computer sound help

[Bella the Ball 360]

My husband gave me his Dell Laptop about 3 yrs old. My Son who thinks he is computer savvy thought it was going to be his so he reloaded all the Window's XP and wiped out what was on it. In the process he wiped out the sound and now I have none. My son told me that when he tries to get sound it says he needs a sound card. I hve no idea what this is. I do not know a lot about computers but I know there must be something I can do get the sound back. It is turned on and the port for the earphones is not blocked.
Anyone have any ideas. Oh I forgot to add I am laid up with a torn meniscus so I am really bored and being able to watch things on the computer with sound would help LOL

 

[MrsToad]

You may just need to install the driver for the sound card. If this is a Dell, and you don't have the original driver CD that came with it, look on the bottom for the label that includes the "Service Tag" number. Then, go to http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/index.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=gen and select the search by Service Tag option. You will then be presented with a list of downloadable drivers. There will also be a link that tells you which drivers to install in which order - you may want to follow that before just installing the sound card driver only. Good luck.

 

[Bella the Ball 360]

You may just need to install the driver for the sound card. If this is a Dell, and you don't have the original driver CD that came with it, look on the bottom for the label that includes the "Service Tag" number. Then, go to http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/index.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=gen and select the search by Service Tag option. You will then be presented with a list of downloadable drivers. There will also be a link that tells you which drivers to install in which order - you may want to follow that before just installing the sound card driver only. Good luck.

THank you so much. I have no idea how to do it but I am sure my husband can figure it out. At least it is a starting place. I hate teenagers when it comes to computers. Their condescending attitude is more than can be bared. I hope my husband can do it without asking my son. Thanks again.

 

[Barbossa]

Dell usually includes a CD-ROM with all of the drivers on it. You might want to ask DH if he has it.

 

[JR6ooo4]

THank you so much. I have no idea how to do it but I am sure my husband can figure it out. At least it is a starting place. I hate teenagers when it comes to computers. Their condescending attitude is more than can be bared. I hope my husband can do it without asking my son. Thanks again.

but the "reformat" he did should make it run much better than a three year old computer gunked up with programs and files...etc

Mikeeee

 

[Bella the Ball 360]

Thanks it worked....finally I can watch what I want. I should have asked this question on the boards a month ago.