Windows 8 Speakers Not Found

[BillW50]

I have eight of these Gateway M465 laptops. And I run many different OS
on them from Windows 2000 all of the way to Windows 8 CP (never had
Vista on any though). They even run Linux just fine. And this particular
laptop had Windows 8 CP on it and it was just fine. But after installing
Windows 8, it says no speakers are connected. Thus it won't play any
sounds. Trust me, the speakers are there! Works fine from headphones
which Windows 8 does detect. Like Windows 7, it uses the Microsoft
generic High Definition Audio Device driver. Any ideas?

Audio Chipset SigmaTel 9250

Gateway M465 specs
http://support.gateway.com/s/Mobile/Q106/MystiqueC/1008637sp48.shtml

--
Bill
Gateway M465e ('06 era) - Thunderbird v12
Centrino Core Duo T2300 1.66 GHz - 2GB - Windows 8

[LocalHero]

BillW50 wrote:

> I have eight of these Gateway M465 laptops. And I run many different
> OS on them from Windows 2000 all of the way to Windows 8 CP (never
> had Vista on any though). They even run Linux just fine. And this
> particular laptop had Windows 8 CP on it and it was just fine. But
> after installing Windows 8, it says no speakers are connected. Thus
> it won't play any sounds. Trust me, the speakers are there! Works
> fine from headphones which Windows 8 does detect. Like Windows 7, it
> uses the Microsoft generic High Definition Audio Device driver. Any
> ideas?
>
> Audio Chipset SigmaTel 9250
>
> Gateway M465 specs
> http://support.gateway.com/s/Mobile/Q106/MystiqueC/1008637sp48.shtml

Can't help I'm afraid but I was just about to post a similar query
myself when I saw yours.

I have just installed Win 8 Pro on a system that had win 7 pro (both 64
bit) and was working fine. Now I have no sound from any software. If I
right click the speaker symbol back in the old version desktop, and
select playback devices, it shows my Realtek HD Audio device, and
clicking on "Configure" then "Test" - sound comes out of the speakers.
But no sound whatsoever on bootup, or in Mediaplayer or Skype or
whatever.

Device Manager shows everything sound related as "working properly" and
looking at Services, Windows Audio shows as running (using Local
Services) - and all of the dependent services are also shown as running.

Hope some suggestions come through here.


--

[LocalHero]

BillW50 wrote:

> I have eight of these Gateway M465 laptops. And I run many different
> OS on them from Windows 2000 all of the way to Windows 8 CP (never
> had Vista on any though). They even run Linux just fine. And this
> particular laptop had Windows 8 CP on it and it was just fine. But
> after installing Windows 8, it says no speakers are connected. Thus
> it won't play any sounds. Trust me, the speakers are there! Works
> fine from headphones which Windows 8 does detect. Like Windows 7, it
> uses the Microsoft generic High Definition Audio Device driver. Any
> ideas?
>
> Audio Chipset SigmaTel 9250
>
> Gateway M465 specs
> http://support.gateway.com/s/Mobile/Q106/MystiqueC/1008637sp48.shtml

And by the way, in case its relevant, like with your system, sound is
fine everywhere with a headset.

--

[Dave-UK]

"LocalHero" > wrote in message ...
/>
> I have just installed Win 8 Pro on a system that had win 7 pro (both 64
> bit) and was working fine. Now I have no sound from any software. If I
> right click the speaker symbol back in the old version desktop, and
> select playback devices, it shows my Realtek HD Audio device, and
> clicking on "Configure" then "Test" - sound comes out of the speakers.
> But no sound whatsoever on bootup, or in Mediaplayer or Skype or
> whatever.
>
> Device Manager shows everything sound related as "working properly" and
> looking at Services, Windows Audio shows as running (using Local
> Services) - and all of the dependent services are also shown as running.
>
> Hope some suggestions come through here.
>

Have you tried the audio troubleshooter ?
Control Panel > Troubleshooting.

[LocalHero]

Dave-UK wrote:

>
> "LocalHero" > wrote in message
> ... />
> > I have just installed Win 8 Pro on a system that had win 7 pro
> > (both 64 bit) and was working fine. Now I have no sound from any
> > software. If I right click the speaker symbol back in the old
> > version desktop, and select playback devices, it shows my Realtek
> > HD Audio device, and clicking on "Configure" then "Test" - sound
> > comes out of the speakers. But no sound whatsoever on bootup, or
> > in Mediaplayer or Skype or whatever.
> >
> > Device Manager shows everything sound related as "working properly"
> > and looking at Services, Windows Audio shows as running (using Local
> > Services) - and all of the dependent services are also shown as
> > running.
> >
> > Hope some suggestions come through here.
> >
>
> Have you tried the audio troubleshooter ?
> Control Panel > Troubleshooting.

Yes Dave - it found nothing. This sound issue seems to be a problem for
lots of people. I'm probably going to roll back to Win 7 for a while

--

[BillW50]

On 11/15/2012 1:18 PM, LocalHero wrote:
> Dave-UK wrote:
>
>> > wrote in message
>> ... />
>>> I have just installed Win 8 Pro on a system that had win 7 pro
>>> (both 64 bit) and was working fine. Now I have no sound from any
>>> software. If I right click the speaker symbol back in the old
>>> version desktop, and select playback devices, it shows my Realtek
>>> HD Audio device, and clicking on "Configure" then "Test" - sound
>>> comes out of the speakers. But no sound whatsoever on bootup, or
>>> in Mediaplayer or Skype or whatever.
>>>
>>> Device Manager shows everything sound related as "working properly"
>>> and looking at Services, Windows Audio shows as running (using Local
>>> Services) - and all of the dependent services are also shown as
>>> running.
>>>
>>> Hope some suggestions come through here.
>>
>> Have you tried the audio troubleshooter ?
>> Control Panel> Troubleshooting.
>
> Yes Dave - it found nothing. This sound issue seems to be a problem for
> lots of people. I'm probably going to roll back to Win 7 for a while

I believe I have discovered why mine doesn't work. Well I found out it
does work depending. As I have eight of these Gateway M465 laptops. And
I reinstalled Windows 8 CP which was working before and it said this
time that the speakers were not connected either. Just like Windows 8.

