update to problem with Sigma Tel Audio drivers

I called microsoft yesterday asking what will be done via this problem for
those who cannot get updated drivers for the Sigma Tel audio driver. The
problem is Sigma no longer makes audio drivers and passed it off to another
company who told me they are not making updated drivers at all for this type
of audio codec.
So how do you get updated drivers if you cannot? I have been on many forums
via Dell and Gateway and thousand of customers have the same problem.

First microsoft was giving advise to uninstall the driver and allow Vista to
find its own drivers for this.
Many did this and found they still had no sound.

Microsoft also said to uninstall drivers, put sp1 on and then reput back the
driver for sigman tel.
Many who did this found after the sp1 install, when trying to put back the
driver, Vista now came back with an error msg saying "This driver is not
compatable for Vista"
so they wound up again with no sound.

Well after talking to the tech and he confirmed that this is what was being
said- now when people call in they are telling them not do do anything and
wait because microsoft is working on a solution to this.

They say it will show up in Windows Update either a patch or fix for this
problem.

I received this morning an email from microsoft that I am passing in here,
some of the info like email or confirmation number has been taken out just
for security.

see below

this will confirm what microsoft told me, I received an email today



This is Smitha Nair with Microsoft Windows Technical Support.

I am following up regarding your Windows service request . Here is an
outline of the steps that we agreed upon during our call:

Problem Description:
Needs information on installing service pack 1 on a computer with sigmatel
audio drivers.

Troubleshooting Performed:
We did not perform any troubleshooting onthe computer.

Action Plan:
Kindly wait for further updates from microsoft which addresses the sigma
audio driver compatibilty issues with service pack1.

My goal is to ensure that your experience with Microsoft Windows Technical
Support leaves you pleased with our products and services.

If you have any feedback regarding Microsoft support, we would be glad to
hear from you. If you would feel more comfortable speaking with someone
else regarding my service, Sumit , my manager, would be very happy to hear
your comments and suggestions.


Robin

If you have a desktop machine with integrated sound, you can go into BIOS
and disable it, then fitting a 3rd party sound card into an available slot..

yes but that costs money
and why should we have to go out and buy another sound card
Most users do not know how to do this by themselves and have to pay someone
to do this which can cost more money.
Microsoft should fix this because this driver works with Vista but not sp1

Microsoft doesn't write the drivers. The card's manufacturer does.

You have to go out and buy another sound card because the situation with
SigmaTel is that they will do nothing about it and they are the only ones
who can..

Hello "robinb":
I have a homebuilt Vista Ultimate PC with Intel DG965WH board and it came
with Sigma Tel onboard HD audio. I was unable to get SP1 thru automatic
update and after finding out about the Sigma Tel audio conflict, I went to
Intel's website for my board and they listed 2 "IDT" audio driver updates for
the board. I downloaded and installed the latest IDT HD audio driver and the
sound worked just fine and the next time I checked windows update there was
no SP1 offered but 2 hrs later Windows Update notified me in the taskbar that
there was an important update available and it was SP1 so I downloaded
overnight and installed the next day and it installed fine and the onboard
audio is working fine.
The point of all this is that I wonder if your pc has an intel board if
it might be worth trying to install the latest Intel IDT audio driver (Feb
2008 I think) from their site. If it works, fine, if not you can always
roll-back to the current driver. You would need to try and determine what
SigmaTel audio subsystem you have on your board..... and then go to the
download page for a board with that. My board is listed as having:
One of the following:
8-channel (7.1) audio subsystem using the SigmaTel* STAC9271 audio codec
8-channel (7.1) audio subsystem using the SigmaTel* STAC9271D audio codec
and Dolby* Home Theater certification.

Here is Intel's website with a list of their motherboards you can look
thru and see if yours is similar to one those:

http://www.intel.com/products/deskto...bd_body+dt_all

Good luck with your audio update for SP1!

how do you find out what board you have, I am assuming I have to open the
computer and look at the motherboard and it should say on it what it is?

Hi again "robinb":
You can open up the pc and normally find the model number and maker of
the board or easier, most pc manufacturers have a lot of information about
the technical specifications for your pc somewhere in their support section.
Your board may contain Intel components on a board manufactured by a third
party for your pc maker so it won't be easy to find am exact match to an
Intel manufactured board. I would look for the board chipset model # and
audio chipset version that's listed for your pc and try to find an Intel
board with the same. Or you can just take a chance and pick out an
IDT(formerly SigmaTel) driver for an Intel board with SigmaTel HD audio and
try to install it.........if it doesn't work the installer should tell you it
won't work. If you install it successfully and have probs you can roll back
to the previous driver in Device Manager. Or best of all, you can wait 'til
Microsoft updates your driver in Windows Update, or install a pci audio card
as mentioned in other posts. Since I build my own PC's and have several,
I'm more prone to experimenting even if it means having to re-store or
re-install the O.S. which is not something a lot of people want to mess with.

I did the 2nd thing removed the sigma tel driver, allowed vista to find the
m/s driver (reboot) sp1 became available, installed it, confirmed everything
was working to my liking, downloaded and reinstalled the old sigma tel
driver, no problems....worked both on my Dell e-520 desktop (with a oem
upgrade to Vista) & my 6750 laptop (factory installed Vista)....both were
home prem.

I think i am going to wait till microsoft comes up with a fix, there is no
hurry to put sp1 on at at this time
worse senerial is I will try the second part uninstall the driver, see if
that works or just go out and buy a new sound card.

uninstalled from add/remove programs.

If possible, the internal device should be disabled in BIOS to prevent Vista
loading drivers for it again..

yes but that doesn't take it out of the bios

explain how you removed the driver (besides going into device manger and
uninstalling the driver from there). How did you take it out from the bios?
thanks

I am posting this again because I got an error msg the first time and not
sure if it went

explain how you removed the driver (besides going into device manger and
uninstalling the driver from there). How did you take it out from the bios?
robin

Why would you? if you want your sound card/chip disabled in the bios, I
suppose you could go in there and disable it, I let the m/s driver install,
sp1 installed, then, after sp1 I downloaded the sigma tel driver and
reinstalled, my sound is now working fine....I never disabled anything in
the bios.

Has there been a solution to this problem yet?

It's generally a futile endeavor to try to get a reply from people in
a thread that has been dead for over a freaking year.

sigma tel & IDT suck


--
pacinitaly

SpellCherkers aren't worth a shirt ya no

If I helped you, please tip my scales. If I have not, curse me out like
a drunken sailor