I just used the Setup program that comes with the driver and didn't bother uninstalling first. Make sure you look under Options, then Properties, and put a check in the 3D Depth box. If the box isn't there, let me know and I'll dig around and see if I can figure out why not.

Good luck!

I appreciate you trying to wring more out of this little sound chip. I modified the .inf file, uninstalled it in the Device Manager, reinstalled it using Scan for Hardware changes, and manually pointed to the modified inf file in the WDM folder of Dell's 6.14.01.3794 A06 driver. No joy. Am I doing something wrong? What's the step-by-step procedure you used?

Thanks,

JP

Yes, the 5100 has the same chip, so this will work for you. Just extract the driver file to an empty folder and you'll find the WDM folder inside an ich4 folder. Inside that you'll find the stac97.inf file you need to edit.

When done, just run Setup from the top folder where you extracted the driver. Don't forget to go into the mixer properties and check the box that enables the slider.

Sadly, this does nothing for the bass and treble controls. Those (and other equalizer features) are available on better SigmaTel chips, but not this one. This chip is pretty much the bottom of the line.

You seems to be bringing some life in bad dell audio quality ... oops ...... The audio is bad than a 3  yr old compaq !! I have a dell inspiron 5100 ... Does your suggestion works there too ? Please advise which folder should i go ? to change the file for 3D control box  .... i also see the Bass , Treble sliders grayed out ...  any clue ?? i have downloaded the latest audio driver from dell's site and installed that also...

Thanks for anything that you can  advise ,

Diptam

 

Yes, just a precaution. If you already have the file extracted somewhere, you don't need to copy it or extract it again. You always have the original download as a backup.

If someone is willing to host the download, it would be easiest to just post the modified inf somewhere.

Dear Lsudlow,

Thanks for your quick reply .... so this is a bottom line audio card on a 2.66 p4 dell laptop ... ha !! ha !!  what a tragedy for all of us ?  at least ,now i  know abt this  tagedy ... :-)

anyway , lets come to point ... so  ultimately i have to change the file in the folder where the setup is extracted , correct ?  then why are you asking to copy the files to a blank folder and change it there ? in case , i mess up something else ??

i know i'm annoying you , pl excuse me ...  but i want  to be double sure since i have never done this thing earlier..

Thanks a ton ,

Diptam

 

 

 

 

audio hardware on laptops has a long way to go.  the video capabilities have progressed nicely in recent years (it started with the nvidia geforce 2 go imo, where laptops finally started catching up with desktops in the video performance category).  but audio is still an inferior consideration among most laptop manufacturers.  i realize that part of this limitation is the electrical noise on the crowded system boards, but i'm sure an investment in better audio hardware and good drivers would really improve this.  dell seems to have failed in both categories.

until some improvements are made in this category, i don't see how manufacturers (including dell) can call these multimedia laptops.  i've heard that apple laptops have pretty good built-in sound, but i'm a windows guy myself.  i spent a long time on this board dealing with the inferior sound quality of my 600m and although i've decided to keep the machine, my next purchase will have audio as a major consideration since i always listen to music while working.

that's just my little rant on the matter...

Message Edited by ckohl23 on 12-15-2003 08:21 PM

Yeah , not  everybody has neglected the audio like  DELL has done .... !!  with that kiddy sound of sigmatel audio driver  , i 'm feel  kind of cheated man !!!

I was talking about Compaq who are inferior to Dell in many  aspects ( that was my  idea before i bought this dell 5100 laptop 1 month back :-) )   they used  better sound card /hardware  than this  "sigmatel" audio card  in Dell Inspiron 5100  even  3  years back when my wife bought her  compaq  in Year 2000  ....  can you imagine ??

Forget about good  driver ....  first  you need to have a stuff to drive .... the audio device / chip   is low  grade....

Dell  should  replace this  low grade audio card / chip  free of cost ..... its  unfair ... its like feeling cheated...

Thanks ,

Diptam

 

 

This is a little off topic....

Does anyone know what the Stereo Mix slider in the Recording Control does?

I imagine Microphone refers to the microphone (not sure whether it's the internal or external mic though) and CD Audio refers to the internal CD,

But no ideo what Stereo Mix does.

Here is an easier way to enable 3D Depth control by changing the system registry.

Run regedit, find "Disable3DControl" and change the value from 01 to 00.

You can also add a control for Mic playback by changing DisableMicFromPlayback from 01 to 00.

(Found this info in another thread here.  Seems to work.)