no SoundMAX HD Audio on XP Pro SP3

[Frankenstien]

Hey all ... I'm trying to figure out why I have no audio on a T61 (6460-7EU) ... when everything about my XP Pro SP3 'SoundMAX HD Audio' installation (driver V5.10.1.5710, release date 03JUL12 - '7ka117ww.exe' from the Lenovo Canada - English support site) looks good - even use of the 'Test hardware...' (button) in 'Sound and Audio Devices Properties' > 'Voice' (tab) shows activity on the playback meter at the appropriate juncture.

I'm wondering if I'm missing a Lenovo / ThinkVantage base s/w component, because I don't see the green on-screen up/down volume indicators when the dedicated speaker volume up or down buttons are pushed ... even though they have control over the GUI volume meter slider position ... only the dedicated Mute button seemingly has no direct effect.

Thanks, FFF

FYI - this is a fresh XP SP3 install on a new HDD (no recovery partitions / discs available) and I had to manually d/l and install everything in the way of Lenovo drivers / s/w I thought relevant. I have yet to add all of the ThinkVantage stuff ... but I've got everything recognized in Device Manager and will push ahead with more ThinkVantage stuff tom.

[RealBlackStuff]

Next time you do a thing like that, just install Thinkvantage SystemUpdate (which requires Dotnetframework 1.1 or 2.0).
It will get you most (if not all) Lenovo drivers and install them all in one go.
You can still do it now.
BTW, W7 runs great on a T61, better than XP.

[Frankenstien]

Thanks RBS ... I'll look into that as soon as I can.
Just got asked to go salmon fishing.
FFF

[Frankenstien]

RBS ... that 'ThinkVantage System Update 3.15 for Windows Vista (32-bit, 64-bit), XP, 2000' really worked pretty slick ... I wish I had realized I could've started with it immediately post-XP Pro SP3 install ... oh well, better late than never I guess ... plus, I have some other ThinkPads to resurrect: a Z60m, a T43, a T42 & a 2nd T40 - that S.U. approach will save a lot of time. Thanks for that eh?

Any thoughts on good sources of bits & pieces for this T61 - I need the HDD tin tray, 4 ret. screws, 2 rubber rails & the black HDD cover & ret. screw (as well as various other minor parts for the other TPs noted above)?

Thanks, FFF

[RealBlackStuff]

eBay, search with: ibm t61 hard drive cover and get them all in one go.

[Frankenstien]

RBS ... yeah ... I found lots of stuff available on eBay (I'm amazed at what's available out of China and their prices) ... cheapest complete set of HDD goodies (as described in earlier post) for this 15.4" LCD T61 is 3.90 from 'electronic_box' (free 15-20 day China EMS E-package) ... anyone ever use them or source much of the new reproduction parts out of China?

Back to my SoundMAX HD Audio ... after S.U. 3.15 had run its' course, I can report I now have on-screen displays of dedicated volume / mute buttons activation, however, still no sound ... I'll have to open this thing up and see if the speakers connector is intact and connected.

FFF

1010PDT25SEP12 edit - I tried the Stereo headphone (green) jack with a known good independently powered external speaker system attached ... no dice ... and no intermittent (laptop speaker) sound(s) while plugging / unplugging the external speakers ... if only the laptop speaker connection was bad (for whatever reason), I would have still expected to be able to get sound from the S.h. (green) jack.

1754PDT25SEP12 edit - I took this T61's palm rest off and keyboard out and examined the internal speakers connection - the PCB / female side of the connector (w. 4 male pins) had a tiny piece of the white plastic broken off of the front, left upper corner and this little piece was lodged under the left side of the removable plug ... I've removed said piece and examined the inside of the connector (pins are OK), then reseated the plug, however, still no sound. Evidently someone has been in here before trying to diagnose the no sound issue.
I'll have to run PC-Doctor for DOS and see what the Diagnostic tests say about the Modem daughter card (verified physically present) & Audio.

