Solved: Major problems with Sigmatel audio card

yes that is correct. I saved the driver install package onto mydesktop THEN installed it (still nothing)
and yes its set to warn and system default

under device manager there is a tab titled other devices. there are for of them and they all have a yellow exclmation point (!)
they are listed in this order
-Base System Device
-Ethernet Controller
-Modem Device on High Definition Audio Bus
-SM Bus Controller

Everytime I reboot my comp i get a device intaller pop-up (four of them to be exact)
Might anyof this have naything to do with my problems?

glad i caught you. Was just gonna do a short post and logoff...(and nice investigative work )

1. Those yellow icons you see indicate devices which have problems. So device like the Hi Def Bus you mention isn't the CAUSE of the problem but rather just another indicator that Windows is trying to tell you this device HAS a problem

2. Some other devices seem to have their own problems (e.g Ethernet controller) for now, don't think related but will look at it too

3. What i did find from an initial look what you supplied me (thank you. it was all helpful):
-a. The dell install software relies on a tool call the InstallShield (which you should see starting on your desktop after you first start the dell software
b. At least from initial look, it appears
==> InstallShield simply invokes standard Microsoft stuff to install Hi Def Audio Bus controller stuff (which makes sense as it all relies on all the MS defaults for it)
==> InstallShield then calls the custom Sigmatel stuff to install the specific sound card driver

But you're having problems at just getting the Hi Def Bus stuff installed (InstallShield likely never even tries the sound card specific install as the way HD Audio is designed i don't think it's 't even possible to install sound card until after the Hi Def Audio Bus is first working)

So your problem may be for instance with the InstallShield tool itself and/or something keeping it from running as it should. Can discuss better tomorrow along with a couple of pics i'll post and can quickly go thru what you're seeing vs. should see when it runs

ok thanks so much for all the help so far
also on another note was it just me or was the site down for awhile earyler?

No, just you
Although there has been some slowness of late

oh ok just checking

Hey..

We’ll limit amount of time looking at InstallShield and its install process as

• XP SP3 , as I understand it, already includes all the default stuff from MS for handling/installing the first driver: the Hi Def Audio Bus
• BUT nothin is 100% certain when it comes to these $%@#!! computers. And even if the default MS stuff is there, SP3 may or may not have the same InstallShield problem I’m guess there is now

So my thinking / current plan is:

• Spend some time walking through what InstallShield is doing now vs. what it should be doing. That info might be enough for me to recognize the underlying cause
• If nothing uncovered from above, I’ll have you manually run the MS updates for Hi Def Audio Bus (as they don’t seem to get run by dell install). Might also reveal something if they can’t get run manually now either.
• If still no progress, you should update to XP Home SP3 (or is there any particular reason you don’t want SP3 upgrade? Just so I get a “heads-up” if there’s something in SP3 you were wanting to avoid)

So what I would assume you should be doing/seeing after download/start from disk (and see attached pic. Has some numbered pics for reference)

• You downloaded and saved Dell driver package file to disk. (just fyi... For installs, always best to save to disk and install the copy on the hard drive)
• You see message as Dell unpacks files in the package (they’re compressed to save space). Dell unpacks the files (saving unpacked version in C:\DELL\drivers\R171789) When its done it has you click an OK button
• Dell then starts the InstallShield. (pic #1) Install Shield creates C:\Program Files\SigmaTel\SigmaTel AC97 Audio Drivers, copies the dell files from R171789 and begins running from that new directory. So that’s where we look for any “artefacts” should it ever create additional files (like if we're lucky a Setup.log file)
• You finally get an InstallShield Wizard displayed (pic #2)
• I click Next to continue (and see pic #3). Now for my case i soon get an error message (pic #4) cause my hardware isn’t a match for the install . (If I invested time I could “fake” what InstallShield sees to get by this but not worth effort at this point)
• Now to find out more as what you see happening from there:. If you could briefly indicate the general order of prompts and / or error messages or anything else you think might be useful. And indicate what it does or say at the very end when all that's left is asking you to click Finish button on the Wizard

As you recall all this, don't worry about getting message text exactly right, etc. vs. is more important to indicate its general sequence as it progresses and types of messages it gives along the way.

