My sound has worked fine since I purchased my Dell Latitude C400 just over a year ago. Suddenly, it's not working. There were a couple of days when it would not come on at the initial boot but would come on when I rebooted the thing. Now, it's never coming on. When I click on Control Panel > Sounds, the Sounds and Audio Devices Properties box says "No Sound Device." All of the settings are grayed out. The Volume Control icon no longer is on my task bar. When I go to All Programs > Entertainment > Accessories > Volume Control, I get a pop-up message that says "There are no active mixer devices available. To install mixer devices, go to Control Panel, click Printers and Other Hardware, and then click Add Hardware. This program will now close." Here's what I've done to date: 1. I tried following the above directions, but it could not find the hardware I was trying to install. 2. I did a search on the Web and found a lot of people who have had this problem. Several people said to restore my system to a date before this problem appeared. I tried going back two weeks -- well before this problem appeared -- but it did not help. 3. I went to the Dell site and downloaded and installed the audio driver for my computer. No effect. Help?

Boot and go into your BIOS setup (on Dell's I believe it's the F2 key). Make sure that your audio hardware is showing up there before you proceed further.

is your sound card integrated to your motherboard, or is it seperate? if it's seperate, then open the tower and make sure that it's connected properly.

I have an Audio Controller (Crystal 4205) showing up in my BIOS, but that's it. I don't see a card referenced.