I put a dvd drive in my computer it plays but no sound. Computer is a 5 year old dell with xp. It brought it right up with out doing any install. I tried installing also but it say device is working properly. Not sure what to do next. The dvd drive came from a dead emachine of only 3 years old.

Maybe turn up your hearing aid?

Nice try ED.

Bill Bill Bill.... You gotta have SPEAKERS in order to hear sound projecting from your computer

There is an extra cable that goes from the DVD/CD player to the sound card. If it is not installed, no sound. Most people - those that haven't spent much time inside the box, either don't km know about it or don't install it.There is a picture of one in the link. I have never had to pay for one, but thats another story. The one in the lionk is only one of 3 or 4 designs, you have to get the correct one for the connectors on your sound card and DVD/CD connector. Tpicutre makes it look a lot larger than it really is - its more a wire than an actual cable.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=83000&CatId=69

I took no wire like that off of it when i took it out of the other computer. I don't see any where on the dvd to hook a cable like that.

Thats the reason I brought up this point. Most folks don't realize its needed.

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Archive for the CD Rom & DVD Audio Cable Category

CD Rom & DVD Audio Cable

Wednesday, August 1st, 2007

If youre having problems with your sound not working while listening to a CD or DVD, whats the first thing to check?

Well, many CD and DVD Rom drives have an additional audio cable that attaches to them to transfer the sound. If thats how your system is set to read the information, thats how its got to work. Sometimes it depends on your sound card, and sometimes in an integrated motherboard feature, but it has to be set that way on some systems, or you get no sound from the drive.

What, then, do you do if you have no sound? Well, first things first, lets open up the case (or look at the back of the CD/DVD Rom if its external). Does it have a plug for a audio cable? If so, is there a cable presently plugged in, or is there an additional cable plugged into the motherboard thats not attached to anything?

If you answered yes to any of those questions, its quite possible that your CD Rom or DVD audio cable is the cause of your problems. If the CD Rom or DVD audio cable is plugged into the motherboard and not into the drive, plug it back in and youll probably have fixed the problem. If theres not one present, maybe you should go and purchase one and give it a try. CD Rom and DVD audio cables are readily available at your local computer store or radio shack, or from literally millions of retailers online. Theyre cheap, and you only need to plug it into one jack on the drive and one on either the motherboard or the sound card. Make sure you find the right jack, as plugging incompatible things into random spots can be very bad for electronics!..." http://cableclub.com/wholesale_articles/?cat=42

If you had both, some boxes installed both a separate CD and separated DVD, back in the day- you only had to install the cable on one box to make them both work with sound card.

 Most newer DVD units will play both media formats on the same unit.

However: If you have a newer operating system, you may be able to do the same thing through software. Its worth a try if you can't find the cable or don't want to go through the hassle. I generally install the audio cable, to me - its second-nature. follow the directions below.

"...You don't need an audio cable. Just open "Device Manager" in Windows. Then find your NEC player (Under the heading DVD/CD-ROM Drives) and right click it. Then Properties. Then click the "properties" tab in the window that will open.

Find (at bottom) and check the box - Enable digital CD Audio for this Source. Click OK and exit back out. Now it will be just fine. I have all my internal CD/DVD players / burners set up this way..." 

I think this is an available option for microsoft XP-Pro. Substitute the brand of your DVD player when following the instructions.

Hope this helps. Then there is always "The Geek Squad"

Can you post some pictures of your motherboard and the back of the DVD plyaer Bill? And or also can you provide the number on the back of your dell, Its a sticker with a barcode and model number on it. It "shouldn't" need the cable. But the board may be of older technology and still need it.

Another thing to try is going to the manufacturer's site of the dvd drive. And see if they have a specific driver listed for your drive.

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