I need help with sound device in T30! UPDATE!!!

[shaunall]

Hello, i am new.. I just wanted to see if i can get any advice on this frustrating problem I have been having with this IBM thinkpad T30 that was donated to my disabled son who is blind.. The laptop works great except the sound is completely out, and i have been unsucessful at getting the drivers to work. I have done all the updates from IBM for my model, and it still wont detect the sound card. The driver is supposed to be soundmax ac 97, but it continuously says it cant load device or driver.... I have browsed around in the bios,and I see no mention of a sound card, or type.. Could this be a physical hardware malfunction, or could there possibly be another device other then soundmax... If anyone is familiar with this model, please send me some advice.. I hate to have an awesomne laptop for my son, but have the most important feature not work since he is blind and relys on hearing. ............oh,by the way, i have restalled windows xp twice and win98se once trying to get this to work,,, Thanks

[danage]

it is an intel ac97 compatible sound chip. you can download all necessary device drivers on the ibm homepage. go to the device manager to see whether drivers are installed properly. if not, remove existing drivers and reinstall those supplied by ibm. instructions on how to do this should be included within the driver package.

[shaunall]

Hi, yes, i have installed every single update from the IBM website for my T30, including the audio files, drivers, bios updates, chipset updates.. all of it.. Its just not registering a sound device. I am assuming it is a motherboard issue with a faulty sound chip. I have reinstalled windows 3 times, updated it to the max 3 times, and I am about to give up. Unless anyone has a clue onwhat I am missing, please let me know.. Thanks

[Orevin]

Do you get any error messages? What does the device manager tell show?

[rkawakami]

You might want to try this: If you have a floppy drive. download a copy of PC Doctor for the T30 from IBM's site at:

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-54659

You will need to download three files, which when each of them is executed, will create a floppy disk.

If you don't have a floppy drive, but do have a CD burner, then you can try this site for an ISO disk image which you can use to create a bootable CD (assuming you have a program which does that) containing a copy of PC Doctor which will work with your T30:

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-56222

Assuming you have either the floppy disk set or the CD, re-boot your system. You will probably need to hit the F12 key on boot-up to select the floppy or the CD drive. Both the floppy set and CD will require you to "press any key to continue" a couple of times. When loaded, PC Doctor will scan your system and then allow you to select from many different tests. For your problem, go to Diagnostics (use arrow keys or Trackpoint clicks), Other Devices, Crystal SoundFusion(tm) Test. Let us know if the diagnostic passes or fails.

[shaunall]

cool, thanks. The PC doctor was the only thing I couldnt do, due to not having a floppy drive. I will get the Cd-iso working, and i will report back to you on how it goes. .. thanks again

[shaunall]

Okay,, heres the update.. It does not look good. I got the PC doc to help me out,, here are the issues

Testing
Digital Signature Chip Test ::failed
Ac97 codec test ::::failed

Also states Soundcard N/A in configuration.

SO, basically the soundcard is out of commission. Is this built into the motherboard? I want to open the thinkpad up now and see if there are any loose wires, but i wouldnt know what to look for. ANy ideas, or is this a lost cause? Could this have happened from it being dropped? Since this was a donation to my son, i dont have much history on the laptop.. ITs a bummer because this laptop runs fast. I did find an affordable USB soundcard, so I might be ordering that. Thanks for the help, any future advice on this would be great..!

[smugiri]

Okay,, heres the update.. It does not look good. I got the PC doc to help me out,, here are the issues

Testing
Digital Signature Chip Test ::failed
Ac97 codec test ::::failed

Also states Soundcard N/A in configuration.

SO, basically the soundcard is out of commission. Is this built into the motherboard? I want to open the thinkpad up now and see if there are any loose wires, but i wouldnt know what to look for. ANy ideas, or is this a lost cause? Could this have happened from it being dropped? Since this was a donation to my son, i dont have much history on the laptop.. ITs a bummer because this laptop runs fast. I did find an affordable USB soundcard, so I might be ordering that. Thanks for the help, any future advice on this would be great..!

You can buy an re-manufactured Audigy PCMCIA cardfrom the manufacturer for about $50 - a new one is atleast $110. You will have to buy external speakers as well, good ones can be had for another $20 or so from any computer store.

