This is my method of installing a vista driver into windows 7. the driver adds the necessary registry entries. download the sigmatel driver package r171786.this is the vista audio driver for the vostro 1400.. I've gone through a ton of audio drivers to no avail.i've tried drivers for xp, vista, win7, sigmatel, legacy, realtek, etc. nothing works. i'm extremely disappointed in dell's push to make me buy a new sound card when they could easily address this issue.. Dell sound driver free download - diamond monster sound driver, creative sound blaster audigy 2/audigy 2 zs driver (windows 98se/me/2000/xp), creative labs sound blaster live/live value driver.
If dell supports a device for vista, the vista drivers should work as windows 7 is basically vista with modifications (and hopefully improvements). if there is a vista 32 bit version available from dell that should work on windows 7 32 bit. same way with the 64 bit. the dell vista 32 bit sigmatel drivers for my dimension e510 worked perfectly with win 7 rc1 32 bit. i have a (retail) intel. Try installing the sigmatel hd audio driver. there is not one for windows 7 so you must use the vista version and install using vista compatibility mode. download the driver package using the browser, not dell download manager. extract the files (unzip or unpack) but cancel the installation process. Directx june 2010 is also highly recommended. download directx redist from official microsoft. download file, extract to a folder, run dxsetup.exe as administrator. the analog devices ad198x codec does have whql drivers from the microsoft catalog..
