T60 no audio; no HDA audio bus driver

[SquareWheels]

Hi all,

I have a T60 with a fresh install of XP Pro. All seems to be working well with the exception of audio. XP audio controls show no audio device. I have reloaded the audio driver files (77a224ww.exe). When I attempt to complete the process by running Setup.exec in the audio folder I receive the error "The HDA audio bus driver is required and not found". The only HDA driver files I have been able to locate are for SP1; attempting to load these results in an error message stating the existing files are newer than the files I am attempting to load.

System:

T60

2007-46U

BIOS 2.07

Thanks for considering my request.

[techcafe]

as stated on the T60 support & downloads site, you need to install the Universal Audio Architecture HDA driver before you install the audio features driver.  have you tried that?  and do you have XP SP3 installed?  if not, it might be a good idea, since i believe that SP3 included the HDA driver.

[SquareWheels]

Thank you for the reply. SP3 is already installed. The MS Hotfix kb888111xpsp2.exe does not apply to SP3. I gave it a try and received the following: Setup has detected that the Service Pack version of this system is newer than the update you are applying. There is no need to install this update.

I can load the the drivers to the driver directory with: 77a224ww.exe.  When I open the audio directory and run the setup.exe file I receive the error message "The HDA Audio bus driver is required and not found".

[techcafe]

hmmm, well i'm just taking stabs in the dark here.

ok, so have you taken a look in the device manager console, to see if there are any devices that haven't been properly enumerated (missing drivers)?  specifically, there should be entries for High Definition Audio Controller (under the System devices tree) and SoundMAX Integrated Digital HD Audio (under the Sound, video & game controllers tree).  check there and get back to us.

btw, this might be a long shot, but have you tried Microsoft Update (select Custom, not Express), wait for the scan to complete and then look for driver updates under the Hardware, Optional section (on the left).

also, take a look on thinkpads.com, there is a forum discussion re the HDA issue.

[SquareWheels]

Device manager -- there are no entries for HDAC in the System Devices tree and no SoundMAX entry in the Sound, video & game controllers tree.

Microsoft update -- there were no driver updates available.

thinkpads.com -- there is an updated BIOS available for my platform. I have not yet installed it and would rather not as there might not be a way to undo it.

Again, your assistance is much appreciated.

[techcafe]

in the device manager, are there entries for 'unknown devices'?  if so, you might be able to manually install/update the missing drivers by locating the extracted files in C:\Drivers\Win\Audio\<path>

re the BIOS update, personally, i would do it, especially considering that a member of the thinkpad forums claimed that it fixed his/her HDAC problem.  i've done these bios updates many times, and not once have i encountered any issues.  the update is packaged in an executable (assuming you're running 32 bit windows), which you simply download/run.  the files will be extracted to the disk, the system automatically reboots, bios update screen appears, follow the instructions to proceed with the update, wait for it to finish (long beep and machine shuts down)... turn it back on and press F1 to enter the bios, press F9 to restore defaults, then F10 to save/exit... voila, bios updated, you're done.

should you decide to proceed with the bios update, choose one of the following links (the appropriate update depends on your machine's screen dimensions):

BIOS update for T60p widescreen models

BIOS update for T60p non-widescreen models

[SquareWheels]

There is one entry for unknown devices. I tried to load the SoundMAX driver via the unkown device. I received a message that the correct driver could not be found for the device.

BIOS was upgraded from version 2.07 to 2.23 without problems. I still receive the same error message, HDA audio bus driver is required, when attempting to load the SoundMAX drivers.

[techcafe]

congrat's on the successful bios update

re the unknown device, i strongly suspect that IS the HDA audio bus controller... let me do a bit more digging, but in the interim, go back into the device manager, right-click on the unknown device, update driver, and allow the wizard to 'install the software automatically'... but first you must make sure that the Windows Update client has been configured (allowed) to check with Microsoft for device drivers. so, to do that - control panel, system, hardware tab, windows update button, select 'if my device needs a driver, go to windows update without asking me'... OK your way out of the dialogs and then run the hardware update wizard from the device manager to automatically check for an updated driver for the unknown device.

i'll see what else i can dig up and report back 

[SquareWheels]

In Device Manager the unknown device is titled: ACPI\ATM1200\4&38462492&0
 

I did ensure the radio button is checked (it was) to automatically go to Windows Update when a device needs a driver. I reran the update driver and it was not able to find an appropriate driver.

[techcafe]

for the unknown device, open its properties dialog in the device manager, choose details tab, and see if there is a 'Device Instance ID' listed for it?

if so, select the device ID entry that is shown, then copy/paste it into a reply message.

note: in the device manager, the copy function can only be implemented via the keyboard (no right mouse click); simply select/highlight the device entry and press Ctrl-Insert to copy the text to the clipboard... then use paste to put the text into a reply message.

the device instance id will look similar to this:
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_284B&SUBSYS_20AC17AA&REV_03\3&21436425&0&D8

i want to compare the device id to those contained inside the soundmax driver inf files, although i don't think the UAA HDA controller driver is actually part of the soundmax driver package.  i think the UAA HDA is a separate (microsoft) entity that must be installed on the system prior to installing the soundmax drivers.