Audio driver down, dell cannot repair, need sound

What I'd try first:

First, uninstall any audio drivers already on your computer. Look under "Add or Remove Programs" in the Control Panel and see if there's anything there.

Go to your device manager
(Can't say exactly where it is in XP... Right click on "My Computer", go to "Properties", and it should be there somewhere close. Sorry... I've forgotten so much since I went to Windows 7)

Find your audio card/chip. Should be under "Audio, Video, and Game Controllers". If you're not sure exactly which one it is, ask me before you do the next step.

Right click on it and press "Uninstall". There may be two of them with different names...

Now go to "Action" and press "Scan for hardware changes". It should re-detect your sound card/chip and install it.

Go to the card/chip manufacturer's website and try to find a driver for it there, if it doesn't work yet... it shouldn't, if experience tells me right. I can help you find it if you can't come up with anything.


Now honestly, you MAY only need to do about half of that, but I like to be thorough and start over clean when doing any driver troubleshooting. And I've never seen a headset with an onboard audio card. Might work if you bought a headset AND an audio expansion card, but that's not necessary if this works. Be sure to report back with any findings, questions, or problems.  

Hi someguynamedmatt.
Thanks for the response, but Dell and I tried this over and over. Dell controlled my laptop for hours and couldn't fix. The tech rep called back two days later and said to try reinstalling windows xp. I don't have the cd though. She wasn't too confident about this action though. Everything else runs great. I just hate to buy new laptop if I can fix this audio driver issue.
If you can think of anything else I'd appreciate it, and would try anything.
Thanks again.
Chas