Third party Windows audio driver for onboard RealTek audio?

Hello.

Is there a such thing? I seem to be having rare and random (not easy to
reproduce) problems with my current RealTek onboard audio even with old
and newest/latest audio RealTek audio drivers in my updated Windows
(32-bit XP Pro. SP3 and 64-bit 7 HPE). And yes, I tried using a

Thank you in advance.
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"Ant" <> wrote in message news:yuydnW-...
> Hello.
>
> Is there a such thing? I seem to be having rare and random (not easy to reproduce) problems with my current RealTek
> onboard audio even with old and newest/latest audio RealTek audio drivers in my updated Windows (32-bit XP Pro. SP3
> and 64-bit 7 HPE). And yes, I tried using a
>
> Thank you in advance.

I had the best luck uninstalling ALL audio drivers, rebooting into BIOS, and disabling the onboard audio. Save and boot.
Then reboot into BIOS, re-enable the onboard audio, boot up, and install the latest RealTek/AC'97 drivers. You may have
an install problem, pointing to HDDAUD.SYS or some such program. If so, search for it on you PC- it's probably already
there. Once that's taken care of, the installation goes pretty smoothly.

That said, I haven't stayed with onboard audio for very long. It has always been flaky for me, no matter who made the
audio chip. It would be set up for 5.1 SS, and the next thing you know, it's now 2.0 or 2.1. Put it back to 5.1 and it
would stay there for a while, but as soon as I opened a game or something that didn't support 5.1, Windows (or the audio
driver setup) would put the speakers back to stereo and I would have to manually change them. I had a couple of Creative
Labs external USB cards that worked well, but the newer ones, not so much. I finally bought a Zalman RM-ZSSC V2 USB card
and am very happy with it. I get great surround sound out of it, and had no problems getting it to work right out of the
box.

http://www.epinions.com/review/Zalma...t_503714057860

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000E3B872/...SIN=B000E3B872

I know that's probably not the solution you're looking for, but barring getting the MB audio drivers to work, that's the
route I took :-)
--
SC Tom

On 11/23/2011 9:49 AM PT, SC Tom typed:

>> Is there a such thing? I seem to be having rare and random (not easy >> to reproduce) problems with my current RealTek onboard audio even with
>> old and newest/latest audio RealTek audio drivers in my updated
>> Windows (32-bit XP Pro. SP3 and 64-bit 7 HPE). And yes, I tried using a
>
> I had the best luck uninstalling ALL audio drivers, rebooting into BIOS,
> and disabling the onboard audio. Save and boot. Then reboot into BIOS,
> re-enable the onboard audio, boot up, and install the latest
> RealTek/AC'97 drivers. You may have an install problem, pointing to
> HDDAUD.SYS or some such program. If so, search for it on you PC- it's
> probably already there. Once that's taken care of, the installation goes
> pretty smoothly.

Interesting. I used to have an Creative SB Audigy 2 ZS sound card so I
uninstalled its driver, turned off PC, removed its sound card and swap
hardwares, rebooted, deleted left overs, installed the latest RealTek
drivers, rebooted, tested fine, etc. However, once in a while, my
computer would lock up hard with a stuck audio.


> That said, I haven't stayed with onboard audio for very long. It has
> always been flaky for me, no matter who made the audio chip. It would be
> set up for 5.1 SS, and the next thing you know, it's now 2.0 or 2.1. Put
> it back to 5.1 and it would stay there for a while, but as soon as I
> opened a game or something that didn't support 5.1, Windows (or the
> audio driver setup) would put the speakers back to stereo and I would
> have to manually change them. I had a couple of Creative Labs external
> USB cards that worked well, but the newer ones, not so much. I finally
> bought a Zalman RM-ZSSC V2 USB card and am very happy with it. I get
> great surround sound out of it, and had no problems getting it to work
> right out of the box.
>
> http://www.epinions.com/review/Zalma...t_503714057860
>
>
> http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000E3B872/...SIN=B000E3B872
>
>
> I know that's probably not the solution you're looking for, but barring
> getting the MB audio drivers to work, that's the route I took :-)

