires that are connected to a flat plug that slide into the slot in back of small silver square box that has the two holes for the plugs, any thoughts please let me know and Thanks

 

Digerati, quote>> but it appears even the mini version has at least 1 PCIe slot that will support a card. Simply installing it "should" allow the OS to use the card instead of the integrated, once the system boots after you install it and its drivers.

I need to know how to install it? Thanks

 

A sound card fits in a slot, much like RAM. You put it in the correct slot then do something like "check for new hardware" and point it to the driver you downloaded.

 

plodr: Thanks, I know what you mean, disconnect the integrated sound card etc first. let me ask you this, do you know if this cheaper sound card is good enough, we dont car about great sound, just sound>>>

https://www.amazon.com/Creative-Bla...h+600+ohm+Headphone+Amp&qid=1636479877&sr=8-4

 

You don't have to disconnect the onboard audio.

 

Quote>>You don't have to disconnect the onboard audio

Oh, I thought since the sound is integrated to the mother board you had to, to use a separated sound card, Thanks
btw, do you know if this cheaper sound card will work ok>>

https://www.amazon.com/Creative-Bla...h+600+ohm+Headphone+Amp&qid=1636479877&sr=8-4

 

You can't "disconnect" the sound chip. It is soldered to the motherboard.
You can disable it but since it doesn't seem to work, that might not be something you worry about.

I'm not a hardware person. I see it is half height so that would work. I was trying to see if it has Windows 7 drivers but couldn't find that information.

I found the manual.

Code:

https://images.carid.com/creative/items/pdf/sb1570-users-guide.pdf

I suggest you download it and put it on the computer where the card will be installed. Your friend can then print out any pages he wants to see.
From the manual:
Ensure that your audio card is installed before proceeding.
It mentions Windows 7 and says to put the CD into the computer to load the drivers.
Then after the drivers are installed restart the computer.

I'd ask about drivers because I doubt it will come with a CD.

 

Ok, Guys, Thanks, the sound card wont be delivered until near Thanksgiving (thursday). will get back to all of you then.

 

Ok Guys I am back and I put the new sound card in and ran the driver download from the Sound card website for windows 10 and I am getting this screen>>>

"SETUP IS UNABLE TO DETECT A SUPPORTED PRODUCT ON YOUR SYSTEM"

This is a refurbished dell pc and it originally was windows7 on it updated to xp then now windows 10.

do I need to uninstall all the old drivers and try the download again or do i need to do a windows 7 sound driver download? Thanks

 

Uh,Oh, I went into the bios and disabled the Audio to see if that was interfering with anything, but it was not so I went back into the bios and the "Audio" tab is no longer there so I cannot enable it again, how can I get the Audio Enable again in the Bios? Thanks

 

Reset the BIOS to Defaults.

 

There is a list on the left side,(see photo) do I highlight one of them first? Thanks

 

ok I was able to restore the Audio tab, now my problem is I got a new sound card and it installed ok and all the drivers were updated and the sound card is listed in my Device manager but the Sound card does not work. Although it is listed in DM when I bring up the Sound from the taskbar icon is states No audio device installed, how can that be if its in the device manager list Now? Any idea's, Thanks

 

go back to bios enable sound
allow the system to reboot and allow window to choose the sound source
if all starts up ok then no faults are found
then its a sound driver issue
troubleshoot sound driver problems

 

Ok I enabled sound again but still no sound, it says the sound card is installed but i cannot change it to Default

 

That says it all.
The card could be bad; it is recertified. The slot could be bad or the driver is wrong. (The Optiplex came out in 2011 so hardware might go bad.)

 

Is there a video that you know of that shows how to take out and replace a integrated sound card on the Dell 790?
I tried alot of fix's with updates etc and i am thinking it may be related to a bad (hardware) integrated sound card.
now i went into bios diagnostic and tested the audio and i could hear the 8 beeps that it produced, so now i don't know what the problem is? Can you hear sound from there if the built in sound card is bad???d Thanks

 

Integrated means it is soldered in. It is a chip not a card and no you can't "take it out".
A failing sound card doesn't cause an installed sound card in a slot to not work.

The beep codes on Dells only go up to 7.
https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/en-us/000124349/understanding-beep-codes-on-a-dell-desktop-pc