Inspiron 1420 Windows 7 sound issues

Blaaaaargh. I've been having a few problems with the speakers and sound since installing Windows 7 x64 on this computer. First off, when using the SigmaTel audio drivers, the Line-In/microphone has a horrible delay. If I say something into a microphone or play a note on my keyboard it comes nearly a second later.

When I remove the SigmaTel divers and use the Windows Audio drivers, the line-in delay diminishes. Using the windows audio drivers leads to another problem. The laptop speakers do not work. The audio device windows claims that the speakers aren't plugged in. Clearly the speakers are plugged in because they work fine with the SigmaTel audio drivers.



A third and final problem I have noticed is this: When running on battery there is a noticeable decrease in audio quality. The audio enchancements do not work and all Bass Boost functions cease to exist. Even if apply Bass Boost at it's maximum setting, 24dB, the sound does not change. I don't know if there is some sort of power saving feature that windows 7 has, but it's really annoying. Running on battery means sacrificing audio quality? The audio device doesn't even use that much power.

The speakers not functioning doesn't both me as much as the sound quality degrading while on battery power because I use headphones anyways. If anyone knows why the sound changes when on battery or how to fix it, that would be much appreciated. Thanks.

 

I have this problem on my Vostro 1400 :/

 

I'm glad I am not the only one. I've been using the windows drivers and so far all is good regarding sound quality. The speakers still do not work though.

 

Hi John,

Is you rproblem resolved? "Laptop speakers not working"? I am also facing the same issue?

Thanks
Ashish

 

I got it fixed, I ended up using a sigmatel driver that happened to work with Vista, it took a couple tries but it all worked out

 

Unfortunately not. I have no idea how to get them working. =/

I would use the SigmaTel driver except for the Line In latency and sound quality degradation on battery. =/

 

I encountered this exact problem with an Insprion 1420 that I just installed Windows 7 on. With the generic driver that automatically installed, Windows 7 thinks that no speakers are plugged in, so no sound output. Headphones work fine though.

Running the driver installer in compatibility mode didn't make it install.
Just installing the driver via "Update Driver Software" in Device Manager did make it work, however!

Step by Step:
Download the latest audio driver from the Audio section here:
http://support.dell.com/support/dow...osl=en&catid=&impid=&SystemID=INS_PNT_PM_1420
(I'm not positive that link will work... but, it's just the "Drivers" section of the Dell website, for the Inpiron 1420).
It's an executable file.

Running the driver installer will extract the contents of the package to C:\dell\drivers\R16something\ . The exact path will be displayed when it extracts, don't worry.

Then just go to Device Manager,
- go into the "Sound, Video, and Game Controllers" section
- select the generic device that's there, which should be named something like "High Definition Audio Device"
- Right click on it, go to "update driver software"
- Select "Browse my Computer for driver software"
- Click on "Browse", and select the previously mentioned path.
- Click "Next", and it should find it, install it, request a reboot
- Reboot, sound works
- Listen to death metal on your speakers now that they work (optional )

 

Thanks "apullin" !

Works great here, now lets ear some metal

 

It is true that we can use the dell drivers for vista for our sigmatel card in win 7, however I suffer too much background noise when I make skype calls. I think that because of this soundcard drivers the laptop is not shown as compatible with win 7. I wish I could find win 7 native drivers for this sound card...

is sigmatel hd92xx card found in other laptops that might have better drivers?