Sound Problems! Need Quick Help!

[H2O Commando]

About 6 months ago my computer had to be wiped because a file corrupted my sound card. And now it is happening again and I need help! I tried system restore but it wouldn't do it. And I searched all over the net but I can't find any solutions. I deleted most of my games and ALL of my recent downloads which I know the net downloads caused it. I really don't want to have to wipe it. I would have to re-install ALL of my internet programs and I can't have my dad all mad at me again.

[Spudnut]

Give me specs on the system dell or something or custom built?

[H2O Commando]

Ok uhh I forget how to specs but I can tell you what I know. Actually all I know is it is a Dell XPS 400. If you can tell me how to do specs then I can get it.

[H2O.pry0r]

Start -> Run -> type in "dxdiag" -> OK

That will give you all the specs. This problem happened to my laptop. A guy that I know just deleted the driver, reinstalled it, and deleted my sound card from my device manager. Basically he tricked the computer in to thinking a brand new soundcard had been installed.

[Stasis]

please tell me you have tried rolling back the sound card driver
if you haven't thats the FIRST thing you try

[H2O Snake]

I would recommend just reinstalling the Dell Driver. Go to the support page on dells website. Theres a place to download drivers. Then you lookup your config by typing in the service tag on the back of your desktop. Then just put on the latest driver. It should definitely fix it unless its not just the sound driver. Also as Archshanker recommended roll back the sound card driver or just uninstall it from the device manager.

[H2O Commando]

Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP Professional (5.1 Build 2600)
System Model: Dell DXP051
BIOS:Phoenix ROM BIOSPLUS Version 1.10A00
Processor: Intel Pentium D CPU 2.80 GHZ (2 CPUs)
Memory: 510 MB RAM
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0 C

Thats all the important info. If you need anything else tell me.

[H2O Commando]

I tried re-installing the driver. But it looks like Im doomed to wiping it all again.....

[Gun Monkey]

before doing this, make sure to test a couple things. First, go to start>control panel> sound (select switch to classic view if it is not already set.

Then make sure your sound card is being recognized, and that the audio type is set to what you are using (headset, 5.1 etc). After that, open the volume control and make sure that the volume control is not set to mute or to the lowest level.

Several times my sound card has set itself to mute or to the wrong speaker settings due to a software change (some games set the windows settings to match theirs, which starts out as the default crappy)

Also, if you do need to reinstall drivers, make sure to delete the current drivers, and any files left over after doing this. A lot of drivers won't write over files that have already been written.

[H2O Commando]

Yea I tried it all Im using X-FIRE's file backup so I can re-download all my files when they get wiped...