No Sound After Installing a Windows Vista Upgrade

Affected Products: Software
Affected Operating Systems: Windows Vista™

ISSUE: There is no audio output from the SigmaTel sound card after completing the process for a Windows Vista™ Upgrade. On the taskbar, when hovering over the speaker icon, the message "No Audio Output Device is Installed" is displayed and there is a red X beside the speaker.

Error message

RESOLUTION: Remove the SigmaTel audio driver through Control Panel, restart the computer, and then reinstall the driver.

Remove the driver: These steps must be followed to remove the SigmaTel Audio driver:

  1. From the Windows Vista™ default Start menu, click Control Panel.

  2. In Control Panel, click Uninstall a Program.

  3. In the Programs and Features window, select SigmaTel Audio, and then click Uninstall.

  4. In the User Account Control dialog box, click Continue.

  5. In the Confirm Uninstall dialog box, click OK.

  6. In the Configuring SigmaTel Audio Driver and Applications dialog box, click Finish.

  7. Restart the computer
Note: It is important that you confirm how you upgraded to Windows Vista. If you used the Windows Anytime Upgrade (from one version of Windows Vista to another), follow the steps in Reinstallation Method 1. If you upgraded using the Windows Express Upgrade (from Windows XP to Windows Vista), follow the steps in Reinstallation Method 2.

Reinstallation Method 1: To reinstall the SigmaTel Audio driver from Recovery Center, follow these steps:

Note: If the Gateway Recovery Center is not present, follow the resolution found in Issue Number 2-2420737301.

  1. From the Windows Vista™ default Start menu, click All Programs, Gateway Recovery Center, and then click Gateway Recovery Center or eMachines Recovery Center.

  2. In the User Account Control dialog box, click Continue.

  3. In the Welcome to Gateway/eMachines Recovery Center window, click Hardware, Device driver recovery, and then click Sound devices.

  4. Click Audio driver (there is only one driver to select).

  5. Click Next, and then click Finish.

  6. Check the audio output.

Reinstallation Method 2: To reinstall the SigmaTel Audio driver from the Companion disc, follow these steps:

  1. With the computer started and running Windows Vista, place the Windows Vista Drivers and Applications Upgrade disc in the optical drive and allow it to autorun. In the Autoplay dialog box, click Run Grc_Vista.exe.
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  2. In the User Account Control dialog box, click Continue.

  3. In the Programs dialog box, click Device driver recovery.
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  4. In the Device driver recovery dialog box, select Sound Devices.
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  5. In the component dialog box, select the SigmaTel audio driver, and then click Next.

  6. The selected driver is installed.

  7. In the Congratulations dialog box, click Finish.
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