Ew, an USB external sound device? Isn't that like slow and annoying?
FYI, I only have 2.1 sound system. I do love bass though. I did notice
these onboard have crappy bass from my subwoofer compared to my Creative
Audigy 2 ZS sound card (old PCI -- don't have those slots).
--
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slew themselves, or cast themselves in pits, or fled wailing back to
hide in holes and dark lightless places far from hope." --The Return of
the King (book)
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"SC Tom" <> wrote in message news:jajbo2$e30$...
>
> "Ant" <> wrote in message
> news:yuydnW-...
>> Hello.
>>
>> Is there a such thing? I seem to be having rare and random (not easy to
>> reproduce) problems with my current RealTek onboard audio even with old
>> and newest/latest audio RealTek audio drivers in my updated Windows
>> (32-bit XP Pro. SP3 and 64-bit 7 HPE). And yes, I tried using a
>>
>> Thank you in advance.
>
> I had the best luck uninstalling ALL audio drivers, rebooting into BIOS,
> and disabling the onboard audio. Save and boot. Then reboot into BIOS,
> re-enable the onboard audio, boot up, and install the latest RealTek/AC'97
> drivers. You may have an install problem, pointing to HDDAUD.SYS or some
> such program. If so, search for it on you PC- it's probably already there.
> Once that's taken care of, the installation goes pretty smoothly.
>
> That said, I haven't stayed with onboard audio for very long. It has
> always been flaky for me, no matter who made the audio chip. It would be
> set up for 5.1 SS, and the next thing you know, it's now 2.0 or 2.1. Put
> it back to 5.1 and it would stay there for a while, but as soon as I
> opened a game or something that didn't support 5.1, Windows (or the audio
> driver setup) would put the speakers back to stereo and I would have to
> manually change them. I had a couple of Creative Labs external USB cards
> that worked well, but the newer ones, not so much. I finally bought a
> Zalman RM-ZSSC V2 USB card and am very happy with it. I get great surround
> sound out of it, and had no problems getting it to work right out of the
> box.
>
> http://www.epinions.com/review/Zalma...t_503714057860
>
> http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000E3B872/...SIN=B000E3B872
>
> I know that's probably not the solution you're looking for, but barring
> getting the MB audio drivers to work, that's the route I took :-)
> --
> SC Tom
>


I concur. Onboard sound has always been lacking even on my current 7.1
system. Could not get it to work properly and the driver config program
didn't seem to offer much of anything (actually didn't seem to even have
one). Put in my old AOpen Cobra 850 and viola 5.1 back with both mic and
line inputs also working as expected (under Vista, no driver for 7 )

"Ant" <> wrote in message news:gLWdne4F4N2T2lDTnZ2dnUVZ_o-...
> On 11/23/2011 9:49 AM PT, SC Tom typed:
>
>>> Is there a such thing? I seem to be having rare and random (not easy >> to reproduce) problems with my current
>>> RealTek onboard audio even with
>>> old and newest/latest audio RealTek audio drivers in my updated
>>> Windows (32-bit XP Pro. SP3 and 64-bit 7 HPE). And yes, I tried using a
>>
>> I had the best luck uninstalling ALL audio drivers, rebooting into BIOS,
>> and disabling the onboard audio. Save and boot. Then reboot into BIOS,
>> re-enable the onboard audio, boot up, and install the latest
>> RealTek/AC'97 drivers. You may have an install problem, pointing to
>> HDDAUD.SYS or some such program. If so, search for it on you PC- it's
>> probably already there. Once that's taken care of, the installation goes
>> pretty smoothly.
>
> Interesting. I used to have an Creative SB Audigy 2 ZS sound card so I uninstalled its driver, turned off PC, removed
> its sound card and swap hardwares, rebooted, deleted left overs, installed the latest RealTek drivers, rebooted,
> tested fine, etc. However, once in a while, my computer would lock up hard with a stuck audio.
>
>
>> That said, I haven't stayed with onboard audio for very long. It has
>> always been flaky for me, no matter who made the audio chip. It would be
>> set up for 5.1 SS, and the next thing you know, it's now 2.0 or 2.1. Put
>> it back to 5.1 and it would stay there for a while, but as soon as I
>> opened a game or something that didn't support 5.1, Windows (or the
>> audio driver setup) would put the speakers back to stereo and I would
>> have to manually change them. I had a couple of Creative Labs external
>> USB cards that worked well, but the newer ones, not so much. I finally
>> bought a Zalman RM-ZSSC V2 USB card and am very happy with it. I get
>> great surround sound out of it, and had no problems getting it to work
>> right out of the box.
>>
>> http://www.epinions.com/review/Zalma...t_503714057860
>>
>>
>> http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000E3B872/...SIN=B000E3B872
>>
>>
>> I know that's probably not the solution you're looking for, but barring
>> getting the MB audio drivers to work, that's the route I took :-)
>
> Ew, an USB external sound device? Isn't that like slow and annoying? FYI, I only have 2.1 sound system. I do love bass
> though. I did notice these onboard have crappy bass from my subwoofer compared to my Creative Audigy 2 ZS sound card
> (old PCI -- don't have those slots).
>

