no audio and the device has an exclamation mark

[fulham]

Hi,
I am new to the forum.
I installed win xp on top of win 7 following instructions on the forum, on my Dell Inspiron 1520.
I have restored all the drivers that I have backed up (I used to have win xp before win 7, I uninstalled it but backed up the drivers before formatting the win xp drive).
Now there is no audio and the device has an exclamation mark in device properties.
Audio is working ok on Win 7.
I don't know what to do now. Any help will be appreciated.
Also, another quick question: Can win xp run the programmes installed on the win 7 partition or they need to be installed separately?
cheers

 

[Bill2]

If the audio device has an exclamation mark in Device Manager, it means that the correct audio drivers are not installed. Right click on the device and click on Update driver software. Let it go online and update the driver. If that doesnt work, identify the correct driver and download and install.
Do you have a dual boot setup with xp on one partition and win7 on another? In that case, no, xp cannot run the programs installed on 7 and vice versa. You need to install them separately.

 

[fulham]

If the audio device has an exclamation mark in Device Manager, it means that the correct audio drivers are not installed. Right click on the device and click on Update driver software. Let it go online and update the driver. If that doesnt work, identify the correct driver and download and install.
Do you have a dual boot setup with xp on one partition and win7 on another? In that case, no, xp cannot run the programs installed on 7 and vice versa. You need to install them separately.

Thanks for the quick reply.
I downloaded and installed audio driver for my system from dell website and it fixed the problem instantly.
I will install the programmes separately for the 2 different systems now, as I seem to have no choce.
BTW, from what you have said, how does one install win 7 and win xp on the same partition in order to share the same programmes? Is that possible by any chance?
cheers

 

[Bill2]

You cant install 2 different OS' on the same partition. But if you are keen on continuing to use XP, you can try XP in virtual mode (XP mode) inside win7. For this to work natively, your processor must support virtualization and the settings must be enabled in the bios. But you still cannot use one OS's apps from another. Below is a nice tutorial on setting up XP mode in Win7.

Set Up and Use XP Mode in Windows 7 - Windows 7 XP Mode - Lifehacker

If your processor doesnt support virtualization, you can still use XP mode. Below is the tutorial.

Run XP Mode on Windows 7 Machines Without Hardware Virtualization - virtual machines - Lifehacker

 

[fulham]

You cant install 2 different OS' on the same partition. But if you are keen on continuing to use XP, you can try XP in virtual mode (XP mode) inside win7. For this to work natively, your processor must support virtualization and the settings must be enabled in the bios. But you still cannot use one OS's apps from another. Below is a nice tutorial on setting up XP mode in Win7.

Set Up and Use XP Mode in Windows 7 - Windows 7 XP Mode - Lifehacker

If your processor doesnt support virtualization, you can still use XP mode. Below is the tutorial.

Run XP Mode on Windows 7 Machines Without Hardware Virtualization - virtual machines - Lifehacker

Thanks for that.
cheers