Need help for audio drivers on Compaq F700 laptop

[JadeSedai]

Hi!  I recently upgraded to Windows 7 on my Compaq F756nr laptop and everything was working fine for a few months.  I updated with Windows Update (just something about microsoft office or something) but now my sound thing has the big red ex next to it.  When I go to Device Manager, there's no sound etc. driver listed and I can't download the original drivers as they aren't compatible (as it tells me when I tried).  Please help, I'd like my sound back

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

Give this one a try:

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareDescription.jsp?lang=en&cc=US&swItem=ob-648...

If it doesn't install automatically, try updating the driver manually by clicking on the device in the device manager and go to the tab where you can update the driver, select Browse My Computer for Software and browse to the folder that was created when you extracted the driver, and follow the prompts.

Paul

[MDJD]

My son and I have the L2000 laptop that came with 32 bit XP and used the Conexant chipset for Audio. I had been using an SB Audigy PCMCIA card so I am not sure when Audio was really lost; however, he noticed it when I upgraded his PC. I scoured various forums looking for 64 bit  Windows 7 drivers for Conexant audio but to no avail. Microsoft and Conexant both said that HP should supply the drivers. By the way HP, the Conexant website says that they do not supply drivers even though they make the chipsets "at the request of the OEM's." Another post said that HP was not going to supply these drivers for Windows 7. The solution from HP for my model and Windows 7 was the "HP Software Advisor" which was 67MB and totaly useless. It appears that this is a very common problem. Anyway, here is what you do:

First you need 2 files which ironically enough come from HP, they are SP35558.exe and SP35558.cva They contain the Conexant drivers for Vista x64. (I subsequently have found the 32 bit drivers and the procedure should be very similar except the files are SP34789.exe and SP34789.cva). Type the following into your browser address bar ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp35501-36000 About half way down you will find these files. Just right click each one and save to your desktop.(The 32 bit files are in a different subdirectory at ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp??????-??????)

Double click SP35558.cva and tell Windows to use Notepad to open it. Scroll about half way down to "[Operating Systems]" and after "WV64UL=OEM" insert:
W764HB=OEM
W764HP=OEM
W764PR=OEM
W764UL=OEM

( For 32 bit systems use W732HB=OEM, etc.)

I next went up about 10 lines to "[System information]" and added

SysId3=0x3091
SysName3=HP Pavilion ze2000 series
SysId4=0x3096
SysName4=Compaq presario M2000 series
SysId5=0x3097
SysName5=Compaq Presario M2000 series
SysId6=0x3097
SysName6=HP Special Edition L2000 series
SysId7=0x3093
SysName7=Compaq Presario M2000 series
SysId8=0x3093
SysName8=HP Special Edition L2000 series

I got this information from another cva file on my PC at C:/swsetup/   (This is thedefault  directory for HP updates.)

After modding the cva file, I saved it to C;/swsetup/sp35558/

I then executed the SP35558.exe file and voila I had sound, nice crisp clear sound.

The use of the cva file is to streamline the driver install and it is kind of cool if it works. If you cannot find it or you are not successful the first time or you do not want to bother with modding anything, do not worry, the manual install will work for sure.

Run sp35558.exe to extract everything and let it strike out. Then go to Device Manager and update the driver manually as follows:

Under Device Manager, right click "Multimedia Audio Device" under "Other" and choose "Update Driver" Then "Browse your PC" and "Choose from a list". Select "Sound, audio and game controllers", then "Conexant", then "Have Disk". Browse to C:/swsetup/sp35558/ and open "cp6308Ba.inf" (64bit remember). Now choose "OK" and ignore any warnings about incompatibility, WHQL, etc. Give it plenty of time, you might think you are in a loop, but you are not. Congratulations, you are done.

Hope this helps.

[Daniel_Potyrala]

@JadeSedai

Hi,

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JadeSedai wrote:

...everything was working fine for a few months.  I updated with Windows Update (just something about microsoft office or something) but now my sound thing has the big red ex next to it...

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Restore your system to this point when everything was fine.

Resource:

How to Do a System Restore in Windows 7