Why would an Alienware m9700 (Win XP) not have sound?

[myemerald]

I just inherited this Alienware M9700. It works great, except for the sound. I'm not sure if it has a sound card or not, what is the best way to figure this out? It's still on xp, I'm going to upgrade to 7 soon, but until then I would like to have sound.

I have wireless internet connection working. Videos (such as youtube) play, but no sound. This is a laptop I am not at all familiar with so I don't know what to look for to troubleshoot.

The friends who just gave it to me said they downloaded several drivers, don't know which ones though.

Thank you in advance for your help

 

[turkey3_scratch]

In the Control Panel search sound and go to "sound devices" or "sound manager" or something along those lines. Check for any grey, disabled speaker systems. You may also have to right-click and select "show disabled devices".

 

[myemerald]

In the Control Panel search sound and go to "sound devices" or "sound manager" or something along those lines. Check for any grey, disabled speaker systems. You may also have to right-click and select "show disabled devices".

It says no sound device, which is strange. The grey speaker systems are there but I can't access them.
I think I'll go ahead and upgrade to Win 7 and see what happens.