USB Sound from a Dell 4500?

I have a Dell Dimension 4500 running Windows XP, which had integrated
sound on the mother board. Audio from both the audio jacks and the USB
ports stopped working. I have installed a low end sound card, which
works fine, but (and perhaps this is no surprise to those who
understand these things!) there is no audio on my USB headset. (The
mic works fine.) In fact, selecting the USB headset as the audio
device in Sounds and Audio Device Properties or Skype does not disable
the audio from the sound card.
Is there any way I can restore audio to the USB ports?

Thanks, Richard

it sounds like the integrated audio installtion became currupt for some
reason and that in turn lead to the usb headset to stop working. and
despite the new audio card the usb headset it probably still playing, or
rather not playing, sounds produced by the integrated audio. i think things
would be simpler if you just used the integrated audio. what steps did you
try to troubleshoot the integrated audio before you introduced the add on
sound card?

"richards" <richard@rhspencer.com> wrote in message
news:5dl824thduh81emtvpvq83qkc4jkvktgka@4ax.com...
>I have a Dell Dimension 4500 running Windows XP, which had integrated
> sound on the mother board. Audio from both the audio jacks and the USB
> ports stopped working. I have installed a low end sound card, which
> works fine, but (and perhaps this is no surprise to those who
> understand these things!) there is no audio on my USB headset. (The
> mic works fine.) In fact, selecting the USB headset as the audio
> device in Sounds and Audio Device Properties or Skype does not disable
> the audio from the sound card.
> Is there any way I can restore audio to the USB ports?
>
> Thanks, Richard

Good point. All I did to trouble shoot the integrated audio was check
it out in Device Manager, where it showed up under Sound, video and
game controllers as Sigma Tel High Definition Audio Codec, "this
device is working properly" (but of course it wasn't). That entry is
no longer present (presumably because I disabled the onboard audio in
the BIOS before installing the sound card?).
Suggestions for next steps would be welcome.
Richard

On Fri, 9 May 2008 12:40:00 -0400, "Christopher Muto"
<muto@worldnet.att.net> wrote:

>it sounds like the integrated audio installtion became currupt for some
>reason and that in turn lead to the usb headset to stop working. and
>despite the new audio card the usb headset it probably still playing, or
>rather not playing, sounds produced by the integrated audio. i think things
>would be simpler if you just used the integrated audio. what steps did you
>try to troubleshoot the integrated audio before you introduced the add on
>sound card?
>
>"richards" <richard@rhspencer.com> wrote in message
>news:5dl824thduh81emtvpvq83qkc4jkvktgka@4ax.com.. .
>>I have a Dell Dimension 4500 running Windows XP, which had integrated
>> sound on the mother board. Audio from both the audio jacks and the USB
>> ports stopped working. I have installed a low end sound card, which
>> works fine, but (and perhaps this is no surprise to those who
>> understand these things!) there is no audio on my USB headset. (The
>> mic works fine.) In fact, selecting the USB headset as the audio
>> device in Sounds and Audio Device Properties or Skype does not disable
>> the audio from the sound card.
>> Is there any way I can restore audio to the USB ports?
>>
>> Thanks, Richard
>

you didn't mention the time table of all of this, or if some event preceded
the failure of the integrated sounds card. if the integrated sound card
stopped working then i would have simply done a windows system restore to an
earlier point in time to when the sound was working. if it is not too late
(depending on how far back your windows system restore points are kept) you
can still do this - uninstall the add on audio card, enable the integrated
audio in the bios, start windows and select
start-allprograms-acessories-systemtools-systemrestore. then if that
doesn't work i would delete the sigmatel audio from the device manager,
download the latest sigmatel driver found on support.dell.com for your
machine, restart, and then install the new driver when prompted.

