Unable to install Audio Driver

[peterbeaumont]

I realize it's a bit late to be doing this, but I reinstalled Windows XP Pro on my old Laptop - everything worked except the installation of the Conexant Audio Driver, so I'm left with no sound.
I was confident that I had all the Drivers saved and all but this one ran ok. I'm sure I have the correct one but each time I try to install it, I receive a "failure" notice.
I "googled" a fair bit and tried some of the suggestions I found without any success.
It's an American Gateway M325 Laptop and I downloaded all the Drivers from the support page on their website (they were the same ones as I'd saved on a previous occasion).
When I've done previous installations, I've never had any trouble with this set of drivers, so I'm not sure what has happened this time.
If anyone could offer some advice, I would be most grateful.
 

[Steve]

I see that there are plenty of suggestions

ie http://forums.driverguide.com/showthread.php?t=37616

http://forums.driverguide.com/showthread.php?t=37616

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareDownloadIndex?softwareitem=ob-22932-1&cc=us&dlc=en&lc=en&os=228&product=434854&sw_lang=

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/47464-35-audio-driver-failure-installing-hard-drive

[peterbeaumont]

Thanks Steve, but I've trodden those paths already and I still can't get it working.
I have the driver files in my C:cabs folder, but the Windows install wizard just keeps saying it can't find the correct information and I finish up back at square one.
I'm just frustrated because on previous reinstall occasions, all the drivers have loaded correctly.
I have tried the previous (older) Gateway driver and also some "random" ones from other manufacturers, but still no luck.

[Simon]

Sorry if this something you've done, but have you checked to see if the sound card is listed in Device Manager?  If so, it should have a yellow ! symbol as the device hasn't been installed correctly.  If you right click it, then Uninstall and reboot, the machine should once again locate the sound card and request the driver.  You can then try again with the driver you think is correct.  I know this may seem to be a long way around in a circle, but it's just possible that the driver may not have installed properly the first time, and is 'blocking' further attempts at installing.  Uninstalling the device will get you back to square one. 

[Technical Ben]

At times I've had to install generic drivers (for this PC I think even) as the manufacture provided ones were slightly off. But thankfully if it's a generic chip, the chip maker should have generic drivers to go with it.

[peterbeaumont]

Steve - yes, I already did all that a few times without success and the "multimedia audio controller" still has the warning triangle against it no matter what I try.

Ben - I've tried various alternative drivers, Intel, Realtek etc. but not found one that is compatible yet, I'm open to offers if you have any ideas where else to look.

[Glenn]

Peter, have you tried the Gateway driver? http://support.gateway.com/support/drivers/getFile.asp?id=20819&dscr=Gateway%20Conexant%20AC-Link%20Audio%20Driver%20version:%206.14.10.0575&uid=409040697 There are 2 versions of it for 2 different part numbers.

[peterbeaumont]

Hi Glenn
Yes, that's the driver I've always previously used (successfully) and the one that's giving me trouble now.

[Glenn]

Does it give an error code along with the failure notice, something along the lines of 0xFFFFFFFF?

Have you tried installing in safe mode?

[peterbeaumont]

No error code appears, the install box reopens showing the device and just says "Failure".
I didn't try it in Safe Mode, but I will...

[peterbeaumont]

I tried in safe mode, but same result...I also ran Windows system file checker, rebooted but again, no luck.
Maybe I should attempt another clean reinstall?

[Glenn]

When you say system file checker, did you run a chkdsk /f /r from a command prompt?

[peterbeaumont]

I ran both chkdsk and sfc but no change, it still won't install.

[Technical Ben]

Drivers, especially for laptops, can be a pain. Let alone the hardware. 

[peterbeaumont]

Well...I did yet another clean reinstall and the damned thing still won't install 
I'm ready to call it a draw unless one of you magicians can suggest anything else...

[Glenn]

Does the sound work if you run from a live Linux cd?

[Glenn]

When are you trying to install the drivers, before or after applying service packs? Try changing the order that the drivers are installed.

[peterbeaumont]

Hi Glenn, yes the sound is fine in Linux.
This time, I installed the drivers straight after the new installation from the disk - it's XP Pro with SP3 - last time, I updated Windows first before trying the drivers.
I've already tried different sequences of driver installs too, but no luck yet.
The only unusual thing I've noticed is that in the past, the driver set up files have run and extracted to the "C:cabs" folder, but these last 2 times, that hasn't happened (there is no C:cabs folder).

[Simon]

Peter, I assume you're aware that Microsoft support for Windows XP is drawing to a close very soon?  Would it not be worth upgrading to a newer operating system, while you're in 'reinstallation mode', so to speak?  You might even find that newer OSes have the required drivers built in.  I know, when I upgraded my seven year old Windows XP desktop to Windows 7 last year, I didn't have any driver issues with my old hardware.

[peterbeaumont]

Hi Simon
Yes, I'm aware of the XP situation, that's really why I was trying to fix Windows on this machine and just leave it as an emergency backup whilst I plan a possible move to Linux.
I'm currently dual-booting Linux Lite and XP Pro on here temporarily, before I move to a new machine - I am using it as an experiment before I decide which Operating System to choose on a new Laptop.
This machine is now 9 years old and I'll probably leave it running Linux only and use it as a fallback should I ever need it.
It's so frustrating that I couldn't get the sound working, it's not life-threatening, it would just have been nice to have been able to figure it out.

[Lona]

Is it possible that your soundcard has just packed in.  I had this problem with an xp machine and it turned out I needed a new soundcard.

[peterbeaumont]

Hi Lona...no, the sound is fine when I boot into Linux on the same machine...

[kinmel]

Go into device manager and select properties for the sound device, select the "Details" tab  and in the "Property" drop-down select "Hardware Ids"

Put the displayed values into Google and that will give you details of all the drivers available for the underlying sound chipset.

[peterbeaumont]

Alan
Thanks, I tried that, but it just led me back to the Gateway driver that I already have...

[Lona]

Was your laptop originally loaded with XP or a previous version of windows.  It could be that, say you had Vista previously then you could install a Gateway driver compatible with Vista.