No worries redk,
I had a bit of a time finding the correct path to the "PSA Dell Diagnostics" menu myself. It can be reached by pressing F12 when the BIOS sceen flashes for a few seconds before Windows starts to load... it takes you to one of those advanced boot menus that is a black screen with no mouse control... you know, where you navigate around with the arrow keys and by pressing Enter.
It loads from the Dell hardware or firmware, not through Windows, so you get to it before Windows ever loads... that's how it checks the internal hardware, including the sound board and peripherals, regardless of the state of the Windows OS.
The trick was, that the first webpage that I read this procedure on left out the step of first selecting the D utility drive to then see the diagnostic menu.
The PSA diagnostics have quite an extensive series of tests that you can choose to run... quick check of all hardware, full check of all hardware, and it will give error codes that can be identified if anything is wrong.
The nice part is something called "Symptom Tree" where you select a general problem from a list, like "no sound" and it tests the sound board and the speakers by playing a little song to see if you can hear the song... so I tried that and it plays a little song in each channel, left, then right, then in both channels, then a little panel pops up asking you if you heard the song, with two "Yes" or "No" choices... if you arrow to "Yes" and press enter, then it gives that test a pass and moves on to the next sound test.
It had an analog sound test, a surround sound test and several others, but this is just a simple system with analog speakers and I'm sure the simplest sound board... the speakers are just old Harman Kardon speakers that came with an older Dell tower that my mom got back in '99.
These HK195 speakers used to come with all the Dells that didn't have a built in speaker.
So the analog test ran and I heard the little song, and this confirms the soundboard and speakers are still working fine... it is somehow the Vista software that got corrupt and, according to one of the senior MS techs in India that had been helping me, he could see from a CBS.log information file that this computer can generate and save that I then sent to him on email, that the mother board is not recognizing the sound board.
This "no sound" problem started on 8/29, the next use session after 8/28 when Windows auto update did some driver update auto installations, plus a CAPICOM security update, and I think the attempted driver updates, including the audio driver and the video adaptor driver, both of which are now corrupt and unfixable, are what corrupted this Vista software beyond repair.
Below are the correct instructions on how I got to this diagnostic menu and test, and a mispublished mistake on the Dell website that left out one critical step about how to actually reach the diagnostic test menu... remember sometimes links work from these forum pages and sometimes they do not, so just copy and paste a URL into a browser tab to get to that URL if clicking doesn't work... if you care to see them anyway.
Starting the Dell Diagnostics From Your Hard Drive
The Dell Diagnostics is located on a hidden diagnostic utility partition on your hard drive.
- Ensure that the computer is connected to an electrical outlet that is known to be working properly.
- Turn on (or restart) your computer.
- When the DELL logo appears, in the BIOS screen, press <F12> immediately. Select Utility Partition from the boot menu and press <Enter>. (this is the part - #3 - that is correct and the key to getting to the PSA Diagnostic utility)
- Then press any key to start the Dell Diagnostics from the diagnostics utility partition on your hard drive.
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But the PSA Diagnostics instructions on the Dell webpage, below, leaves out the part, "Select Utility Partion from the boot menu and press <Enter>"
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| Start the PSA Diagnostics |
Restart the system.
At the Dell logo screen, press <F12>.
At the One Time Boot menu, press the <Down> arrow key to highlight Diagnostics, then press <Enter> to begin PSA. (this part is WRONG - it leaves out selecting the D utility drive to then see the diagnostics menu)
Write down any error codes listed.
Use the list provided in the next section to see what the error code means.
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Since I'm a Mac guy, with computers that, even back 14 years ago with OS 7, OS 8, OS 9, and then into the newer UNIX platform OS Xs in 2000, are virtually virus proof, I've never experienced the software corruption and forced software updates that cause problems on Windows machines... I just get a little message panel that pops up once a week or so, sent from the Apple server that suggests some updates, and if I choose not to install them, it doens't demolish the operating system.
