weird issue with audio on a dell inspiron 640m running xp

Hi.

There seems to be a weird problem with the audio on my dell inspiron
640m under xp.
After rebooting the audio doesn't work anymore over the line-in. When
I unplug the line-in connection to my amplifier, the audio works fine
again. When I plug in the jack into the headphones entry, an audio
system-event notification pops up from the audiodevice. When I cancel
out of that and plug it back into the line-in entry,
the audio works fine again over the line-in. But after I reboot, the
problem occurs again.
I've downloaded the latest driver for the SIGMATEL STAC 92XX audio
device (R171789.exe).
Has anyone else encountered this issue or does anyone know how to fix
this problem once and for all?

Kind regards & thx in advance for any feedback, Niek

"sobriquet" <dohduhdah@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:e581d79b-dcac-4dac-8a31-edcfe8a7b248@i3g2000hsf.googlegroups.com...
>
> Hi.
>
> There seems to be a weird problem with the audio on my dell inspiron
> 640m under xp.
> After rebooting the audio doesn't work anymore over the line-in. When
> I unplug the line-in connection to my amplifier, the audio works fine
> again. When I plug in the jack into the headphones entry, an audio
> system-event notification pops up from the audiodevice. When I cancel
> out of that and plug it back into the line-in entry,
> the audio works fine again over the line-in. But after I reboot, the
> problem occurs again.
> I've downloaded the latest driver for the SIGMATEL STAC 92XX audio
> device (R171789.exe).
> Has anyone else encountered this issue or does anyone know how to fix
> this problem once and for all?
>
> Kind regards & thx in advance for any feedback, Niek


Nick -

Got nothing for you right now, but I assume that your audio is fine from the
internal speakers with a reboot, etc., correct?

You might want to post your question here, or at least perform a search on
the 640m with Sigmatel here and see if you get any hits:
http://www.dellcommunity.com/support....id=insp_audio

I've got an older Latitude that we leave connected to external speakers via
the headphone out jack - and I've not seen this problem.

You might check the hardware itself (F12 at the Dell splash, diagnostics -
go through the short diags then continue to load and then run the extended
diags just on the audio. Test it with the the external line both connected
and disconnected).

This sounds like some quirky hardware initialization problem due to the
reboot - or something dumb like an electrical short due to the jack being
connected. ?


Stew

On 6 jan, 15:49, "S.Lewis" <NVRa...@techie.com> wrote:
> "sobriquet" <dohduh...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
>
> news:e581d79b-dcac-4dac-8a31-edcfe8a7b248@i3g2000hsf.googlegroups.com...
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> > Hi.
>
> > There seems to be a weird problem with the audio on my dell inspiron
> > 640m under xp.
> > After rebooting the audio doesn't work anymore over the line-in. When
> > I unplug the line-in connection to my amplifier, the audio works fine
> > again. When I plug in the jack into the headphones entry, an *audio
> > system-event notification pops up from the audiodevice. When I cancel
> > out of that and plug it back into the line-in entry,
> > the audio works fine again over the line-in. But after I reboot, the
> > problem occurs again.
> > I've downloaded the latest driver for the SIGMATEL STAC 92XX audio
> > device (R171789.exe).
> > Has anyone else encountered this issue or does anyone know how to fix
> > this problem once and for all?
>
> > Kind regards & thx in advance for any feedback, Niek
>
> Nick -
>
> Got nothing for you right now, but I assume that your audio is fine from the
> internal speakers with a reboot, etc., correct?
>
> You might want to post your question here, or at least perform a search on
> the 640m with Sigmatel here and see if you get any hits:http://www.dellcommunity.com/support....id=insp_audio
>
> I've got an older Latitude that we leave connected to external speakers via
> the headphone out jack - and I've not seen this problem.
>
> You might check the hardware itself (F12 at the Dell splash, diagnostics -
> go through the short diags then continue to load and then run the extended
> diags just on the audio. *Test it with the the external line both connected
> and disconnected).
>
> This sounds like some quirky hardware initialization problem due to the
> reboot - or something dumb like an electrical short due to the jack being
> connected. *?
>
> Stew
>

For some mysterious reason, it suddenly works again.
I changed from the standard vista install to a dual boot xp/vista
config and the problem did occur both under xp and vista. But now it
seems solved and I have audio over the line-in again in both xp and
vista.
Well, I hope the problem has now been solved and doesn't recur.
Thanks for the feedback.