"richards" <richard@rhspencer.com> wrote in message
news:gs49249nhvvigpj0co9k8os5330haik7f5@4ax.com...
> Good point. All I did to trouble shoot the integrated audio was check
> it out in Device Manager, where it showed up under Sound, video and
> game controllers as Sigma Tel High Definition Audio Codec, "this
> device is working properly" (but of course it wasn't). That entry is
> no longer present (presumably because I disabled the onboard audio in
> the BIOS before installing the sound card?).
> Suggestions for next steps would be welcome.
> Richard
>
> On Fri, 9 May 2008 12:40:00 -0400, "Christopher Muto"
> <muto@worldnet.att.net> wrote:
>
>>it sounds like the integrated audio installtion became currupt for some
>>reason and that in turn lead to the usb headset to stop working. and
>>despite the new audio card the usb headset it probably still playing, or
>>rather not playing, sounds produced by the integrated audio. i think
>>things
>>would be simpler if you just used the integrated audio. what steps did
>>you
>>try to troubleshoot the integrated audio before you introduced the add on
>>sound card?
>>
>>"richards" <richard@rhspencer.com> wrote in message
>>news:5dl824thduh81emtvpvq83qkc4jkvktgka@4ax.com. ..
>>>I have a Dell Dimension 4500 running Windows XP, which had integrated
>>> sound on the mother board. Audio from both the audio jacks and the USB
>>> ports stopped working. I have installed a low end sound card, which
>>> works fine, but (and perhaps this is no surprise to those who
>>> understand these things!) there is no audio on my USB headset. (The
>>> mic works fine.) In fact, selecting the USB headset as the audio
>>> device in Sounds and Audio Device Properties or Skype does not disable
>>> the audio from the sound card.
>>> Is there any way I can restore audio to the USB ports?
>>>
>>> Thanks, Richard
>>

Thanks for the suggestions. I was able to do a system restore back to
a date when audio from both the speakers and a USB headset was
working, with the onboard audio, but this did not fix the problem.
When I disabled the onboard audio, the USB sound worked. With the
onboard audio enabled, neither the speakers nor the USB sound worked.
If I leave the sound card out, I can get the USB headset to work. If I
put the sound card in, I can get the speakers to work, but not the USB
device. I will play around some more, but that is where I am so far.
Thanks again, Richard
On Fri, 9 May 2008 15:17:08 -0400, "Christopher Muto"
<muto@worldnet.att.net> wrote:

>you didn't mention the time table of all of this, or if some event preceded
>the failure of the integrated sounds card. if the integrated sound card
>stopped working then i would have simply done a windows system restore to an
>earlier point in time to when the sound was working. if it is not too late
>(depending on how far back your windows system restore points are kept) you
>can still do this - uninstall the add on audio card, enable the integrated
>audio in the bios, start windows and select
>start-allprograms-acessories-systemtools-systemrestore. then if that
>doesn't work i would delete the sigmatel audio from the device manager,
>download the latest sigmatel driver found on support.dell.com for your
>machine, restart, and then install the new driver when prompted.
>
>"richards" <richard@rhspencer.com> wrote in message
>news:gs49249nhvvigpj0co9k8os5330haik7f5@4ax.com.. .
>> Good point. All I did to trouble shoot the integrated audio was check
>> it out in Device Manager, where it showed up under Sound, video and
>> game controllers as Sigma Tel High Definition Audio Codec, "this
>> device is working properly" (but of course it wasn't). That entry is
>> no longer present (presumably because I disabled the onboard audio in
>> the BIOS before installing the sound card?).
>> Suggestions for next steps would be welcome.
>> Richard
>>
>> On Fri, 9 May 2008 12:40:00 -0400, "Christopher Muto"
>> <muto@worldnet.att.net> wrote:
>>
>>>it sounds like the integrated audio installtion became currupt for some
>>>reason and that in turn lead to the usb headset to stop working. and
>>>despite the new audio card the usb headset it probably still playing, or
>>>rather not playing, sounds produced by the integrated audio. i think
>>>things
>>>would be simpler if you just used the integrated audio. what steps did
>>>you
>>>try to troubleshoot the integrated audio before you introduced the add on
>>>sound card?
>>>
>>>"richards" <richard@rhspencer.com> wrote in message
>>>news:5dl824thduh81emtvpvq83qkc4jkvktgka@4ax.com ...
>>>>I have a Dell Dimension 4500 running Windows XP, which had integrated
>>>> sound on the mother board. Audio from both the audio jacks and the USB
>>>> ports stopped working. I have installed a low end sound card, which
>>>> works fine, but (and perhaps this is no surprise to those who
>>>> understand these things!) there is no audio on my USB headset. (The
>>>> mic works fine.) In fact, selecting the USB headset as the audio
>>>> device in Sounds and Audio Device Properties or Skype does not disable
>>>> the audio from the sound card.
>>>> Is there any way I can restore audio to the USB ports?
>>>>
>>>> Thanks, Richard
>>>
>