The Siamerican

The Compaq Presario V3000 (and generally all Compaq and HP computers alike) is one of the most affordable known-name notebooks–laptops on the market. For the most part, they seem worth the money— sturdy, light weight, compact, and overall efficient for the low cost.

So far in six months since its purchase, the hardware has proved efficient enough with the initial owner –a family member –that is until I acquired it and inspected it more thoroughly to ensure everything was in working order. The function I would be needing to use the most would prove to be the only defunct: The internal soundcard !

I was quite disappointed to learn this reality after plugging a set of headphones and microphone into the available jacks, learning that not only did the microphone input failed to receive any signal no matter how much I fiddled around inside the control panel, but when headphones were plugged in, audio also came out of the notebook speakers at the same time.

The family member that owned the notebook previously had never realized this problem because they never needed to use anything beyond the Internet and Photoshop. For me however, audio input and output is a necessity if the computer is to be considered useful.

Initially I assumed I uniquely possessed bad software, or perhaps even defunct hardware, but decided to go on line just in case, hoping it was a simple matter of downloading a driver fix.

What I read on several sites negatively affected my attitude towards HP and Compaq brand, at least in regards to their quality control. Previously I had only good things to say about them as the Compaq Presario notebook I bought back in 2005 had no such deficiencies and still works like a charm to this day, albeit a much slower processor.

If you were considering or planning to purchase an HP or Compaq notebook to be run by windows XP, be advised, there appears to be some deficiencies universal among Compaq and HP notebooks powered by Windows XP in general regarding the internal sound card simply not working. This deficiency seems to be common among the default XP Realtech and Contexant Audio soundcards and drivers, And unfortunately there seems to be no clear-cut fix.

Following are links to a several of the threads/pages outlining and attempting to address this problem and proposed fix.

Audio Microphone & Drivers Problem Thread

Another Notebook Audio Problem thread

HP Audio Troubleshoot Page

I, like most everybody else just couldn’t seem to get anything working like it should no matter what was done—installing and reinstalling drivers, multiple restarts in safe mode, blab la, etc. etc.—if you have this problem, starting with the links above, try for yourself maybe you’ll be one of the lucky ones. If you’re like most of us though, you’ll likely find yourself wasting time pulling out your hair to no avail. If you are successful, be sure to share the love & knowledge!

Otherwise, there is one solution that I can now verify allows normal audio function on these little machines. That is to buy an external sound card. Rather then stressing out waiting around for someone if not myself to discover the fix, I went to the local IT store and bought a micro sized external sound card.

While the norm in the past was in favor of mini PCI or PCMCIA slot add-ons & plug-ins, these days everything has gone USB. Frankly I’m satisfied with this purchase decision and glad to finally have a normal sound function.

Such USB external soundcards are abundant on the market and go for roughly twenty to thirty dollars US at the time this entry was written. The one I bought is the model Creative Sound Blaster Play!, a thumb sized plug & play made in China. It came with a driver CD with some other extras such as MP3 ripper and stereo EQ, though it worked initially by just plugging in and selecting it in the audio-voice tab of Windows control panel.

Popularity: 36% [?]

Filed under: Consumer Products, Music & Audio, Reviews & Analytics, Technology by Jao Moragoat
1 Comment »