Install the audio drivers in safe mode F8 on Dell Logo screen.

Hey TridentCrash, you're getting pretty good at this.
1. Your post (part of which shown above) was a good time to use (and in fact did use) the Quote button
2. And as to the data you reported above as a result of your own investigation: Makes me think we should also try reinstalling the chipset drivers for your motherboard!!

But i still want briefly review what it is you see InstallShield doing cuz either:
- It's just not running and/or displaying error and status messages as i;d expect it to
- And/or if, by chance, you missed something significant to look-out for when it runs, is good to know for our debugging now. And for you to be aware of to help your own debugging efforts in the future.

umm... no i really dont have anything to go on to base my ideas about SP3. I have not head anything good or bad about it so i really do not kno what to think about it.
I am currently at school right now so when i get home i will check to see what exactly the installer is doing but off the top of my head it unzips the files then starts installer shield. then tells me to click next so i do. then i get about 2 bars then a small bar pop-up comes up over the installer. says \\\"please wait while install shield installs...\\\"
or something to that extent. then it just goes away after about 3-5 min. but i dont get any error messgaes it just says the install process has been completed.
now if i am thinking correctly it should tell me to reboot right? cause it does not say that only something on the guides of \\\"Your install is completed\\\"

will repost around 3pm EST when i get home and have time to run through the process

yea i went though the intall when i got home and what i decribed in my previous message is exactly what is happning

Now that's pretty disturbing to know! seeing as how the installation was a miserable failure! But not going to spend time on it other then note (for anyone reading) that the Dell install package you ran was built with InstallShield version 10.1 (which as an older version. Don't know if that's still typical for "quiet" installs or a bug fixed in later versions. Quiet installs are install packages designd to run without requiring any user input other then Next and Finish type clicks) BUT that install you did was a little too quiet! :haha:

Which makes me wonder.. How do you normally get / apply your Windows updates? Do you have it set to automatic or do you run it manually?

Go to Microsoft Update, click Custom. Only apply the high priority updates AND make sure that XP SP3 is not included among them (if it is you can uncheck it so as to not install it yet).

Yea i do that once a week and there seems to be nothing new at this point in time.

OK. What's next is to try a manual install of the XP MS Hi Def Audio driver in your XP SP2 system (instead of using the dumb dell installer to do the first driver which is MS anyway) then we'll retry the installer for the sound card

But first i'd like to be prepared with a couple things we might need later (it can be a pain to fix Windows stuff, huh? )

Let;s get a snapshot in time of your current system setup and MS updates for reference
==> Download/install Belarc Advisor
==> Run it to create a report displayed in your browser.
==> If in browser, you click File->Print can you select a printer that's really a driver allowing you to save the browser display to a nicely formatted disk file you can later re-display??? If yes, please verify you can save it and re-display it.
==> If you need printer driver to allow this, try this freeware i found. install PDF Createor. . Then you should be able to see it as printer you can select and it will to file in .pdf format. And prove you can redisplay after saving

Understanding the Device Manager icons

These indicate a problem with the device
==> Black exclamation point (!) on yellow is a device error. These can occur even if the device appears to working (there’s still something wrong with it). Some help in troubleshooting XP error codes here http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310123
==> Yellow question mark. Windows can’t find the device driver. This icon often appears under Other Devices but look through all of Device Manager as can appear elsewhere (in particular, under USB)

These may or may not indicate a problem with the device
==> Red "X". Device is disabled. (fyi.. Disabled devices still use resources)
==> Blue "i" on white.[/i] Resource usage for the device has been manually configured. (Windows isn’t controlling it for this device) Note: Forcing resource usage for any one device may affect other devices

Compare problem devices you find in Device Manager vs. summarized by msinfo32

msinfo32 should easily summarize Device Manager device problems for you. Just want to double check they’re currently matching like they're supposed to as will be easier for you to tell me details about problem devices by simply using msinfo32 and copy/pasting
==> Start->Run, enter: msinfo32
==> Expand Components (click + sign next to it)
==> Click Problem Devices. Anything appear? Do things match. When needed, you can just copy/paste from here to let me know what's showing up along with the detail msinfo32 provides

