My friends computer is an eMachines W3619, it came with Windows vista and the Driver Downloads from the eMachines Support Page offer no Windows XP drivers and that is what he just re-installed on his computer. We tried the Vista drivers which didn't work, the drivers are called "Sigmatel HD Audio Driver R155", is there a way for Sound to work on this computer without Windows Vista being reinstalled? We're out of ideas, any help would be great!
A quick google brings up a few hits. If you can find yourself a WinXP driver for an Intel 945GC-based mobo with Sigmatel HD Audio on it, I'd give it a whirl. The first/second hit on there looks pretty promising.
I looked the computer up on http://www.e4allupgraders.info and it said that the computer uses http://www.e4allupgraders.info/dir1/motherboards/socket775/ecs945GCT-M3.shtml the audio drivers it lists are the RealTek ALC880 which I find odd, considering the eMachine website only offers Sigmatel drivers but even this website doesn't list those as the Vista Drivers. He's gone to sleep now and hopefully in the morning if these work I can update you on the situation here, he's not exactly the best person when it comes to computers, as an example he didn't know that his printer had a scanner and copier in it. I may have to end up going there and doing this.
Whatever you do, make sure to only update Windows to SP2 and then install the HD audio update/hotfix and the audio driver before updating to XP SP3 (if you want to update to SP3 at all). Otherwise you'll be very hard pressed to ever get Windows to recognize your audio subsystem, as there is a flaw in SP3. You might also need to find out exactly which driver you need by examining the PCI ID. This can only be done after successfully installing the HD audio hotfix. EDIT: By the way, on the eMachines support site the driver is falsely listed as being from SigmaTel. In reality it is from RealTek, so you should be able to grab the latest driver from here. This driver should already contain the HD audio hotfix, so the only thing you need is a working XP pre-SP3.
That may be the issue, I think he went ahead and installed SP3, I'm dropping by his house tomorrow or the day after to fix it, he really doesn't want Vista so I hope what you said works Azrael, I imagine that I will be able to make it work, if not ehh, I'll give him an old sound card that I know works with XP and use that.
I hope it works out for your friend! It should be possible to roll back SP3 unless too much has been installed on top, so he should try that first. Also, remember to go for a RealTek driver and not for a SigmaTel driver. The latter simply won't work, ever.
Went over to his house, installed the RealTek Driver with SP3 installed, reset the PC and it works perfectly, thanks for all the help
