Update 2/8/07: In a new post “SigmaTel and PC Manufacturers” I’ve linked to the 3 biggest manufacturers that have Vista drivers for the SigmaTel audio codecs.
Update: 1/12/07: I found that I had to uninstall the current drivers, reboot and then install the downloaded driver for a clean install.
I’ve gotten a lot of hits on both parts 1 & 2 of this topic. I’ve also gotten some good comments and some people that are having real problems with the SigmaTel drivers. I have not experienced the headphone problem after reinstalling the drivers with Windows Update. On the other hand I’ve had a lot of people comment with their solutions. So, to put them all in one place I’m adding them here in this blog, instead of the comments area.
1. For an Intel motherboard goto the Intel site and under the download section select your motherboard. For my Intel mobo (different to yours) the latest Sigmatel driver is dated 8/8/2006
2. Had hella probs with audio tried the update through windows tried re installing old drivers and nothing worked almost gave up then i tried unistalling my audio drivers then reinstalling after restart and Ive got sound out of my headphones cant believe it! Uninstall your audio drivers start from scratch then reinstall old drivers from resource cd or dell site.
3. I installed Vista on a dell D600 laptop and also couldn’t get sound via my headphones. The problem was nothing to do with drivers – by default the ‘headphones’ level was muted for the audio device! Go to ‘Sound’ in the control panel and then click on ‘properties’ for the sound device (’SigmaTel C-Major Audio’ in my case). Click on the ‘levels’ tab and scroll down to ‘headphones’. click on the little speaker icon to un-mute headphones!
4. I’ve got this sorted on the Inspiron 6000 now – I’ve installed the Realtek AC’97 XP drivers (for my Sigmatel C-Major) and that has fixed it, although it took 3 attempts to get through the install process.
5.
a. Right click on the speaker icon, select Playback Devices.
b. Click Speakers one time (should say something like SigmaTel Audio CODEC Working).
c. Click on properties, go to Levels tab.
d. Click on Input Monitor.
Your input is enabled, then just go to Recording tab and select as default the input you’re going to use (line in, microphone, rear mic) This should resolve the issue, it’s the same in XP only the Input monitor is a lot harder to find in Vista! They did a great job hinding it aparantly, don’t you miss the days of being able to just hit properties? Anyway, took me 1/2 hour to find this, and then it was an accident. I was getting volume (run my HD DVR sound through the sound card and the DVI cable through the monitor) according to the Recording properties just no sound coming out. Be aware, I found my first BSOD shortly after getting the sound to install
Hope this takes care of your mic issues and also helps others who may have had the same driver install issues I came across Dimension E521: 160gb SATA HD, 16x DVD+-RW, 1024MB DDR2, SigmaTel High Definition 7.1= Surround, NVIDIA 7300 LE 256MB, INTEX PC TV Capture, Vista RC1
Thanks to David, Kirk, Alex, Graeme & Michael for these helpful solutions.
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None of the solutions worked… Not the Intel website drivers. Sound still cracks (distorted) with the intel website driver (15-11-06).
The default HD driver with Vista RTM doesnt show the rear mic for Intel DG965RY board. Only shows SPDIF Input! So cant use my mic with the default driver.
Intel has no VISTA audio drivers for D945GNT — If I’m reading correctly — I should be trying the XP version? Boo!
I guess I should note there’s no manufacturer for my PC
that’s me, and where I work. We’re Intel Premiere Providers and still have no solution for us =(
Just called Intel.. They’re not going to offer or worry about it until it’s on retail shelves.. d’oh!
Hopefully I’ll have upgraded to a nice Core 2 quad-core processor and new mobo by then 
i look forward.. at least I own DDR2 RAM already! 
Im really happy today… Intel released its driver 6.10.5274, which works perfectly for Vista. Now everything is perfect!!
Hi guys…. I have Intel DG965SS motherboard with onboard sigmatel 92xx(9227?) audio. I’ve downloaded the newest driver version “6.10.5274_V3″ and bios is up to date. But I have still problem with my microphone … it doesn’t work, in recording devices menu I see 3 devices(line in,rear and frot mic) …but it’s status is “Not Available” or something like that….any suggestions?
3 phone calls to dell, 2 motherboards and 3 days is all it took for Dell to tell me that the problem I was experiencing (#3 on your list) was a software problem. I found your blog via http://www.live.com and now I can hear through my headphones.
thanks.
M
Laptops and sound cards.
I have a sony vaio and i have found that most vaios have an option in the bios screen regarding sound. I found that when i installed vista i had no sound. So i went into the bios (F2 at start up), i then looked through the menus and turned the volume rite up. Through some trick, vista then detected the sound chip and began to work. Only problem with it is that the start up tune on the vista is now quite loud. The sound then in vista is controllablevia the speaker icon at the bottom.