[Frankenstien]

OK ... this is a little strange ... I ran the prescribed FRU tests (as per the T61 [15.4'' w/s] HMM, '42x3546_04.pdf') on the 'Modem daughter card (MDC-1.5)' & 'Audio' with PC-Doctor for DOS (Version 2.0.1816.02, on a bootable CD) - those FRU's test OK ... I ran a full 'Normal test' on this T61 as well - all categories Passed, however, I screwed up on specifying a valid TEST.LOG path when trying to save the log and lost it. If someone could straighten me out on how to specify a valid log path, I'd sure appreciate it.

I am curious as to why, for the 'Audio' FRU test, per the HMM, one must: "Enter the BIOS Setup Utility and change Serial ATA (SATA) setting to Compatibility" mode. In my WXPVOL_EN installation of XP Pro SP3 (now) using (middleton's 2.29-1.08 [7LETC9WW], 2011-03-18 BIOS and) a Hitachi HTS723232A7A364 SATA-II HDD, I am forced to use Compatibility mode for SATA ... the AHCI mode setting produces a BSOD (this was true with the old 1.26 [7LET56WW], 2007-10-18 BIOS as well). Two things occur to me ... is audio dependent on AHCI mode somehow? And, is there a storage controller driver or implementation change that would allow me to run this T61 in AHCI mode? And to what advantage, if any?

With respect to the 'Speaker' FRU 'Interactive Tests --> Internal Speaker' (for which I got no sounds ... throughout the selectable frequency range), the language in the HMM is a little confusing:

"Note: Once Modem/Audio test is done, the no sound is heard this test. In this case, turn off and turn on the computer. Then, run this test again."

... first of all, for 'Internal Speaker', are we talking about a system board speaker (beep sounds only), or the T61's built-in stereo speakers?

And, does it follow that after the Modem/Audio tests are done, one would expect no sound for this test and, should, accordingly, power the T61 off and back on again in order to get valid test results?

Thanks, FFF

[TuuS]

An easy location for your test.llog would be c:\test.log. Then the file should be on the root of your c drive, just make sure you don't have a file with that name already. Alternately you can make a new folder on your c drive using any name you like such as "frankenstein", then your path would be "c:\frankenstein\test.log"

The reason you need to set the SATA controller to compatibility mode is because the bootable dos disc doesn't support SATA and won't be able to find your harddrive if you have it enabled.

As for your "no audio" problem, I've found that most such problems are software related not hardware. The easiest way to tell is to substitute an HDD from a similar system that is working, or boot a linux liveCD and see if sound works.

ps. my apology if this was already suggested, I didn't read the entire thread.

[Easy Wind]

or...it could be that the speakers are not plugged into the motherboard (it's been known to happen)?

you could remove the palm rest (which should be 4 screws on the bottom) and the speaker connection to the motherboard should be right there.

[miro_gt]

You may need to install the UAA HD Audio drivers before installing the SoundMax Audio driver.

I'm assuming that you already got the chipset drivers, the ACPI, and TPM drivers.

EDIT: typo, lol

[Frankenstien]

Hey Easy Wind & miro_gt ... thanks for weighing in on my T61 sound issue ... it's still a mystery until I gut that thing again ...

E W ... I did inspect the speakers connector ... see post # 6 (mine) in this thread and scroll to "1754PDT25SEP12 edit" ... that's why I will go in there again, go deeper and also test the speakers directly ... that ... and ... at that previous juncture, I found what I thought was a factory ballast around the speaker wires near the m/b connector ... it's not called for in this model variant, so, I'd better check individual speaker lead continuity through it - whatever it is.

miro_gt ... when you say "I" do you mean you or me? If 'I' need to install "UAA HD Audio drivers before installing the SoundMax Audio driver' then I'll look into that post-haste. If the latter, what exactly are you referring to when you say 'UAA HD Audio drivers', and, wouldn't that / they be something that Lenovo System Update would have caught?