So I thought about it and how could that be? Well Windows 7 is running
on one with a BIOS v71.15. The one that I am trying to get Windows 8
running has BIOS v71.04. And I remembered that I originally installed
Windows 8 CP with the one with v71.15 and then popped the drive into the
one with v71.04.

So I installed Windows 8 on a fresh drive on the v71.15 one. Now it
works perfectly. Pulled that drive out and dropped it into the 71.04
BIOS one. Works there too for sound (brightness won't adjust under
Windows 8 Settings, it says not available). So the BIOS version seems to
make or break things. And installing for a given BIOS changes how it
acts on other BIOS versions.

You would think my problem is now easy. Just reflash the BIOS. Well that
isn't working. Tried under Windows 8, then under Windows XP SP3 and I
get the following error:

~~~

BIOS update failed! New BIOS is not compatible with the current system BIOS.
New BIOS part number doesn't match system BIOS part number.
Error code: -120

See the Help for troubleshooting.

~~~

Help file says nothing about this. Even tried Windows XP SP3 under safe
mode and the BIOS Flash Utility won't even run. Even if I save the
existing BIOS to a file and then use that one to reflash I get the same
error. This job is starting to get really complicated. :-(

--
Bill
Gateway M465e ('06 era) - Thunderbird v12.0.1
Centrino Core2 Duo T5600 1.83GHz - 4GB - Windows XP SP2

[Paul]

Ken1943 wrote:
> <snip>
>> So I thought about it and how could that be? Well Windows 7 is running
>> on one with a BIOS v71.15. The one that I am trying to get Windows 8
>> running has BIOS v71.04. And I remembered that I originally installed
>> Windows 8 CP with the one with v71.15 and then popped the drive into the
>> one with v71.04.
>>
>> So I installed Windows 8 on a fresh drive on the v71.15 one. Now it
>> works perfectly. Pulled that drive out and dropped it into the 71.04
>> BIOS one. Works there too for sound (brightness won't adjust under
>> Windows 8 Settings, it says not available). So the BIOS version seems to
>> make or break things. And installing for a given BIOS changes how it
>> acts on other BIOS versions.
>>
>> You would think my problem is now easy. Just reflash the BIOS. Well that
>> isn't working. Tried under Windows 8, then under Windows XP SP3 and I
>> get the following error:
>>
>> ~~~
>>
>> BIOS update failed! New BIOS is not compatible with the current system BIOS.
>> New BIOS part number doesn't match system BIOS part number.
>> Error code: -120
>>
>> See the Help for troubleshooting.
>>
>> ~~~
>>
>> Help file says nothing about this. Even tried Windows XP SP3 under safe
>> mode and the BIOS Flash Utility won't even run. Even if I save the
>> existing BIOS to a file and then use that one to reflash I get the same
>> error. This job is starting to get really complicated. :-(
>
> I have two Asus mATX mobos that I can't update to newest bios versions.
> They must have changed chips in the newest mobo versions and mine are an
> older version. You probably have the same thing happening.
>
>
> KenW

I'd start by making a backup copy of the existing BIOS,
then compare to the new BIOS, and see if the string that
functions as an identify, is different. In some cases,
this acts as a warning, that perhaps you don't have the
correct file, the wrong file was hosted on the web site
and so on. (The string might be 8 characters, and the
value of the string isn't displayed on the BIOS screen.)

On an Asus, an older version of flasher was known to
ignore the identity info, and you can force flash over
another BIOS. That allows downgrading BIOS, where the
upgrade isn't backward compatible (boot block change).
But then, the user is responsible for using the
correct command line parameters. Newer versions of
the flasher, would be more careful about identity, and
then, there's no going backwards in cases like that. The
newer versions don't have a forcing function.

For a price, badflash.com can solve this problem, but then
the BIOS flash chip has to be socketed, so you can unplug
the old chip, and plug in a new chip programmed with the
BIOS version you want. If you ruin a BIOS while doing
flash update experiments, badflash is cheaper than a new
motherboard.

You can hot-flash a BIOS chip (and Bill, with his
army of identical machines, would be a perfect
candidate for this). But then, you're fooling around
with a chip on an already powered computer, which
isn't really all that safe. If you install a flash chip
backwards, apparently it is reported you will see two
dull red glows, as the VCC and GND pins get burned off :-)
Someone posting to one of the hardware groups, bought a
motherboard (not from Ebay, from an e-tailer), and when
the board was powered up, two pins were seen glowing in
the BIOS chip socket. On closer examination, it was determined
the chip wasn't oriented properly. Since the factory tests
each and every unit, before shipping, the factory didn't do
that. The board was working before it left the factory (they
do a simple two minute long functional test). But some bimbo
at the e-tailer, apparently did (pull chip, rotate, reinsert).
Always make sure pin 1 lines up on the PLCC :-) I've only
heard of this happening the one time, so it's not like
I'd add a "chip check" to my computer building procedure
or anything.

Paul