On 7 jan, 02:24, sobriquet <dohduh...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> On 6 jan, 15:49, "S.Lewis" <NVRa...@techie.com> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> > "sobriquet" <dohduh...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
>
> >news:e581d79b-dcac-4dac-8a31-edcfe8a7b248@i3g2000hsf.googlegroups.com...
>
> > > Hi.
>
> > > There seems to be a weird problem with the audio on my dell inspiron
> > > 640m under xp.
> > > After rebooting the audio doesn't work anymore over the line-in. When
> > > I unplug the line-in connection to my amplifier, the audio works fine
> > > again. When I plug in the jack into the headphones entry, an *audio
> > > system-event notification pops up from the audiodevice. When I cancel
> > > out of that and plug it back into the line-in entry,
> > > the audio works fine again over the line-in. But after I reboot, the
> > > problem occurs again.
> > > I've downloaded the latest driver for the SIGMATEL STAC 92XX audio
> > > device (R171789.exe).
> > > Has anyone else encountered this issue or does anyone know how to fix
> > > this problem once and for all?
>
> > > Kind regards & thx in advance for any feedback, Niek
>
> > Nick -
>
> > Got nothing for you right now, but I assume that your audio is fine from the
> > internal speakers with a reboot, etc., correct?
>
> > You might want to post your question here, or at least perform a search on
> > the 640m with Sigmatel here and see if you get any hits:http://www.dellcommunity.com/support....id=insp_audio
>
> > I've got an older Latitude that we leave connected to external speakers via
> > the headphone out jack - and I've not seen this problem.
>
> > You might check the hardware itself (F12 at the Dell splash, diagnostics -
> > go through the short diags then continue to load and then run the extended
> > diags just on the audio. *Test it with the the external line both connected
> > and disconnected).
>
> > This sounds like some quirky hardware initialization problem due to the
> > reboot - or something dumb like an electrical short due to the jack being
> > connected. *?
>
> > Stew
>
> For some mysterious reason, it suddenly works again.
> I changed from the standard vista install to a dual boot xp/vista
> config and the problem did occur both under xp and vista. But now it
> seems solved and I have audio over the line-in again in both xp and
> vista.
> Well, I hope the problem has now been solved and doesn't recur.
> Thanks for the feedback.- Tekst uit oorspronkelijk bericht niet weergeven -
>
> - Tekst uit oorspronkelijk bericht weergeven -

Hmmm, the problem does seem to persist.
I will try and restore a previous backup of the original vista config
I've used for many months where I didn't have the problem and see if
there are any differences in the audio driver.
The current driver is:
http://www.ibbu.nl/~nsprakel/audio1.jpg
http://www.ibbu.nl/~nsprakel/audio2.jpg

I'll post again when I have swapped to the previous configuration.

One thing I did notice though, is that since I switched from the
default vista only setup that was on the HD when I bought the laptop
to the current config of xp and vista side by side, a problem with the
wacom intuos 3 tablet has been resolved. Previously, whenever vista
needed special permissions (like when you attempt to copy something to
the /program files/ system folder), the tablet would temporarily stop
working and I would have to use the touchpad to accept and then the
wacom tablet would work again as usual. Now the tablet keeps working
whenever vista asks for special permisions.

Maybe there are some differences in the usb drivers or other system
drivers.
I did use the same wacom tablet driver but on this new vista/xp config
I upgraded the bios:

Dell Inspiron 640m/E1405 System BIOS

BIOS

Release Title: BIOS: Dell Inspiron 640m/E1405 System BIOS, English,
Inspiron MXC061, A10
Release Date: 4/11/2007
Criticality: Urgent
Description: Inspiron 640m A10 System BIOS This update includes
critical microcode updates from Intel

