Ideas for troubleshooting "audio not working" on dell vostro 1710 laptop

Question

Since the last days (I guess but not sure the problem started on the same day Windows 7 SP1 was installed) on my Vostro 1710 laptop the audio doesn't work anymore.

If I try to do a Skype call it says "problems with the audio device".

I cannot play a song.

Of course the basic checklist is ok: audio is not disabled, volume is at 60%, on control panel/devices I see that latest driver is installed and works properly.

Do you have other ideas? Are you aware of Windows 7 SP1 problems with dell laptops?

Answer 1

Skype helped me by telling "I cannot access your sound card".

So I went to Control Panel and this time I clicked on "Audio" (Instead than going to the list of devices).

I message told me "I cannot access your audio card. Probably the improved driver (and i think this is something Win 7 SP1 installed automatically) doesn't work with your card. Click Ok ti siable it".

After this all worked properly.

Answer 2

Just some ideas:

1. Boot from a live disc into some linux system to verify it is a windows problem.
2. Reinstall drivers
3. Try to roll back SP1 or did you mean you installed the whole windows 7 recently?
4. Verify there are no hardware conflicts, like several devices on the same irq sometimes causes trouble. In that case try throwing a bunch out and letting windows reinstall them sometimes assigns different irqs.
5. If all else fails, you will have to find users with the same problem and hope they have a solution or debug the system which I suppose you don't want to do. (Google is your friend...)