CF-74 soundcard problem?

Ah well, despite telling myself not to buy any more projects I seemed to unconsciously click the buy button and now have another CF-74!
Pic is a bit fuzzy but the BIOS screen seems to say CF-74C3BBDBE.
Good news is that its complete with caddy/HD, 1700hrs operating time and the pic of the BIOS screen means its not protected.
Bad news is that according to the seller it has a problem with the soundcard although I noticed it has been upgraded to W7.
So how likely is that the soundcard has died, or is it more likely that the W7 install is the problem? Fingers crossed for the latter!

If its the former then I have a complete MB to swop, so thats the worst case outcome.

Just had a quick look and found another for sale with W7 and it also has no sound, which is encouraging I guess! Looks like its the W7 install and hopefully that can be sorted out with the correct (Vista?) drivers.

 

It turned up today and its in excellent condition. It looks like a poverty spec one, or as we prefer to say in the UK, Austerity! No touchscreen but then my theory is that's a good thing as the hinges should last longer. As a bonus it has 3gb of ram too! Only downside so far is the supply of the incorrectly rated PSU.
The other thing that attracted me to this CF-74 was the fact is had W7 installed. Must admit I have little to do with this OS, preferring to use XP!
Apart from one exclaimation mark in the Device manager under the battery section, everything else seems to be functioning. There is a W7 COA on the bottom but that looks like a addition. The confirmation of an non OE W7 is the fact there is a folder named Dell!
I guess I can trouble shoot it using the HD from my other CF-74 and if the sound card works then its a driver issue.
So should I just get as many Panasonic drivers as I can and load them?
Worst case is I can always stick XP back on but guess I could do with some familarisation with W7!

 

Well the good news is that the sound does work. I quickly substituted the HD with the OE XP OS from my other CF-74. Was a bit dissapointed at first to hear nothing, then realised I have the speakers muted! So that proves there is nothing basically wrong with it as I suspected!
Bad news is there are no Vista drivers for sound for the Mk1's. The earliest is for the MK3/4 models. I have tried to load that but am defeated by the Mircosoft version. If you uninstall the Mircosoft version the Panasonic version will not install until the computer is restarted. When you restart the Mircosoft version re-installs itself!

 

Go download "specy" portable and run it. It will show what sound card you have. Then look for a generic windows 7 hardware driver.

Speccy - Builds

There is also GPUZ but I don't think if it has sound card info on it.

 

I am assuming it's a Sigmatel of some sort as thats the software that briefly flashes up!
Thought I had it! Found an earlier Vista version for Mk2. But that does the same. Used the XP version and that installed and the Device Manager said it was all working properly but still no sound! Drat!
Sigmatel have some sort of ID/update program. Might give that a try. Read something about Vista Compatability mode, might give that a go.

 

if sound works with xp caddy from your other machine, stick that back in and look at sound card in device manager.

 

According to Panasonic most of the CF-74 models used a Sigmatel STAC9200.
Using the Sigmatel Device Manager it identified that the CF-74 was a CF-73MK5 which wasn't encouraging! Worse still no CF-74 models were in the drop down menu for self selection although the late CF-73 and early CF-52's are!
It conclude that the driver did not need to updated.
Tis a bit odd!

 

Stolen from another web page.

SIGMATEL STAC 92XX C-Major HD Audio Drivers on Windows 7

I've been upgrading a few of our PCs and Laptops with Windows 7 this evening and hit upon a problem with the SIGMATEL STAC 92XX C-Major HD Audio device that came with my Dell XPS M1330 laptop. A quick google confirmed I wasn't the only one having problems.

Since I have now solved the problem I thought I'd post it here on my blog as I'm sure it will be a popular search on Google in the coming months as the masses move to the new OS.
The symptom
Following a fresh install of Windows 7 (I haven't tried an in place upgrade) the Operating System sees the Sigmatel device and reports it to be working, but the sound just doesn't work. Any attempt to download and install the latest Vista drivers also fails to cure the issue.
The fix

* Download the latest x32 or x64 (as appropriate for your computer) Vista driver from the Dell website and leave the EXE in a folder somewhere. Or get them direct from us, click for the 32 bit driver or for the 64 bit driver
* Right click computer, and choose manage, then device manager
* In the Sound, Video and Game controller group you will see a device called "Windows High Defintion". Delete this by selecting and pressing delete
* Now having removed this device from your system you should run the Dell Sigmatel Driver EXE you downloaded previously
* Your system will prompt for a restart upon install
* When you restart you will get the reassuring sound of the Windows 7 start up tune and all will now be well !