On 8 jan, 11:28, sobriquet <dohduh...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> On 7 jan, 02:24, sobriquet <dohduh...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> > On 6 jan, 15:49, "S.Lewis" <NVRa...@techie.com> wrote:
>
> > > "sobriquet" <dohduh...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
>
> > >news:e581d79b-dcac-4dac-8a31-edcfe8a7b248@i3g2000hsf.googlegroups.com....
>
> > > > Hi.
>
> > > > There seems to be a weird problem with the audio on my dell inspiron
> > > > 640m under xp.
> > > > After rebooting the audio doesn't work anymore over the line-in. When
> > > > I unplug the line-in connection to my amplifier, the audio works fine
> > > > again. When I plug in the jack into the headphones entry, an *audio
> > > > system-event notification pops up from the audiodevice. When I cancel
> > > > out of that and plug it back into the line-in entry,
> > > > the audio works fine again over the line-in. But after I reboot, the
> > > > problem occurs again.
> > > > I've downloaded the latest driver for the SIGMATEL STAC 92XX audio
> > > > device (R171789.exe).
> > > > Has anyone else encountered this issue or does anyone know how to fix
> > > > this problem once and for all?
>
> > > > Kind regards & thx in advance for any feedback, Niek
>
> > > Nick -
>
> > > Got nothing for you right now, but I assume that your audio is fine from the
> > > internal speakers with a reboot, etc., correct?
>
> > > You might want to post your question here, or at least perform a search on
> > > the 640m with Sigmatel here and see if you get any hits:http://www.dellcommunity.com/support....id=insp_audio
>
> > > I've got an older Latitude that we leave connected to external speakers via
> > > the headphone out jack - and I've not seen this problem.
>
> > > You might check the hardware itself (F12 at the Dell splash, diagnostics -
> > > go through the short diags then continue to load and then run the extended
> > > diags just on the audio. *Test it with the the external line both connected
> > > and disconnected).
>
> > > This sounds like some quirky hardware initialization problem due to the
> > > reboot - or something dumb like an electrical short due to the jack being
> > > connected. *?
>
> > > Stew
>
> > For some mysterious reason, it suddenly works again.
> > I changed from the standard vista install to a dual boot xp/vista
> > config and the problem did occur both under xp and vista. But now it
> > seems solved and I have audio over the line-in again in both xp and
> > vista.
> > Well, I hope the problem has now been solved and doesn't recur.
> > Thanks for the feedback.- Tekst uit oorspronkelijk bericht niet weergeven -
>
> > - Tekst uit oorspronkelijk bericht weergeven -
>
> Hmmm, the problem does seem to persist.
> I will try and restore a previous backup of the original vista config
> I've used for many months where I didn't have the problem and see if
> there are any differences in the audio driver.
> The current driver is:http://www.ibbu.nl/~nsprakel/audio1....kel/audio2.jpg
>
> I'll post again when I have swapped to the previous configuration.
>
> One thing I did notice though, is that since I switched from the
> default vista only setup that was on the HD when I bought the laptop
> to the current config of xp and vista side by side, a problem with the
> wacom intuos 3 tablet has been resolved. Previously, whenever vista
> needed special permissions (like when you attempt to copy something to
> the /program files/ system folder), the tablet would temporarily stop
> working and I would have to use the touchpad to accept and then the
> wacom tablet would work again as usual. Now the tablet keeps working
> whenever vista asks for special permisions.
>
> Maybe there are some differences in the usb drivers or other system
> drivers.
> I did use the same wacom tablet driver but on this new vista/xp config
> I upgraded the bios:
>
> Dell Inspiron 640m/E1405 System BIOS
>
> BIOS
>
> Release Title: BIOS: Dell Inspiron 640m/E1405 System BIOS, English,
> Inspiron MXC061, A10
> Release Date: 4/11/2007
> Criticality: Urgent
> Description: Inspiron 640m A10 System BIOS This update includes
> critical microcode updates from Intel- Tekst uit oorspronkelijk bericht niet weergeven -
>
> - Tekst uit oorspronkelijk bericht weergeven -

Hmmm, restoring the previous config didn't help, so I guess it must be
a problem with the line-in jack. Perhaps some dust or hairs inside or
something that prevents a good connection.
Also, I noticed that the issue with the wacom tablet came back with
the previous config, so that probably had nothing to do with the bios
upgrade, like the problem with audio over the line-in. I cleaned the
line-in jack somewhat and now it seems to work properly again.