No , it's not slow or annoying. It produces sound before I can actually do anything on the system, so it's ready before
Windows is, IYKWIM. I don't know what would make it annoying (?).

I have a 4.1 Cambridge FPS2000 speaker system connected to it, and the bass can be heard easily outside if I crank it up
that loud. At times, I have to compete with some of the cars driving by, and it has no problem doing that :-) The Zalman
control panel allows a lot of different setups, up to and including 7.1 Digital Speaker Shifter (don't know what it is,
but it sounds good). I'm happy with it, much happier than I was with the onboard sound through the same speaker system.
--
SC Tom

On 11/23/2011 1:22 PM PT, SC Tom typed:

>
> "Ant" <> wrote in message
> news:gLWdne4F4N2T2lDTnZ2dnUVZ_o-...
>> On 11/23/2011 9:49 AM PT, SC Tom typed:
>>
>>>> Is there a such thing? I seem to be having rare and random (not easy
>>>> >> to reproduce) problems with my current RealTek onboard audio even
>>>> with
>>>> old and newest/latest audio RealTek audio drivers in my updated
>>>> Windows (32-bit XP Pro. SP3 and 64-bit 7 HPE). And yes, I tried using a
>>>
>>> I had the best luck uninstalling ALL audio drivers, rebooting into BIOS,
>>> and disabling the onboard audio. Save and boot. Then reboot into BIOS,
>>> re-enable the onboard audio, boot up, and install the latest
>>> RealTek/AC'97 drivers. You may have an install problem, pointing to
>>> HDDAUD.SYS or some such program. If so, search for it on you PC- it's
>>> probably already there. Once that's taken care of, the installation goes
>>> pretty smoothly.
>>
>> Interesting. I used to have an Creative SB Audigy 2 ZS sound card so I
>> uninstalled its driver, turned off PC, removed its sound card and swap
>> hardwares, rebooted, deleted left overs, installed the latest RealTek
>> drivers, rebooted, tested fine, etc. However, once in a while, my
>> computer would lock up hard with a stuck audio.
>>
>>
>>> That said, I haven't stayed with onboard audio for very long. It has
>>> always been flaky for me, no matter who made the audio chip. It would be
>>> set up for 5.1 SS, and the next thing you know, it's now 2.0 or 2.1. Put
>>> it back to 5.1 and it would stay there for a while, but as soon as I
>>> opened a game or something that didn't support 5.1, Windows (or the
>>> audio driver setup) would put the speakers back to stereo and I would
>>> have to manually change them. I had a couple of Creative Labs external
>>> USB cards that worked well, but the newer ones, not so much. I finally
>>> bought a Zalman RM-ZSSC V2 USB card and am very happy with it. I get
>>> great surround sound out of it, and had no problems getting it to work
>>> right out of the box.
>>>
>>> http://www.epinions.com/review/Zalma...t_503714057860
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000E3B872/...SIN=B000E3B872
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> I know that's probably not the solution you're looking for, but barring
>>> getting the MB audio drivers to work, that's the route I took :-)
>>
>> Ew, an USB external sound device? Isn't that like slow and annoying?
>> FYI, I only have 2.1 sound system. I do love bass though. I did notice
>> these onboard have crappy bass from my subwoofer compared to my
>> Creative Audigy 2 ZS sound card (old PCI -- don't have those slots).
>>
>
> No , it's not slow or annoying. It produces sound before I can actually
> do anything on the system, so it's ready before Windows is, IYKWIM. I
> don't know what would make it annoying (?).