Thanks,Matt Starkie m.starkie@heasandford.lancsngfl.ac.uk
I have a Vaio VGX-XL100 and installed vista and got the problem to I followed your advise and the sound is woorking but I still have problems with the CODEC the start up tune works but in games or in media player it doesn’t work can you help me ???
Thanks
I have a Dell Inspiron 6000 with Windows Vista Ultimate installed.
How did you get the Realtek AC’97 XP drivers to install???
I can’t get them installed.
I just bought a gateway an had the same problem. Hook the original speakers up then after the computer recognizes it then you might be able to hook up the newer speakers. With my original set there was just two speakers ,but it has two connection one being a usb plug the other is RC you have to leave the usb plugged in an unplug the rc then plug in the newer speakers then you can unplug the usb plug not before. but get the newer speakers ready to plug in so all you have to do is just plug the rc plug in and you should be ready to go. p.s. never get rid of the original speakers cause you might have to do this later oh yeah if you got a gateway you also have to have the remote control / IR hook up you”ll only get so far in the set up. good luck!!
I have a Toshiba QOsmio F30 using a SigmaTel HD Audio CODEC, and whenever i am using Media Player or using any of my games the sound fades in and out (Although following some sort of unknown pattern). in CS the footsteps are louder then my gun shots etc…
Really wierd.. are there soem sort of new drivers i can install to fix this problem? or will this mean ill need to go out and buy a new “CREATIVE SOUND BLASTER Audigy 2 ZS Notebook Sound Card”.
Ne help is much appreciated
lol just quickly as an example in media player.
When im playing MSI “straight to video” (just an example, i actually hate the band”)
The song will start off and go;
then just before lyrics kik when the singer is done . Its in a wierd pattern as tho its trying to sound fancy… is it a setting?
To expand on this issue, Microsoft and/or Dell seem to have pushed an update out to our Inspiron E1505/6400 laptops running Windows XP – and thathas crippled the Sigmatel audio device driver.
Uninstalling and reinstalling drivers will not work – the Dell Sigmatel driver installers for Windows XP fail with an error that they are not compatible with the hardware. The only solution I’ve been able to find from Dell Support (in the Dell forums) is a reinstall of the OS.
It would appear that Microsoft’s change in audio driver architecture is now rippling outwards.
Max,
You can get the Vista SigmaTel drivers in the Dell support pages. I’ve linked it in my other post that is in bold as an update above:
http://kumaryu.wordpress.com/2006/11/23/sigmatel-drivers-vista-update-3/
I’ve used them and on my E1505 and they have worked fine….
Ray
IDT purchased sigmatel, and there is a known issue with upgrades. The link below talks about how to work around the problem.
(Note: I’ve removed the link and posted the text. I’ve also commented below in a new comment. Ray)
IDT acquired the SigmaTel PC Audio products and all support for SigmaTel PC Audio is now handled by IDT.
Known Issue
* Audio Driver stops working after upgrade to Vista (from XP to Vista, or from a base version of Vista to a more advanced version of the OS)
o AUDIO ISSUE OVERVIEW
Microsoft Vista supports upgrading an existing Windows system. During this upgrade process, previously installed audio device drivers are copied and reinstalled on the new Vista installation. This can involve upgrading from an earlier version of Windows (like XP), or from another version of Vista (e.g. Vista Home to Vista Ultimate).
During this process, a problem occurs where some of the files required for the IDT audio driver installation become inaccessible.
o RESOLUTION
This problem can be fixed by installing an updated audio driver, or by reinstalling the existing driver.
However, before doing this, the currently installed driver must be uninstalled. This process is explained below.
Driver Uninstall Instructions (HTML)
Driver Uninstall Instructions (PDF)
ADDITIONAL VISTA SUPPORT
Please be sure to visit the web-based support pages published by your computer system vendor for additional information and any available driver updates. IDT’s OEM partners (your computer system vendor) provide IDT with detailed feature-set and behavioral specifications for every model. IDT must comply with our customer’s specifications for their systems. We are NOT allowed to distribute OEM drivers to end-users, nor can we make modifications to the drivers outside of these manufacturer’s specifications.
Cathy,
Thanks for the comment. One thing that is in the post from IDT is one thing that has been brought up over and over again in the different posts here.
That being: This problem can be fixed by installing an updated audio driver, or by reinstalling the existing driver. So, if a person would link from the UPDATE link at the being of this blog they can link straight to Gateway, Dell and Intel for the latest drivers. My other recent post:
Click Here: Updated SigmaTel Drivers
has drivers as of July and also links to Sony Vaio systems.
Also, IDT is handling support the exact same way as SigmaTel in that they do not distribute the drivers to the end user and that you have to get them from the computer manufacturer or motherboard maker.
Ray
[...] This link has a discussion and possible solution (this is a known and difficult issue): http://anythingdiscussions.com/2006/…ista-update-3/ "RtekBillabong" <RtekBillabong> wrote in message [...]
thank you this helped a lot. Mic finally works.