Thinkpads Forum

HELLO All...

Is anyone successfully able to get audio from their IBM Thinkpad 770X,
under Windows XP? I have (apparently) the Crystal WDM device which is
not working when I install XP. I see no mention anywhere of
appropriate XP drivers for this device--I'd love to know if anyone has
it working successfully.

I have acquired a rather fine 770x (although the battery doesn't hold a charge), and it also came pre-loaded with XP. It would be a nice small tabletop unit just the same. I am most anxious to use it for listening audio/mp3 cds.

I can get the audio to work by fiddling with the System drivers and "reinstaling" the Crystal WDM Audio Codec item, and then going to the System Sounds to enable the speaker icon. But the setting doesn't stick at the next re-boot.

Here is what seems to work on my 770x (type 9549-71U) ...

Open Device Mangler... (Start/ControlPanel/System/Harware tab/DeviceManager)

Scroll down.. to see yellow exclamation markers on the "Sound, Video, Game Controllers.." item. (click on the "+" sign to expand that item).. In the list there would be a yellow exclamation symbol next to "Crystal WDM Audio Codec". Then I select UNINSTALL the driver.

Then Right-Click on the "Audio Codecs" item and select "Scan for hardware changes". The Device Mangler appears to recycle a couple of times as it refreshes that list.

I confirm that the "Crystal WDM Audio Codec" entry has reappeared and that there is no yellow exclamation mark next to it. Then I close down the Device Mangler and then..

Open ... Start/ControlPanel/"Sounds and Audio Devices" At this point the audio setting is NOT greyed out as it would be before this point. I go to the AUDIO tab and make sure that the Crystal WDM audio device is selected for the Playback and the Recording configurations. I go to the VOICE tab and make sure that the Crystal WDM is selected there too. Then lastly, I enable the "Place volume control on task bar" in the VOLUME tab.

Those are the steps that allow audio to be realized on my 770x. But these adjustments don't "stick" after the next reboot for me. WHY?

The current BIOS is version "iiet29ww". I can't install the new "spsdii42" because this 770x doesn't have a floppy drive.

Any help would be appreciated!!!!
...Ogg

Hello....

I would take a guess at it being the older Bios....cause if ya read the info on the newest Bios,it adds support for XP......could also be the XP supplement files weren't installed http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... SHY-3PGT93 apply the CState by going into where the files were unzipped(C:\Drivers)and double clicking on CState and add to registry...

But i've done numerous XP installs on the whole 770 line and never had that prob....but they were all upgraded to the new Bios before doing the install....

Download the new Bios update and run it and make the floppy(if you have something else with a floppy and a cd burner),now open your burning program and make a bootable data cd with the floppy image...make sure cd is set to boot first,and update your bios with the cd...or wait...did you say your battery won't charge???..gotta have a fully charged battery pack to update the bios!!!....I know there was a way to bypass this with the 600 series but never tried it on a 770 series...

Anyone ever done it????

Could also try right clicking on the WDM's in your Device Manager and uninstall them....reboot and windows will reload the drivers....

Good Luck !!!!

Greg St.L

Thankyou for the suggestions. I applied the Cstateflag after I discovered the XP Supplement at the IBM site. But that's the only item that seems to be relevant for the 770x.

Is the battery absolutely necessary for BIOS update? I have been using the pc with AC without incident. Your notion of creating a bootable image of the "floppy" files would be worth a try if I could be absolutely sure that a charged battery pack is not required. Why wouldn't the laptop simply use the AC power source for the entire BIOS update process?

The laptop can enter the "F1" state at bootup OK. I haven't fully explored any of the tests or adjustments in there though.

I looked into the boot sequence setting, but I can't seem to make any adjustments (I guess I need to read the manual). There are 4 boxes across the top numbered 1, 2, 3, 4 underneath each box. Then there is big "#1" next the first box and the floppy symbol in it. Then there is a box with what would resemble a CD but there is no number next to it. Then the 3rd box has the HDD symbol and ALSO the ""1" next to the box. The 4th box is empty.

I am glad to hear that you've had cooperative 770x's in installing XP. Atleast I know that there is hope! :-/ I just finished installing the security updates from MS's Feb'04 Security Update CD without incident.

