Audio on the Dell Inspiron 1545 under Windows XP

Update (August 26, 2013)
A commenter tells me that this alternative driver, still available from Dell, worked for him on his Inspiron 1545.

Update (June 17, 2013)
The link to the known-to-be-working version of the audio driver package for the Dell Inspiron 1545 running Windows XP has gone dead (and not for the first time; bad Dell). The file is not listed on Dell’s FTP site, and searches on Dell.com and Google don’t seem to turn it up.

I have a copy, here, but it’s not mine to post online.

Recently, while installing Windows XP on a (new) Dell™ Inspiron™ 1545, I noticed that the most recently posted driver (as of writing: R264250) for the system’s integrated audio refuses to install. More precisely, the installer refuses to run with this “error”:

This is not the correct audio driver for this system (xp). The installer will now exit.

I was able to get the drivers to install by pointing XP’s “Add New Hardware Wizard” at the underlying driver files, but subsequently each individual sound played by the computer was preceded and succeeded by a loud popping sound which did not appear to be governed by the system’s volume setting.

The solution was to uninstall that version of the driver package, and install a previous version instead (R215959), as suggested here.

14 Responses to “Audio on the Dell Inspiron 1545 under Windows XP”

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1 IT Legend November 12, 2010 at 2:56 pm

Fixed. I also wasted an hour on this. I can confirm that R215959 does work. This is why end users shouldn’t buy home level (inspiron / dimension) models. Stick to OptiPlex / Latitude / Precision–the drivers always for for XP on those because they know only real men use XP. Vista and Vista Second Edition (Win 7) are for idiots.

- 2 SjH November 12, 2010 at 3:18 pm
  
  I’m glad this has worked out for you, although I don’t agree with your remarks re:Vista and Windows 7. Vista was mostly fine, given the correct hardware. On the wrong hardware, it was a bit of a dog and a lot of OEMs (Dell prominent among them) shipped it as such.
  
  Windows 7 is very good. In fact, the Inspiron 1545 referred to in this post arrived with 7 pre-installed. I would have left it as such, but the individual for whom I was setting it up wanted/needed XP.
  
3 Juan Manuel December 12, 2010 at 5:24 pm

Can you translate this? I tell you in my languaje…
GRACIAS GENIO!! ME SALVASTE!!
i spent one complete day searching the solution!
thank you again

4 K J GANESH NAGHU February 17, 2011 at 4:17 am

I too was facing this problem….Dude thanks it really worked for my laptop…

5 Alpha March 8, 2011 at 9:31 pm

THANK YOU SO MUCH YOU ARE A LIFE SAVER.

I spent all night trying to figure out why my sound wouldn’t work and I came across this by chance. THANK YOU!

6 abhinav July 4, 2011 at 4:42 pm

this is really big help please install R215959 this driver dell is biggest idiot posting the wrong driver on their website 😦

i wasted all night to reinstall the windows xp million times .thanks a ton

7 reets September 15, 2011 at 4:06 pm

i have the same problem and tried following the link. but the driver is not in dell website.

- 8 SjH September 15, 2011 at 4:29 pm
  
  Hi,
  
  Dell seem to have pulled the driver package from their website, but it appears to be still available from the FTP site.
  
  I’ve updated the link in the post, above, to the package on the FTP site, but no longer have access to an Inspiron 1545 to test it. Try it out and let us know how/if it works.
  
  Steve.
  
  - 9 Brenda Templeton September 17, 2011 at 10:07 am
    
    wonderful! the R215959 link worked perfectly on the inspirion 1545
    BT
10 Stian January 4, 2012 at 10:02 pm

I can’t find the FTP link anywhere..?

- 11 SjH January 4, 2012 at 10:19 pm
  
  Hi Stian,
  
  Dell changed the download link (again). I think the up-to-date link (as of writing) is:
  http://downloads.dell.com/audio/R215959.exe
  
  I’ve also amended the post, above, to reflect this. Thanks for pointing this out, and I hope it works out for you.
  
  Steve.
  
12 sunaix January 26, 2012 at 5:05 am

Hi All,
XP installed, but the volume icon disappear on task bar even blank tuning button in control panel. Please advise if the sound driver of R215959 to fix it.
Sun

- 13 SjH January 26, 2012 at 1:03 pm
  
  Hi,
  
  If all you’ve done is to install XP, and have not installed any other audio driver, then installing R215959 should enable audio, including the volume icon on the taskbar. After installing R215959 you should probably restart the computer, especially if prompted to so do.
  
  If, after installing R215959, you still do not see a volume icon in the taskbar, you can go to ‘Sounds and Audio Devices’ in the Control Panel and, on the ‘Volume’ tab, tick the option to ‘Place volume icon in the taskbar’.
  
  Kind regards,
  
  Steve.
  
14 felix machado November 1, 2012 at 10:52 pm

eres el mejor tenia ese problema por que la formatee y ahora gracias a tu ayuda se escucha el audio gracias men publica esa ayuda en otras paginas 20 ptos