Thanks, FFF

[miro_gt]

yes, typo, sorry.

I did clean install from SP2 back in the day and it required the UAA drivers first. Since then however I've made a SP3 installation CD so dont remember if it required those drivers as well, or they went built in the SP3 edition.

the bar on the screen when increasing/decreasing volume comes up from the HotKey driver, which in the late versions came built in the System Interface Driver, so when you download this one then it would include the hotkay driver inside the driver package.

note I dont use the thinkvantage load of useless programs that came with the laptop. Instead I've kept very few of those.

[Peak2Peak]

As per miro_gt - The UAA High Definition Audio class driver was a requirement for the T6x with Win XP installed and was sometimes missed when a clean install of Win XP was done (as these MS updates were usually manually installed) - Also I too am not sure if Win XP SP3 has these drivers included within - and if included are installed by default etc.

If required the Micrsoft UAA High Definition Audio class driver (Q888111) is available from here: ---> Windows XP Update Module Q888111 (US Only) - ThinkPad.

[Frankenstien]

Peak2Peak & miro_gt ... I went and got the Microsoft UAA High Definition Audio class driver (Q888111) and had high hopes for this as a solution to this T61's lack of audio issue ... however, after extracting the package to C:\DRIVERS\OSFIXES\WXPUP\XPSP2 and running C:\DRIVERS\OSFIXES\WXPUP\XPSP2\888111US.EXE /nobackup, the installer balks at my O/S status of XP SP3 and will not continue - it expects SP2 and won't run on SP3.

I've gone ahead and extracted 888111US.exe to its' own folder using 7-Zip ... just to see what's in it.

In a sub-folder called 'common files', there are two INFs & two SYSs ... hdaudbus & hdaudio ...

Looking at the device friendly names in the INFs, I can see that the package would have otherwise installed "Microsoft UAA Bus Driver for High Definition Audio" & "Microsoft UAA Function Driver for High Definition Audio( - Adi 1986[? closest thing listed])" (a T61 should be an 'Intel HD Audio with AD1984HD or AD1984JCP codec' per http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Category:T61, however, that specific DeviceDesc does not exist within hdaudio.inf ... ?)

Anyways, nothing even close appears under Device Manager with everything unhidden, so, I'm thinking I still need them, regardless of what the SP# checking routine has determined. Is that possible?

What would be the downside of trying to add hardware and pointing the installer to these INFs?

And, should I be uninstalling the SoundMAX driver(s) first if I do go ahead with forced hardware installs as I've proposed?

Thanks, FFF

[Easy Wind]

What would be the downside of trying to add hardware and pointing the installer to these INFs?
And, should I be uninstalling the SoundMAX driver(s) first if I do go ahead with forced hardware installs as I've proposed?
Thanks, FFF

Hmm, wouldn't hurt to try I guess! Do a "have disk" then point it to those inf's and report back. To make this cleaner it would make sense to uninstall first

[Peak2Peak]

Check this link ---> Problems installing audio drivers (and the link within).

[aoitenshi]

maybe this link can help you out ..

http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/109404- ... 26110-dts/

you might download SoundMAX Audio Driver v5.10.01.6240 for Windows XP(WHQL) released 2007/07/09 and install the audio driver manually from Device Manager

after I did a fresh install of WinXP Pro SP2 x64 on my T61, the first thing I installed was the audio driver before I use the Windows Updater and it worked like a charm

[Frankenstien]

Hey fellas ... thanks for all the input eh? ... these courses of action sound extremely promising ... I've digested the info at each of the links, downloaded everything and documented / saved all the sources so I can keep track of it all when I next get a chance to work on the T61 ... right now I've got to focus on CCG RHIOT course prep and will have to put the notebook work off for a bit.

Thanks again, FFF

P.S. I should be able to get back at this after the 24th and will pick up where I left off, rest assured.