Stop thief stop

 

Thanks!
I was a bit concerned as to why there was a Dell folder in Windows. having Googled it, looks like that is Dells version of the Panasonic Sound drivers! So perhaps somebody has tried without success before. It contains the Sigmatel setup SW.
Basically without knowing I think i have been basically what is outlined above but using as many Panasonic versions rather than Dell. Guess I can junk that Dell folder anyway. I have also tried the compatability modes withot success.
Even when you try the existing Dell version it comes up with an error message Device not present restart system and run set up again. With the Panasonic version it states that you need to uninstall the present version but of course it seems to reinstall upon start up.

 

Grrr...
Followed the above but during the set up get the message that "This is not the correct audio driver for this system". Not sure if it means the computer or the OS!

 

You have a PM.

 

Nope! That doesen't seem to work either despite the DM saying it is!
Strangely if you click on the speaker icon whilst playing some file it clearly is displaying some sort of varying level up and down the slider. Just no sound either from the speakers or the headphones.
Perhaps I shouldn't be trying to install this one driver package in isolation. Will have to study the various W7 installs.

 

In comparsion with the XP which works, I have noticed that there is more in the DM sub menu of sound, video and game controllers then in the W7:
Audio Codecs
Legacy Audio Drivers
Legacy Video Capture Devices
Media Control Devices
SigmaTel High Definition Audio CODEC
Video Codecs

In The W7 DM I only get the SigmaTel. Not sure if thats indicative of anything other than my unfamilarity with W7!

 

manually remove anything sigmatel from the hard drive.
In explorer search sigm*.* or something similar.
delete all the sigma crap. reboot and when it can't find anything to install, point it to the one downloaded from my previous message.
I've had to do that with sound and especially video drivers before.

download ccleaner and run it to clean registry but use it with caution.
I would make a clone of the drive first.

 

Still get the same error message!
From what I have read most people have just used the XP sound drivers without issue. In the Vista instructions it recommends removing the SigmaTel program via the Add/remove program utility. So I gave that a go and ran the XP driver setup. Looked good. Computer rebooted. This time I have a red cross next to the speaker icon and when the cursor is placed over the icon it says No Audio Ouptut Device is Installed. DM states it is and working properly!
I'll try one of the other Vista drivers and see what happens.

 

According to the troubleshooter the Audio device is turned off in Windows!
More Googling!

 

Jury is still out on this one! Again that seems to be quite a common problem without a definitive solution.
One thing that might have been overlooked is the BIOS. Even to upgrade to Vista it was recommended to upgrade. The present version is a L15 whilst the Vista one is L18! Whilst I could probably upgrade, I will not have the ability to do a fresh install unlike most people on here.

 

Bit more searching turned this up:
[SOLVED] No Sound, the unsolvable problem... take the challenge? - Tech Support Forum

Guess I have nothing to lose. Would appreciate some comments about what it does though first!

 

Sounds like that could be it. Just do a registery backup before hand.

I am dealing with a Intel graphics problem with my kids entertainment desktop in there room. It had xp now has 7 since xp that was on it BSOD in the middle of a movie and even turning on a registry cleaner would crash the pc.

Older Intel chip-sets have problems with 7, I am going to have to go in manually and give special permissions in the registery, etc that you normal can't access, edit files with notepad to even get 7 to accept the driver. May wind up just throwing in a old video card to bypass the problem. But the newer registery protection that vista/7 have can be a pain at time.

 

Ah well, when all else fails try the basics - Drivers!
After reading as many W7 install threads as I could find, the importance of the drivers and order of installation semed paramount. Nothing to lose so I found the W7 drivers listed for CF-74 even though the documenation suggested that there were for much later models. Using the CF-18 W7 guide I installed the drivers as best I could in the order listed. There wers some differences but it looks like the Hkey driver/appendix were the critical ones to get the sound working! So we now have sound!
For some reason it does not like the W7 sound drivers but accepts the Vista upgrade version. I am not entirely sure I have full functionality as I seem to recall there being another tab in the SigmaTel other than power saving. Might try to uninstall and try again.
So another Toughbook saved from the grave! Happy days!
Thanks to all those who offered advice and support!