USB = slow. No latencies? I assume it still uses analog connections for
speakers, headphones, etc.? Is it fully compatible in games and other
OSes like Linux (do pass my older boxes for other OSes)?


> I have a 4.1 Cambridge FPS2000 speaker system connected to it, and the
> bass can be heard easily outside if I crank it up that loud. At times, I
> have to compete with some of the cars driving by, and it has no problem
> doing that :-) The Zalman control panel allows a lot of different
> setups, up to and including 7.1 Digital Speaker Shifter (don't know what
> it is, but it sounds good). I'm happy with it, much happier than I was
> with the onboard sound through the same speaker system.

Interesting. Does it do EAX for older games?
--
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/ /\ /\ \ Ant's Quality Foraged Links: http://aqfl.net
| |o o| |
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( ) If e-mailing, then axe ANT from its address if needed.
Ant is currently not listening to any songs on this computer.

Ant <> écrivait news:gLWdne4F4N2T2lDTnZ2dnUVZ_o-
:

<snip>
>
> Ew, an USB external sound device? Isn't that like slow and annoying?

<snip>

Many musicians and pro/semi-pro recording studios use USB sound devices,
for example:

http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=...=USBinterfaces

On 11/23/2011 2:07 PM PT, Dominique typed:

>> Ew, an USB external sound device? Isn't that like slow and annoying?
>
> <snip>
>
> Many musicians and pro/semi-pro recording studios use USB sound devices,
> for example:
>
> http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=...=USBinterfaces

Interesting. Wouldn't there be latencies and stuff? USB isn't that fast.
--
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/ /\ /\ \ Ant's Quality Foraged Links: http://aqfl.net
| |o o| |
\ _ / If crediting, then use Ant nickname and AQFL URL/link.
( ) If e-mailing, then axe ANT from its address if needed.
Ant is currently not listening to any songs on this computer.

"Ant" <> wrote in message news:cN-...
> On 11/23/2011 1:22 PM PT, SC Tom typed:
>
>>
>> "Ant" <> wrote in message
>> news:gLWdne4F4N2T2lDTnZ2dnUVZ_o-...
>>> On 11/23/2011 9:49 AM PT, SC Tom typed:
>>>
>>>>> Is there a such thing? I seem to be having rare and random (not easy
>>>>> >> to reproduce) problems with my current RealTek onboard audio even
>>>>> with
>>>>> old and newest/latest audio RealTek audio drivers in my updated
>>>>> Windows (32-bit XP Pro. SP3 and 64-bit 7 HPE). And yes, I tried using a
>>>>
>>>> I had the best luck uninstalling ALL audio drivers, rebooting into BIOS,
>>>> and disabling the onboard audio. Save and boot. Then reboot into BIOS,
>>>> re-enable the onboard audio, boot up, and install the latest
>>>> RealTek/AC'97 drivers. You may have an install problem, pointing to
>>>> HDDAUD.SYS or some such program. If so, search for it on you PC- it's
>>>> probably already there. Once that's taken care of, the installation goes
>>>> pretty smoothly.
>>>
>>> Interesting. I used to have an Creative SB Audigy 2 ZS sound card so I
>>> uninstalled its driver, turned off PC, removed its sound card and swap
>>> hardwares, rebooted, deleted left overs, installed the latest RealTek
>>> drivers, rebooted, tested fine, etc. However, once in a while, my
>>> computer would lock up hard with a stuck audio.
>>>
>>>
>>>> That said, I haven't stayed with onboard audio for very long. It has
>>>> always been flaky for me, no matter who made the audio chip. It would be
>>>> set up for 5.1 SS, and the next thing you know, it's now 2.0 or 2.1. Put
>>>> it back to 5.1 and it would stay there for a while, but as soon as I
>>>> opened a game or something that didn't support 5.1, Windows (or the
>>>> audio driver setup) would put the speakers back to stereo and I would
>>>> have to manually change them. I had a couple of Creative Labs external
>>>> USB cards that worked well, but the newer ones, not so much. I finally
>>>> bought a Zalman RM-ZSSC V2 USB card and am very happy with it. I get
>>>> great surround sound out of it, and had no problems getting it to work
>>>> right out of the box.
>>>>
>>>> http://www.epinions.com/review/Zalma...t_503714057860
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000E3B872/...SIN=B000E3B872
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> I know that's probably not the solution you're looking for, but barring
>>>> getting the MB audio drivers to work, that's the route I took :-)
>>>
>>> Ew, an USB external sound device? Isn't that like slow and annoying?
>>> FYI, I only have 2.1 sound system. I do love bass though. I did notice
>>> these onboard have crappy bass from my subwoofer compared to my
>>> Creative Audigy 2 ZS sound card (old PCI -- don't have those slots).
>>>
>>
>> No , it's not slow or annoying. It produces sound before I can actually
>> do anything on the system, so it's ready before Windows is, IYKWIM. I
>> don't know what would make it annoying (?).
>
> USB = slow. No latencies? I assume it still uses analog connections for speakers, headphones, etc.? Is it fully
> compatible in games and other OSes like Linux (do pass my older boxes for other OSes)?
>
>
>> I have a 4.1 Cambridge FPS2000 speaker system connected to it, and the
>> bass can be heard easily outside if I crank it up that loud. At times, I
>> have to compete with some of the cars driving by, and it has no problem
>> doing that :-) The Zalman control panel allows a lot of different
>> setups, up to and including 7.1 Digital Speaker Shifter (don't know what
>> it is, but it sounds good). I'm happy with it, much happier than I was
>> with the onboard sound through the same speaker system.
>
> Interesting. Does it do EAX for older games?

