Paul
Fri Mar 28 16:46:24 PDT 2008
OlChic wrote:
> Paul, Thank you so much for the info you gave. Im sorry to say that nothing
> worked. I went to all of the sites you gave me and some more you didn't give
> me.I had been to the sharp site before and whatever I downloaded didn't
> work.Im not very computer smart but know I can follow directions. I do not
> know where to find BIOS nor do I know what its for, it wasn;t in the device
> manager or maybe I missed it. Thanks for your help and consideration.
The BIOS is what the computer "starts with" when it boots up. There is
a reprogrammable memory chip, with code stored in it. When the power
first comes on, inside the laptop, the processor program counter is
set to point to that code. It starts executing BIOS code (Basic Input
Output System). The BIOS knows how to read the hard drive and the
CD drive. It follows a procedure to read the disk and bootstrap
the operating system (load it into memory). At some point, control
is passed from the BIOS to the operating system. At that point, just
as the desktop screen appears, all the OS drivers are now in control
of their respective hardware.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BIOS
The user manual will mention a key you press, to enter the BIOS
Setup screen. In there, it is possible to disable hardware.
It is also possible to disable hardware, in the Device Manager.
But to do that, you'd still see an entry for the device in the
Device Manager. If you checked its status, there would be a
little option box, to "Enable" or "Disable" it. A disabled
device, won't nag you about drivers, as a disabled device needs
no driver. Similarly, if the device was disabled, I doubt a
driver is going to "take", as it is effectively no longer
there.
To appear in the Device Manager, it would have to be enabled in
the BIOS Setup screen.
The PCAL27manual.pdf user manual is here. Chapter 5 on page 103,
discusses "Setup Utility". That is the BIOS. Turn on the computer
and immediately start pressing F2 function key. Now, it turns
out, there isn't anything in that BIOS to speak of. It is
a "neutered" BIOS, of limited functionality. And I don't see
an option there, to disable sound at the BIOS level. So I
guess that means, the problem is at the OS level. You
can always go into the BIOS and have a look - some products
actual BIOS screens, don't match what is shown in the manual.
http://portal.knowledgebase.net/utility/getfile.asp?rid=35444 (Sharp user manual)
To exit the BIOS, you use the arrow keys, until the "Exit"
menu is highlighted. Selecting "Exit Discarding Changes" and
answering Y for Yes when prompted, will exit the BIOS without
saving any changes made while poking around the BIOS items.
The computer should soon start booting after that.
It is possible you've never needed to be in there, because
the hardware configuration of a laptop is pretty static. I
don't change my BIOS settings, unless I want to boot off
an alternate hard drive in my desktop. You only have the
one hard drive, so there isn't much reason to go into the
BIOS.
I'd poke around with Everest, and see if I could see the
AC'97 sound device listed. Everest can even generate a
text file of its "hardware only" results, but that
list can be quite long (and a large percentage of
the info is cruft). Still, if would give you a chance to
look for "Sound" or "AC'97" in the results.
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4181.html (Everest Free)
If the AC'97 chip itself died, that would be a reason for it
to not respond. But I don't see a reason to suspect that
right now. I wouldn't say that is a common occurrence.
Another test procedure I use here, is to boot a Knoppix or
a Ubuntu Linux LiveCD. Those are examples of operating systems
that you can run on a lot of different computers, and it
doesn't install any software on the hard drive. The OS
is booted from the CD, and instantly you are using Linux.
In the Linux environment, programs like "lspci", "lsusb",
and "dmesg" can show information about the hardware in
the computer. It would be a way of testing the hardware.
Things like "ALSA" or "OSS" sound subsystem, provide
a driver for making sound in that environment.
Knoppix is sited on knopper.net , and ubuntu is at ubuntu.com .
The CD is a 700MB download, and you need a CD burner to
make a boot CD. The download is an ISO9660 image, and
a tool like Nero or other capable burning program, is
needed to convert the ISO9660, into an actual CD.
That is a pretty "geeky" alternative, but if you know
someone who has even a little bit of Linux experience,
they could help you with that. I like Linux as a way
of testing to see if I have busted hardware - for example,
my Win98 machine was acting up, and by booting Linux, I
could see that Linux was having problems too. And that
proved it was a hardware problem, and Win98 wasn't responsible.
So your next logical step, is to look in Everest, and see
if some sound / AC'97 hardware is visible. Everest is a
Windows program.
Paul