Now if you could go through dev mgr to see problem and devices. Does that match the list given by msinfo32. (want to do a spot check as we;ll rely on that)

In a previous post i mentioned that there was 4 "problem devices" in my device manager but now there are 5
-Audio Device on High Def Audio Bus
-Base System Device
-Ethernet Controller
-Modem Device on High Def Audio Bus
-SM Bus Controller

in msinfo32 under Problem devices there are 5 problems. one of which is my printer because i have JUST installed it and have not rebooted yet.
-Base System Device
-Ethernet Controller
-My printer (Just need a reboot)
-Microsoft Kernel System Audio Device
-SM Bus Controller

And also i can not get it to save a "useable" copy of the report from Balarc?

Well, please click on the info displayed in msinfo32 about the devices. Then simply copy/paste the info it displays. All that extra info (above and beyoned the device name is what i want to see. And is why will be easier for you to simply use/copy/paste all that by running msinfo32 when needed )

Did you try installing the PDF create tool? as it should have added a printer type you can select among your list of printers to print the file in PDF format (i assume you already have Adobe Reader installed to read them back? if not search Adobe Reader to find and download it)

I went ahead and wrote further instructions so whenever you have the chance you’ll have the next few steps

Let’s see.. in the last episode of our continuing saga….You were trying to save a copy of Belarc Advisor report as you couldn’t print to a file
1. Apologies. I don’t know what I was thinking (was a long day!) when I decided you had to Save the report as .pdf (which meant extra steps). All you need to do save the Belarc report
==> In the report’s window: click File->Save Page As. Set the Save as type to Web Page, HTML only. Then save the file.
==> To attach the file to your next post. You’ll have to rename the file to change the file extension from .html to .txt and then attach it to next TS post

2. Run msinfo32 again and copy its info on problem devices and paste into next post

3. And an fyi about MS updates: After last post when you said you already run them:
==> Do you normally click Express or Custom when you run MS update? (I’m guessing you click Express).
==> Run MS update again and click Custom. Only when you run custom will you see optional Hardware and Software updates. Please review them all. Usually is good to install any hardware updates. Install what you want (only need tell me any specifics if any look like they apply to your sound problem or you have any question on anything you see)

4. Re-install Dell chipset drivers. Click here to download. Save the file to disk and double click to run the install. Run msinfo32 again after the install. Any difference? Please post another list of problem devices as reported by msinfo32 after you've run the chipset install

5. Try installing Hi Def Audio Bus Controller driver manually. We'll make two attempts (if they both should fail we will likely jump right to XP SP3 but want to see the attempt results first). I’ll be editing this post to add instructions for the two driver install attempts.Watch this space! (but probably not till tomorrow)

/** EDIT 1 **/
You are also missing a different driver. You must not use any IEEE 1394 /Firewire devices i guess and if you do i'll guess they're not working! In any case, best to get everything loaded/fixed while in the process of cleaning up your machine. Click here for the driver. After the install, check msinfo32 for problem devices again. That take care of Base System Device?

Also: i also guess you only use your wireless connection to that computer as appears you're also missing driver to support wired connections. Has it always been this way?? (just curious) Will give you this driver in a later post

OK, sorry took 2day for reply. Dad borrowed comp for work and left there =(

here is what I got from msinfo32 the first run though befor the install of the chipset driver
Base System Device PCI\VEN_1180&DEV_0843&SUBSYS_01F51028&REV_01\4&B216F0A&0&09A4 This device is not configured correctly.
Ethernet Controller PCI\VEN_14E4&DEV_170C&SUBSYS_01F51028&REV_02\4&B216F0A&0&00A4 This device is not configured correctly.
Microsoft Kernel System Audio Device SW\{A7C7A5B0-5AF3-11D1-9CED-00A024BF0407}\{9B365890-165F-11D0-A195-0020AFD156E4} 39
SM Bus Controller PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_4385&SUBSYS_01F51028&REV_14\3&2411E6FE&0&A0 This device is not configured correctly.


