Audio driver down, dell cannot repair, need sound

LoveMyComputer

Honorable
Mar 27, 2012
1
0
10,510
Hello,

I have a Dell Inspiron 545S Windows 7 Home Premium from Dell. It is a desktop. It is about 2 years old. A few months ago a virus shut my computer down and I paid $275 for the software and software warranty. I also paid an additional $119 for 2 years unlimited technical support. After the technician got my computer up and running again I discovered the the audio for everything (youtube for music and movies) is very low and inaudible and also scrambled. I can't even hear anything on another website when I was trying to learn another language. I couldn't fix it myself for weeks so I called Dell for help. They checked and discovered the speakers are fine. They told me to pay $59 for a technician to look into it (someone on a website says it's only good for 30 days) and fix the sound system if he could, otherwise I would have to buy a sound card of other hardware and install it myself. My computer which includes the monitor and keyboard and mouse only costs $650. If I shell out anymore I should buy another computer. I like my computer, and I'm trying not to throw anything of the sort into the landfill if I can help it. Besides I'm out of a job. Do you think I should pay Dell any further since that problem only cropped up after they fixed the computer and I wasn't even using the audio when it went down? Can you recommend another company I can count on for my next computer? Thank you.

LoveMyComputer
 

Chainzsaw

Distinguished
Dec 31, 2002
285
0
18,960
Hello,

Normally I don't recommend buying extra warranties, to me they seem like a scam. Although it depends on what type of item you have that you might want extra warranty.

Don't pay any further until you've gone through us here.

What you will want to do is download the drivers first from the dell website:

http://www.dell.com/support/drivers/us/en/19/DriversHome/?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19

On the right hand side - select "Automatically Detect my service tag for me" and click on continue.

Download your audio driver - most likely a realtek. If you bought a separate audio card - go to that companies website and download the driver.

Now download driver sweeper:

http://majorgeeks.com/Driver_Sweeper_d6171.html

Once you download driver sweeper - install it.

Reboot into safe mode (press f8 after restart).

Now open driver sweeper and select all drivers related to sound and clean them out.

Restart back into your desktop and now install the sound drivers that you downloaded.