Realtek AC'97 (Code 10)

Hello Folks:


Background info:
O/S: Windows 7 RTM
Laptop: HP zv5050CA (same as zv5050)
Problem Device: Realtek AC'97

Problem:
I have no sound after installing windows 7. 7 realizes that I have a realtek ac'97 but when I look at it on the device manager it says it has some sort of problem. When I inspect the driver through the properties window I see (Code 10) as the problem.

Things that I have tried and have NOT worked:
- Uninstalling/ removing from the device manager and let 7 reinstall it
- download the latest driver from realtek labeled R2.31 (dated 2009-08-24)
- downloaded Realtek driver R2.27 (dated 2009-06-22) as specified here: http://www.sevenforums.com/sound-aud...de-10-a-4.html
- downloaded additional older drivers
- downloaded the VIA Vinyl AC'97 Drivers
- Checked the HP site for drivers

Obviously none of those things have worked. Running googly searches I have seen that there are others that are experiencing the same problem but no solutions so far (that i can find). I was wondering if someone was familiar with this problem or had found a solution.

Thanks!
~f

Out of curiosity, Do you have 4GB memory. I have heard others talk about having this problem with 4GB memory and when they pull a stick of memory out they have sound again.

Hello:

I don't. Actually the laptop is about 5 years old (i know, i need to upgrade), it only has 512Mbs of RAM. And surprisingly it runs perfectly aside from the sound. I get no window lag or high loading times. Everything works just as it should. It runs just as well as XP would on that same laptop.

Thank-you for your input. I have ran into the same problem that you mentioned with desktop PCs though. But for me it was with 3Gbs (32-bit systems). I could not for the life me of get a good installation of W7 on my desktop machine it kept failing during installs (hint as to memory problem) and when it did finally install then for no reason whatsoever when I would use windows explorer it would randomly blue screen. I tested all sticks of RAM on all motherboard slots and they were all good. I pulled one stick of ram out and it is running perfect now. So I don't know what that was about but it likes 2Gbs instead of 3.

But I digress, the sound problem is with the laptop and it is still not working. Would anyone else have any suggestions?

Hi,i'm gonna tell you something to try to help you,
do you have the right audio codecs for W7 downloaded and installed?if not get them from this link:http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/
the other thing is,if you have everything right on your sistem you must check it out the audio services,if they are already started or not!!
to check it out go to:START,ALL PROGRAMS,ADMINISTRATIVE TOOLS,dubbel click on SERVICES and control everything about audio,if something is not started just right click on the service and start it,i mean WINDOWS AUDIO or REALTEC AC 97 in this case but specially REALTEC AC 97,then restart your pc and check it out.

King64 that did not help at all.
As I stated clearly in my first post amongst the things that I had already tried was "download the latest driver from realtek labeled R2.31 (dated 2009-08-24)" I am not sure how you missed that, but nonetheless there it is.

Second, there is no "realtek ac97 service" Why would there be? There is however a windows audio service which is always started since it is set to "automatic". Why would it be set as otherwise?

I welcome any meaningful carefully thought out suggestions but please read my posts before making a suggestion.

Thanks,

Creative audio.txtHas you can see, i send for ex: this diagnostic of my sound from creative and registered on services and started automatic,windows is always there.
Good luck maate.

I was reading through http://support.microsoft.com/kb/943104/ and it does mention that if the device isn't activated in the BIOS it could cause this problem.

Uninstalling the device does not remove additional installed drivers, it only removes the main driver. It is likely you have some other drives causing the problem that aren't being removed... Quickest method to do this is to try http://www.guru3d.com/category/driversweeper/ and have it remove all Realtek and Creative sound drivers. THEN uninstall the device from the device manager and lastly reboot. If after that it still does not work, carefully scan the Add/remove programs list for any sort of sound related drivers still lurking in the system.