Thinkpads Forum

I'm trying to set up an older model Thinkpad for my neighbor. I'm not sure what model it is..but it's a nice little machine that seems pretty fast. Problem is...I can't get the sound to work. I went into the BIOS and there is no option to turn sound on or off. When I click on an mp3 file...Windows media player loads, but it give me the following error message:

"Cannot play back the audio stream: no audio hardware is available, or the hardware is not responding."

When I click "details", it tells me "there is no sound card, or your computer is not functioning properly." It give me this error ID:

0x80040256, Remedy ID = 0x0000000

In Device Manager...there are yellow flags indicating problems with a bunch of things...one of which is Multimedia Audio Center. Also listed is SM Bus Controller. Video controller is also listed, but I have no problems with video. When I try to let Windows reinstall these devices...it can't find the driver, though I direct it to

c:\windows
c:\windows\system
c:\windows\system32

Any idea how I can get this lady's sound to work? This machine was a gift to her...so I wonder if it was given to her because the sound card was dead...and it was too expensive to fix.

You need some device drivers (for several devices from the looks of it). Go to:
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... eLenovo.do

Enter the machines seven character Type number, which is usually found on a label on the bottom of the laptop, or if the label is missing look in the BIOS for the first seven characters of the system board serial number, and it will bring up all the details of that model, and give you a list of all the available drivers. Just download and install what you need.

Or, you could install System Update and let it almost automatically search for and install all the drivers.

Would I have to hook it to the net to run system update?

The only thing not working that I care about is the sound. I had it working an hour ago...system sound anyway. I even got it to play an mp3 file via Powerdesk.

I think it may be an interrupt problem. I brought up the bios and each PCI is set to interrupt 11. Looks like this on the screen:

INTA PCI IRQ 11
INTB PCI IRQ 11
INTC PCI IRQ 11
INTD PCI IRQ 11

and so on. It would be very nice if it looked like this:

SOUND PCI IRQ 11
VIDEO PCI IRQ 11

and so on. I'm blind with this...don't know what to change, and can't recall how to get to the interrupts on windows xp.

If you can advise...thanks. Meanwhile, I'll click on the site you recommended and see if I can find system update.

Neil wrote:You need some device drivers (for several devices from the looks of it). Go to:
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... eLenovo.do

Enter the machines seven character Type number, which is usually found on a label on the bottom of the laptop, or if the label is missing look in the BIOS for the first seven characters of the system board serial number, and it will bring up all the details of that model, and give you a list of all the available drivers. Just download and install what you need.

Or, you could install System Update and let it almost automatically search for and install all the drivers.

Can you tell me which PCI has the sound, which interrupt it should be using, and which interrupt the serial port uses. I have the serial port turned off...so i could use that interrupt for the sound.

Neil wrote:You need some device drivers (for several devices from the looks of it). Go to:
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... eLenovo.do

Enter the machines seven character Type number, which is usually found on a label on the bottom of the laptop, or if the label is missing look in the BIOS for the first seven characters of the system board serial number, and it will bring up all the details of that model, and give you a list of all the available drivers. Just download and install what you need.

Or, you could install System Update and let it almost automatically search for and install all the drivers.

Yes, you would have to be connected to internet for System Update to do it magic. You will also have to install and updated Windows installer and dotnetfx before System Update will work.

Sorry I can't give any advice on IRQ issues, as I've never ran into any problems on any ThinkPad I've set up, since the OS usually takes care of that. But, if you see yellow ! in device manager, you either don't have the drivers installed, don't have them install correctly or have the wrong drivers installed.

Easiest way to install and setup a system is with Recovery Disks that came with the system. BTW, what model is this your working on? And what is the OS you are trying to install?

It's a T40...running Windows XP. I'm not sure which build...as "help, about" was not available. I can't hook this thing to the net, so I guess I'll just have to surrender on the sound issue. The reason I think it's an interrupt problem is the sound works when I boot up..but as soon as I try to play a sound, sound goes away.

Neil wrote:Yes, you would have to be connected to internet for System Update to do it magic. You will also have to install and updated Windows installer and dotnetfx before System Update will work.

Sorry I can't give any advice on IRQ issues, as I've never ran into any problems on any ThinkPad I've set up, since the OS usually takes care of that. But, if you see yellow ! in device manager, you either don't have the drivers installed, don't have them install correctly or have the wrong drivers installed.

Easiest way to install and setup a system is with Recovery Disks that came with the system. BTW, what model is this your working on? And what is the OS you are trying to install?

If the machine has an original IBM installation, the drive install files should be on the hard drive (probably in c:\drivers). For each of the items with the yellow flags, select update or reinstall driver and let windows search for a driver. If the drivers are on the disk, they should be found. If they’re not there, you could download the needed driver to another machine from the link Neil provided, copy the downloaded files to the T40 and run the installs.

Don’t be concerned about the IRQ situation, the OS should sort it all out.

Install these audio drivers: http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-61604

It's normal for all PCI devices to share one IRQ. Did the updated drivers fix the issue?