[rkawakami]

<snip>...here are the issues

Testing
Digital Signature Chip Test ::failed
Ac97 codec test ::::failed

Yup, looks like you have a problem with the sound system.

Also states Soundcard N/A in configuration.

If you are referring to the Hardware Info/System Configuration where PC Doc scans your hardware, then I believe what you should see is "PCI sound card is present but not configured". At least that is what I get from my T23.

Is this built into the motherboard?

Yes, I believe that this is the case. Probably is a single chip mounted on the motherboard.

I want to open the thinkpad up now and see if there are any loose wires, but i wouldnt know what to look for. ANy ideas, or is this a lost cause? Could this have happened from it being dropped?

If you don't have a copy of the Hardware Maintenance Manual for the T30, you can get it at:

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-42308

This tells you how to open up the laptop and remove the components. I guess it's possible that something has worked itself loose.

[shaunall]

thanks for your input. I did get that hardware manual. I managed to ge the keyboard off, and did some cleaning under the processor and such.. it was quite dusty. I didnt accomplish much except maybe get better air flow for cooldown, i didnt see anything under there regarding sound chips. I will just accept the fault the way it is, and just order an external sound card. The laptop is great, and I will not let it go to waste. This is the first laptop I ever owned, and i am very impressed with these thinkpads. I hope our last us a while, and my son can get some sort of use out of it. Thanks again eveyone for your advice. I didnt realisze the pc doctor would help out so much!

[danage]

i am not sure whether it is possible and dont want to reboot now, but maybe your sound device was simply disactivated in the BIOS menu? try that before buying anything.

i wouldn't recommend buying pcmcia audio. the connectors break easily and newer notebooks are starting not to have regular pcmcia slots anymore. go with a usb solution. those can be had for around $20 and deliver fine sound. i have an AUDIOTRAK MAYA type card and am very satisfied.

[smugiri]

i am not sure whether it is possible and dont want to reboot now, but maybe your sound device was simply disactivated in the BIOS menu? try that before buying anything.

i wouldn't recommend buying pcmcia audio. the connectors break easily and newer notebooks are starting not to have regular pcmcia slots anymore. go with a usb solution. those can be had for around $20 and deliver fine sound. i have an AUDIOTRAK MAYA type card and am very satisfied.

Not sure what you mean by this:

PCMCiA sound cards have no audio in/out connectors since the terminals sit right on the end of card body. And it seems to me that a PCMCIA connection has to have better physically strength than a USB one since PCMCIA locks onto the entire length of the card chasis - its seems almost physically imposible to bend/destroy the connector pins on a PCMCIA card.

The post was also specific to a T30, a machine that does not come with the new ExpressCard type slot.

[danage]

PCMCiA sound cards have no audio in/out connectors since the terminals sit right on the end of card body.

Hmm I do not understand this. Where do you plug your Speakers/Headphones/... in? The solutions I have seen have a pigtail, a sort of adapter that plugs into the card and has the regular RCA plugs on the other side. The small height of PCMCIA cards makes it impossible to connect any standard audio connector directly with the card.

And it seems to me that a PCMCIA connection has to have better physically strength than a USB one since PCMCIA locks onto the entire length of the card chasis - its seems almost physically imposible to bend/destroy the connector pins on a PCMCIA card.

Well, yes, this is true for the part that sits inside the computer. The problem is usually the pigtail connector. The pins that connect to the card are commonly very delicate yet subject to twisting and bendig.

The post was also specific to a T30, a machine that does not come with the new ExpressCard type slot.

Right, I was thinking of interoperability with lets say a new computer or someone elses. Then again, we can assume his new computer wouldnt have a malfunctioning internal soundcard...

[smugiri]

PCMCiA sound cards have no audio in/out connectors since the terminals sit right on the end of card body.

Hmm I do not understand this. Where do you plug your Speakers/Headphones/... in? The solutions I have seen have a pigtail, a sort of adapter that plugs into the card and has the regular RCA plugs on the other side. The small height of PCMCIA cards makes it impossible to connect any standard audio connector directly with the card.

You can check out the Audigy Z2 that I posted about here.

[danage]

ah ok, i see now. looks like a clean solution, especially with the combined digital/analogue jacks. only disadvantages would be that it blocks the other slot and that it might break easily. with wireless cards, i know a lot of people buy pcmcia cards that have retractable antennae to avoid this.