I have thought of uninstalling the entire "Audio, Sounds.." set of devices and allow XP to redetect everything, afterall, I am having modest success in just unstalling and redetecting the one WDM Audio Codec entry. OR... are you suggesting that I just do the ones specifically labelled "WDM"?

I tried noting the "settings" in a successful audio driver configuration and then making a "Manual" entry of the same numbers, but that didn't seem to work.

Is the battery absolutely necessary for BIOS update? I have been using the pc with AC without incident. Your notion of creating a bootable image of the "floppy" files would be worth a try if I could be absolutely sure that a charged battery pack is not required. Why wouldn't the laptop simply use the AC power source for the entire BIOS update process?

Yes the Bios install looks for a fully charged battery before allowing the upgrade....I guess just in the event that a power loss occurs during the upgrade...but you can try the explanation here http://www.thinkpads.com/batteryless.htm ,I've never tried it myself...

I looked into the boot sequence setting, but I can't seem to make any adjustments (I guess I need to read the manual). There are 4 boxes across the top numbered 1, 2, 3, 4 underneath each box. Then there is big "#1" next the first box and the floppy symbol in it. Then there is a box with what would resemble a CD but there is no number next to it. Then the 3rd box has the HDD symbol and ALSO the ""1" next to the box. The 4th box is empty.

When you are at that screen,click the reset window,that will empty all the boxes....then click the CD first,Floppy second,and HDD-1 third,then OK,Exit.Restart....CD is now set as first boot device...

I have thought of uninstalling the entire "Audio, Sounds.." set of devices and allow XP to redetect everything, afterall, I am having modest success in just unstalling and redetecting the one WDM Audio Codec entry. OR... are you suggesting that I just do the ones specifically labelled "WDM"?

Yes....Removing the WDM ones will also remove the others....

I myself would look into flashing the bios and do a fresh reinstall of XP

Keep us informed on how you're making out....

Later....

Greg St.L

I made up a bootable Bios Upgrade Cd for the 770X,following the batteryless instructions I gave in the post above.....I tried it with mine and it booted from it no problem....to the A:\ prompt......but I just didn't have the heart to type flash2 and try it out....I just upgraded this one to 500Mhz,got 516Mb Ram,and have a 13.7" 8Mb shell on its way.....so i just don't have the guts to try it......not sure if it would come up with the normal couple prompts first,or if it would just go right into upgrading it.....so i'm not really sure it will work.....if you want to try it out,i'll attatch it......BUT I'VE NEVER TRIED IT....USE AT OWN RISK.....maybe when I get the shell,i'll try it out....

Well I can't figure out how to attatch stuff here.....can we attatch files in this new forum????

Email me if you want the copy of it....

Later....

Greg St.L

sickofit wrote:

Yes the Bios install looks for a fully charged battery before allowing the upgrade....I guess just in the event that a power loss occurs during the upgrade...but you can try the explanation here http://www.thinkpads.com/batteryless.htm ,I've never tried it myself...

Hello Greg.. Just a follow-up on my situation.. I attempted the batteryless approach, but the machine wouldn't cooperate, naturally. The only thing that looked promising was the bootable image of the Update disk. I allowed the program to "check" the battery and it reported that it won't proceed because the battery was not fully charged. Right after that, something quite miraculous happend. I noticed that the battery seemed to be charging! It went from 0% (and flashing) to 1% (steady) then 2% in about 5 minutes. Then it climbed to 3% 10 minutes after that. Then it climbed to 4% about 10 more minutes later. I walked away from that for about 40 minutes.. but the next time I looked at the LCD dispaly, it reported 100% !!! I immediately applied the BIOS Update. I then followed the intructions and did the "Initialize" in Setup. Then on the next full re-boot, I was greeted with Window's sounds!

QUESTION.. What should I be assuming with this behaviour of the battery? Up until then, it simply would not register past a flashing 0%. Now it's seems to hover at 95% and 100% while connected to the AC. As an experiment, I left the TP unplugged for about 8 hours. The next time I turned it on, the battery reading was 68%. But it quicky reached 100% within 10 to 20 minutes after I plugged in the AC.