There is no latency that I can detect. I have a couple of tennis games, and the racquet hits and bounces are synced
well. I've run games like Timeshock! (pinball game employing EAX), Far Cry, Bioshock, and the Call of Duty series
through MW2 with no slowness, latency or un-syncs.

I have it set up for analog output, but it also has an optical connection. My speaker system doesn't do optical, so I
haven't tested it.
--
SC Tom

"pjp" <pjp_is_located_@hotmail.com> wrote in message news:jak1ds$1rf$...
> "SC Tom" <> wrote in message news:jajbo2$e30$...
>>
>> "Ant" <> wrote in message news:yuydnW-...
>>> Hello.
>>>
>>> Is there a such thing? I seem to be having rare and random (not easy to reproduce) problems with my current RealTek
>>> onboard audio even with old and newest/latest audio RealTek audio drivers in my updated Windows (32-bit XP Pro. SP3
>>> and 64-bit 7 HPE). And yes, I tried using a
>>>
>>> Thank you in advance.
>>
>> I had the best luck uninstalling ALL audio drivers, rebooting into BIOS, and disabling the onboard audio. Save and
>> boot. Then reboot into BIOS, re-enable the onboard audio, boot up, and install the latest RealTek/AC'97 drivers. You
>> may have an install problem, pointing to HDDAUD.SYS or some such program. If so, search for it on you PC- it's
>> probably already there. Once that's taken care of, the installation goes pretty smoothly.
>>
>> That said, I haven't stayed with onboard audio for very long. It has always been flaky for me, no matter who made the
>> audio chip. It would be set up for 5.1 SS, and the next thing you know, it's now 2.0 or 2.1. Put it back to 5.1 and
>> it would stay there for a while, but as soon as I opened a game or something that didn't support 5.1, Windows (or the
>> audio driver setup) would put the speakers back to stereo and I would have to manually change them. I had a couple of
>> Creative Labs external USB cards that worked well, but the newer ones, not so much. I finally bought a Zalman RM-ZSSC
>> V2 USB card and am very happy with it. I get great surround sound out of it, and had no problems getting it to work
>> right out of the box.
>>
>> http://www.epinions.com/review/Zalma...t_503714057860
>>
>> http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000E3B872/...SIN=B000E3B872
>>
>> I know that's probably not the solution you're looking for, but barring getting the MB audio drivers to work, that's
>> the route I took :-)
>> --
>> SC Tom
>>
>
>
> I concur. Onboard sound has always been lacking even on my current 7.1 system. Could not get it to work properly and
> the driver config program didn't seem to offer much of anything (actually didn't seem to even have one). Put in my old
> AOpen Cobra 850 and viola 5.1 back with both mic and line inputs also working as expected (under Vista, no driver for
> 7 )

Have you tried to install the Vista drivers on Win7 in compatibility mode? Always a chance it'll work then :-) No
guarantees, but you never know.
--
SC Tom