Heck, I never even used an anti-virus program on a Mac accept in art studios, digital pre-press centers and photo retouching departments to check incoming client files for viruses before loading them onto our machines. At home with 3 Macs, I never have to worry about updating virus software and renewing it every year, and all the daily update patches that come in and force install on PCs... this machine of my mom's has failed the SP1 and SP2 updates that were supposed to be so critical... I found that in the update history log.
These are huge 434.5 MB patch installers that were supposed to download and install in the background, if the computer was turned on for 8 hours... but my mom just drives this computer to the store on Sundays and never has it running long enough to download and install these huge patches... and the novice user like her doesn't know about all of this stuff that I've been forced to learn in the last month... 31 days today of frustration trying to fix what should have been a simple problem.
The key would have been, if on 8/29, 8/30 or 8/31 when I was first in contact with MS techs on email and on the phone, if they then just would have told me to do a restore point back to the day before the problem started, it probably would have immediately fixed the sound problem. But by the time I figured out what restore point is on my own, it was too many days past the number of days that restore point can go back... that's the real pisser here.
But one the tech managers in the India support call center, Ashish, who called me a couple of times beyond the support calls, took pity on me and has provided me with a clean install version of Windows 7 ULT, gratis... so tomorrow, I venture into that territory... I've been scanning tech sights and finding downloadable PDF instruction manuals preparing for this installation and long re-set up process.
Here's a nifty tip...
Since there was no one there able to tell me where to get any e-book/PDF instruction manuals for Windows 7, I made a post on the MS Answers Forum and some nice guy replied with this link to a website that has 7 manuals to download, including 3 that are at least basic guides for Vista and Windows 7.
http://mintywhite.com/books/
Microsoft themselves should publish a section on their website like this, but that would make too much sense.
There are a bunch of other tech and how-to links on this site that I haven't yet explored... I never thought I would be roaming Microsoft tech sites, but here I am.
By looking at a few links on this website I can see the market that feeds the need that people have to fix broken Microsoft software.
It looks like someone named Rich Robinson publishes this... I guess he is quite the expert and web developer... what a great little site. You can find his personal section on his background, resumes, etc.
It is a little complicated to register to get the free e-book/PDF manuals... you click on a link for a book, then on the next page you enter your email address, then you receive an email confirming your registration, by which you then get their email newsletter each day that contains a new password to download the e-books. If the newsletter has already been sent out for that day, you click on a 2nd link in that email in order to receive another email with the password... then by clicking on a link in that 2nd email, you get to the page where you actually enter the password... then you can download the e-books... as easy as 1-2-3... 4-5-6-7-8 and 9.
Hint, the password seems to be the same every day, or it has been for the last 2 days... it is "mintywhiteBooks"... very sneaky.
For a minute there I thought this website was some kind of a decoy because on the "subscribe/instructions" page, linked below, where you enter your email address, there are 2 jpeg images that look like password fields and links, but they are not... I'm not sure what these are for... but I figured it out and was able to download these nice manuals and help books. The one on Windows 7, for a "pocket guide" it is quite complete for installations and customizing.
So how is this for a long response... it'll really test your attention span... but I am the same way when I am reading... it is easy to drift off with other thoughts.
The pisser is, I got half way through writing this dissertation and this computer crashed again and started to go into another coma... I had to start all over again... the Windows 7 adventure starts tomorrow... wish I was getting paid for all this time, but it is for my mom, so what can I say.
Remember, it is better to have Attention Deficit Disorder than Deficit Attention Disorder.
Enjoy the PC world... I hate it now, but I've worked with PCs and XP that were okay... maybe Windows 7 will be better, provided I get it installed!
I see they are already talking about Windows 8 that will sense when you walk into the room and boot up with your user account and start playing your favorite music... I'm waiting to see what Apple's Mac OS XI will have in store too.
Enjoy,
numetro