Windows 7: No laptop speaker sound Gateway 7320

I have a Gateway 7320 and I have recently installed Windows 7 evaluation copy on my laptop. The mixer is displaying output from the sound card but there is no audio playing from the laptop speakers. I have gone to the Realtek page and downloaded the current drivers. I know the speakers work because I have a Linux OS installed on this computer and the audio works fine.

Also I tried to install a USB external audio card and no sound was hear from that installed device ether.

Any ideas?

bschrox; Welcome to Windows Seven Forums! We are glad you stopped in.

Please let me ask some basic questions first. What do you find when you click on the "speaker" icon, lower right task bar?



Open the "Volume Mixer" and "Sounds" and first see that sound has not been muted.



In sound properties, make sure the sound driver has been enabled and check the properties.



Under the "Levels" tab, you can also check sound levels and muted sounds.



Finally, skipping "Enhacements" over to "Advanced", you can test several sound bit levels.



Post back and let us know what you find?

Robert

Thank you for responding to my post. I went through and checked all of those options and still no sound. I did notice that your driver name is different from mine under the controller information in speaker properties. It says "Intel(r) 82801DB/DBM AC '97 Audio Controller.

Your welcome! Hope I can help.

You don't say in your post or specs (thanks for filling that in, by the way ) whether you are using 32bit or 64bit Windows 7. I will guess by the age of the Gateway you are using 32bit. According to Gateway, your sound is Conexant. I found a link on Gateway's site for an older Vista 32bit driver that might work for you. You are welcome to try it or look around for something newer.

http://support.gateway.com/support/drivers

Let us know if this helps!

Robert

Yes, I am running a 32-bit version of Windows 7. I tried to install the driver from Gateway but during the installation is finished screen it shows a message "installation failed"
I tried the installation twice but still the same message.

Have you tried updating the sound driver with "Device Manager" and selecting a Conexant sound driver?

Were there any other Conexant drivers on Gateway's site?

I found several Conexant drivers for Vista and 7 by Googling: 'conexant audio "windows 7"'. There are 7 compatible drivers out there, you just have to find the one that will work with your Gateway. Let us know if you find something that works. I'll keep looking tonight and post what I find tomorrow.

http://support.gateway.com/support/d...3&uid=24156832

http://support.gateway.com/s/Mobile/...50.pdf#page=85

Robert

Thanks again for all your help! I will search and see what I can also find out.

I will keep you posted.

It seems that certain sound chipsets function perfectly in a Vista or 7 environment whereas a few others are simply not being supported by manufacturers. Some can use the AC97 drivers as a kind of generic driver and get by.

As Gateway is not forthcoming as to the exact chipset it used in your M-7320 GZ (it says it can and will use whatever chipset is available at the moment) maybe we can find out: Go to the Control Panel and open the Realtek "Sound Effect Manager", that is if you still have the Realtek driver installed. Click the "General" tab and post back the "Audio Controller". That may help in finding an exact match for a compatible driver.



Others have had success loading older drivers in "Compatibility Mode". Here is a tutorial on Compatibility Mode.

The only other solution I came across is a PCMCIA notebook sound card?

At the bottom of this page are similar threads that bear reading.

Robert

I have a 7322GZ and I think you touched upon the fundamental problem in this paragraph. A month or so ago, I spent several days doing all the steps you outlined without any success. (The laptop previously had XP and I went back to XP this week) I'm not forking over the money for the release of 7 if I can't get my sound to work. As opposed to Vista, using 7 has been an enjoyable experience the last couple of months but if the general attitude for older systems and driver support is "you are on your own" then I think there will be many frustrated users. I can understand printers, external devices and scanners and such but soundcard support is pretty fundamental and shouldn't be orphaned.

Moptop

I agree. I have one of those orphaned chipsets. with a forced driver I was able to get stereo, but no enhancements, boost, or anything else. We dont have much of a choice though.

Ken