How-to enable Mic-In playback control for Dell Inspirons w/ Crystal Audio sound
Sammy Yousef
those of you that don't know, certain Dell Inspirons don't enable the mic
and/or line-in on the playback control. As a result, under windows you can't
use them with a tv capture card and allow audio playback among other things.
I and several others have complained to Dell and Crystal only to receive
responses that are less than adequate to say the least. (Both Dell and
Crystal have dodged the issue saying its the other's problem).
I found out that the Intel driver Intel 82801CA/CAM AC97 Audio Controller
(ac97intc.sys) works for XP, but requires a fresh install of the OS, thanks
to:
http://www.geocities.com/thebithead/I8200FAQ.htm#Audio
I tried several things but I believe the following NASTY HACK, initially
attempted in desperation, (use at your own risk - I take no responsibility
if hardware gets fried etc.) gave me both mic and line in without
reinstalling Windows XP:
1) Install the Crystal driver as per usual
2) Backup cwawdm.sys, located in windows\system32\drivers to another file
(eg. cwawadm.sys.org)
3) Copy ac97intc.sys to cwawdm.sys (thus fooling the system into using this
file instead of the original Crystal driver!)
4) Reboot your system
You should have mic in etc. Seems to record okay too. Only just came up with
this so there may be consequences of which I'm unaware. Please let me know
if you find any.
Please pass this information on! (but my disclaimer above stands).
I will never ever buy another Dell machine, nor support Crystal in any way.
Much relieved,
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Sammy Yousef
Email: syo...@bigfoot.com
URL: http://www.progsoc.uts.edu.au/~sammy
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