XP will not recognize audio ports on Dell PC

I have a Dell Optiplex 780, which was made for windows 7, that I downgraded to windows XP (specifically Pro, 64-bit, version 2003, Service Pack 1). It has integrated "Intel High Definition Audio" and no sound card. I had the audio working fine for a while, but after leaving it alone for a few months it has no output at all. I've tried speakers with their own power and headphones. It always says "No Audio Device" in control panel.
I've tried installing Intel and Realtek audio drivers for XP but nothing has changed. It could be a hardware issue, but I doubt it since both audio ports are not detected at all, but the USB ports on the same panels are fine.

Is there a fix for this, or do I HAVE to buy a sound card? And feel free to ask questions and I will respond as there could be something I missed here. Thanks.

 

did you check the bios if audio is enabled?

 

You shouldn't install realtek drivers if the audio chip is intel. Installing random drivers doesn't work. You have to check the device manager to see if there's an audio device there. If you see red or yellow icons on device manager something is wrong with the hardware. Specially if it was working fine before. Or maybe you just didn't install the correct driver.

 

Yes, it is

You're right about installing all those drivers, but I wanted to try everything I thought would help, that's my bad.
There is an audio device called "Audio Device on High Definition Audio Bus" and it has a question mark icon with an exclamation point in the corner (both yellow). The intel driver I installed (link here, version 5.10.0.7116 for XP) said it was for that specifically, and I uninstalled the Realtek ones now, but none of the drivers ever changed that icon in device manager. So I just now tried to install the drivers through device manager instead of through the setup exe but that just gives me a long list of inf files with no hint which to use, so I haven't done that.

That's all the information I have now. I don't know why it would've stopped working but I'll check again for any physical hardware problems.

 

There was another reply here but I think it got deleted. There are only 2 things you can do.
1- Uninstall all audio drivers you have tried and install the correct one. For some reason Dell website doesn't load the drivers for me. I don't know why. You could try driver pack and let it search the audio drivers for you. But I think it requires net framework 4 or something to run.

2- Uninstall all the audio drivers you have tried and buy a new or used audio card that works with XP. I believe that it will be the easiest option for you at the moment. C-Media cards are good.

 

I think I will do that. I can't even pinpoint exactly what the problem is so I'm not sure there's any hope of fixing it. Thank you

Also, I did post a reply but it needs to be approved by moderators since I linked something in it. It explains a lot more about the issue but idk when it will be approved.

 

tetriskid: you need at least 5 posts before a link can be included in text.