UNABLE to get speakers to play.. purchased used from a friend. don't know how to or if "driver" problem ... unable to move "volume control" on pc this is a 2003 IBM A50P 8432 computer

The first thing you should check is the volume at the audio mixer. Near the lower right corner of your screen locate the speaker (or something similar) icon, click on it and set the volume slider at a higher setting.
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if your computer came with a disk the sound drivers could be on it
control panel sounds and audio,volume,advanced,speakers select appropriate speakers or audio you will find 3 drop down lists make the necessary adjustments there or control
panel,administrive tools,computer management,device manager,sound video and game controllers could be a yellow question mark? right click to re-install drivers
hope this helps

Sorry they do not repair these except under basic warranty and even then you get an exchange system.

Go to start menu ->control panel->sound and audio device .
Then enable check box "place volume icon on task bar .
You can also set volume level from speaker volume .
If still problem then uninstall old sound driver and reinstall it.
Then it works again.
Let me know if you need further assistance.
Thanks for using FixYa.

download the sound drivers from the dell web site

This problem has something to do with electrical grounding. I found a solution from cagamba of Brazil deeper in this site. With one hand, touch the audio outlet at the back of the computer and with the other the JBL volume touch control. It has worked for me.

I have all the audio drivers for that model. Please let me know what operating system you are using. These are large files, around 7mb for xp.

Here's how I fixed mine with Win-VISTA:

1. Click START
2. Click CONTROL PANEL
3. (Switch to CLASSIC VIEW)
a. Click on SOUND
b. Click on PLAYBACK Tab
c. Click on SPEAKERS/HEADPHONES
d. Click on PROPERTIES
e. Click on CUSTOM Tab
i. Make sure PC SPK MUTE is NOT checked
f. Click on LEVELS Tab
i. Slide PC SPEAKER to 100%
ii. Don’t worry about the SPEAKER slider, it’s controlled by the keyboard buttons
g. Click on ENHANCEMENTS Tab
i. Make sure LOUDNESS EQUALIZATION is checked
h. Click OK
i. Click OK
4. Close CONTROL PANEL

If you Right Click on the Speaker icon in the lower right screen (system tray) and choose Open Volume Control, are all the slide levels about in the middle, and no check-box is set to Mute.