and here is after the install of the chipset driver
Base System Device PCI\VEN_1180&DEV_0843&SUBSYS_01F51028&REV_01\4&B216F0A&0&09A4 This device is not configured correctly.
Ethernet Controller PCI\VEN_14E4&DEV_170C&SUBSYS_01F51028&REV_02\4&B216F0A&0&00A4 This device is not configured correctly.
Microsoft Kernel System Audio Device SW\{A7C7A5B0-5AF3-11D1-9CED-00A024BF0407}\{9B365890-165F-11D0-A195-0020AFD156E4} 39


also attached is the balarc report. I hope that that works for you
also for the MS Updates I ALWAYS click custom

First, no apologies needed. Certainly there's other stuff that needs to (and should!) take a higher priortity. Be sure to tend to those things first.

Some info
The last chipset install was good! The ATI chipset driver reinstalled. The msinfo32 report in your last post no longer includes SM Bus Controller as a problem device.

Next
1. We try fixing: Base System Device. Click here for the Dell Driver. Please download/save to disk / Install
2. When install finished run msinfo32 again. Tell me if Base System Device is gone or still there. If still there, paste that new msinfo32 list into next post. Whether gone or not continue with next step
3. For the Ethernet Controller. Click here for the driver. Download/save/install. Check msinfo32. Ethernet Controller gone from the msinfo32 list?
4. Click here to download/install a diagnostics thatfor that Ethernet controller should you ever need it (Probably best to get it all installed now should ever need it later)
5. Now (if above went well) the only problem device(s) left are Audio related. But i'm not sure why the last msinfo32 report per your last post lists Microsoft Kernel System Audio Device which is NOT the Audio Bus Controller. (Audio Bus Controller may appear in Device Manager as Microsoft UAA Bus Driver for High Definition Audio).

So i'd like you look in Device Manager to see if you find the Audio Bus Controller (aka that UAA Bus Driver....) listed and it's Device Status
==> In Device Manager, click View->Devices by Connection
==> Expand ACPI computer and expand a few levels down till you see PCI bus
==> Expand PCI bus to see the list of controllers
==> Are you seeing the Microsoft Audio Bus controller(or other name i gave for it) listed or no?
==> Rt click to select device and Properties. What is its Device Status?

I have to look into Microsoft Kernel System Audio Device. And tell me how the above all goes when you have the time to do it

OK thanks so much so far!
Only thing left in problem devices in msinfo32 ins MS Kernel

Not quite sure Im understanding what your asking for under Device Manager but this is what I see
Under PCI Bus I see MS UAA Bus Driver for High Definition Audio and under that there is Audio Device on High Definition Audio Bus & Modem Device on High Definition Audio Bus

Audio and Modem both have a big yellow question mark with a smaller black (!) over them
Audio-This device is not configured correctly (code1)
Modem-This device is not configured correctly (code 1)

Again Im not sure if this is what your asking for but i hope this helps

No worries about giving me the right info as you’ve been doing everything great!

Your last post mentions seeing MS UAA Bus Driver for High Definition Audio (fyi this is the Audio Bus controller device for your machine). To double check a few things
=> Does this item have a yellow icon too? Or no?
=> Rt click this device, select Properties. What is device status? Info for the following may only appear when Status= Working
=> Click Driver tab. What is listed as Driver Version?
=> Then click Driver Details button. You get a window with one or more files listed. Please capture a screen shot of this Driver Details windows and attach

Then for Audio Device on High Definition Audio Bus ( i think you also indicated one has the word Modem. You don't need do anything with that one)
=> Rt click for its device properties too
=> Then click Details tab. The pull down menu likely defaults to and already showing Device Instance Id (else select Device Instance Id) and do a screen capture and attach it to next post (and should you not see Device Instance Id i'm forgetting if XP SP2 needs the Windows "magic words" or not to see it. so just let me know)

/** EDIT **/
Also please tell me do you have XP installation CDs?