Sound / Audio

[cm2003]

After I updated to SP2 for XP I lost my sound.  I have been looking for a long time to fix this.  The driver on this site crashes my computer.  I need help please!!!!!!!!!!!

[cm2003]

I could use some help here.  Please someone give me a hand.

[jhvance]

I'm a user with one of those very machines which has given excellent service for many years, though I upgraded to SP3 some time ago.  I'll try to help you recover the sound if I can.  The driver in my laptop is the Yamaha AC-XG package v.6.13.10.3157 dated 3 June 2003 -- what is shown when you check Device Manager?  Get there either by clicking "Start | Settings | Control Panel | Sound" and right click "Properties", or just right-click the "Computer" icon on your desktop and select "Properties", then choose the hardware tab and click on the "Device Manager" button.

Is there a yellow exclamation point icon next to the sound entry, and what is depicted beneath its "+" expansion?

[cm2003]

No there is not.  There was but how there is not.

[cm2003]

It does say no driver loaded.

[jhvance]

Go to the Toshiba main support page and click the "downloads" tab, then select "laptop | satellite | 5205-S505" from the drop-down boxes to reach the page with the Tosh support downloads for that specific model.  Selecting "sound" from the rightmost drop-down selector box will produce two file options which are the official releases for the Yamaha AC-XG sound driver -- the latest one is v6.13.10.2152 dated 10-23-2002.  Download that file to a temporary folder, then run the executable to install that sound driver and reboot.  Your sound should have returned at that point.

Although not the "official" Tosh driver, there is a more recent one from Yamaha (the version I'm using on my machine) which is available directly from a Yamaha website that seems to work just fine.  Use the following link to download it:

http://www.yamaha.co.jp/english/product/lsi/index.html

Click "download", then scroll down to the "AC-XG" section and download the XP driver file "awi3157_xp.exe", which is v. 6.13.10.3157.  My suggestion is to install the official driver first and ensure you have sound back, then install the unofficial but later driver and see if your machine has any problems with it by comparison, since you can always roll back to the earlier version.

[cm2003]

Thank you but both file freeze my computer on boot up.  I really don't know what to do.  Also how do I get into bios. 

[jhvance]

If both cause your computer to freeze in normal mode, have you tried to install one or both after booting into safe mode?  Are you running a firewall of some sort, and given the relevant permissions to the installation file(s)?

When you see the initial Windows logo screen after booting, press "F2" (there should be a brief period where "Press [F2] to enter SETUP" is displayed along the lower left of the screen) and that will take you to the BIOS setup.  If you are still running SP2, determine what version your laptop's current BIOS is -- if not v1.50 (the most recent and likely last for this model), then download that particular update from the Toshiba website and follow the instructions to install it before doing anything else.  Once rebooted and the new BIOS version is effective, try to install those official and post-official releases in normal mode.

If they still won't install, then reboot and at the opening logo instead of pressing "F2" to get into the BIOS, press "F8" to get a list of boot options -- select "Safe Mode" (not "Safe Mode with Networking" or "Safe Mode with Prompt").  Once booting is completed, your display will be reduced to 640x480 and you may have to reposition any desktop icons to your preferred liking later, but the main objective is to get the sound drivers to install properly.

That should achieve a successful installation, and once completed reboot the laptop into normal mode and test the sound functions (among other things, you can set up your Windows sounds in "Control Panel" and test whether the files in C:\Windows\Media will play for some assigned event, or search for a file named "dxdiag.exe" and run the DirectX tests under the sounds tab).  You can search for "DirectX Diagnostics" under Microsofts support webpage and find the latter, or seach the Toshiba support website for their "PC Diagnostic" program applicable to your model and download it to test all of your computer's functions.

If you still don't have sound functions, is there some problem indicated under Device Manager and if so, what is indicated?  Something which might be worth considering for a next step anyway if you plan to keep this laptop for any length of time is to install the XP SP3 upgrade, as that may repair any deeper-lying OS problems which might exist that are producing the freezing symptom you're currently experiencing.