Audio issues on Windows 10 64-bit

Hey there,
On my (pretty) ancient rig that’s been running flawlessly on 32-bit Windows 7, I decided to jump over to Windows 10 64
because support for my old setup is basically hitting a dead end. (Specs: Athlon dual core 4000+, 4GB RAM, M2N4-SLI motherboard... Everything went smooth, except for one massive headache: zero sound. I've been grinding at this for two days straight trying everything under the sun. The only thing showing up online is Realtek. I’ve tried every tutorial out there, nuked the drivers, even messed around with Driverscape, but nothing sticks. In Device Manager, I can see the sound, video, and game controllers, but the multimedia audio controller is stuck with a constant yellow exclamation mark. I’ve tried Windows Update and "scan for hardware changes," but no luck. Every time I uninstall everything and try the Realtek driver, after a restart, it’s back to square one—it just shows AMD high definition audio, which supposedly says it's "working properly," but under multimedia audio, that yellow warning icon is still staring me in the face. Even checked the motherboard manufacturer's site, and zilch. Just a heads-up, I had the 32-bit version of Windows 10 on this exact machine before and it worked perfectly. Since I mainly use this PC to blast music, is there a fix for this, or am I stuck wiping everything to go back to 32-bit? I really don't want to do that since I just finished setting everything else up. Thanks in advance!

I ran into the exact same issues back before the holidays. The only fix that actually worked for me was the Realtek high Definition audio driver
EngineVersion=11.50.0.43969.
It’s running flawlessly on my machine—Windows 10 Pro 1903.
If you want it, I’ve uploaded it here so you can grab it and give it a shot.
Let me know once you've downloaded it so I can pull the link down.
Download Audio Driver
Best regards,

Thanks a ton, but I’m still stuck in the same loop... Basically, I go into Device Manager and uninstall both the multimedia audio controllers and the sound video game controllers. After I run the Realtek installer and reboot, that multimedia audio just shows up with a yellow exclamation mark again. Meanwhile, under sound, the video game controller says it's AMD high definition and claims it's "working properly," but when I try to update it, nothing happens—not even when I manually browse the folder where I downloaded the drivers. The only other thing Realtek mentioned was those ac97 ones, but it says they aren't compatible.

So, there’s the 99.9% fix (I removed the other part)

Download audio driver
Let me know if it works.
Best regards,

Same old story... I wiped everything out of Device Manager, ran the installer, rebooted, and—nothing. It’s like the installation didn't even happen.
You think maybe I need to kill the auto-updates in Windows? It feels like as soon as I restart, the OS just takes over and does its own thing again.

I was actually wondering, wasn't there more than one version of that motherboard out there? I think one revision used Realtek while another one went with SoundMax.🤔

If you could just head over to your Device Manager, go ahead and open up Properties, then check under the Details tab to find the Hardware ID—if you could post that here, it would be a huge help!

For instance, this is what my Realtek ID looks like:

HDAUDIO\FUNC_01&VEN_10EC&DEV_0892&SUBSYS_18498892&REV_1003

Now, if you see this instead of the part I've highlighted:

VEN_11D4

Then it's pretty likely you're looking at SoundMax.

What a mess you've got there.
Try this approach (unfortunately my PC is set to Italian), but just look at the images—it isn't difficult.
Search for it in the Device Manager and try this driver first. If that fails, test the others; one of them has to work.







Best,

Device PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0059&SUBSYS_822C1043&REV_A2\3&241 1e6fe&0&20 requires further installation.
This shows up under the multimedia audio controller events. I’m gonna try grabbing the Soundmax drivers and this specific ID above, then I'll let you know how it goes. Seriously, thanks a ton for the help—you're a lifesaver. Honestly, I just don't get the whole "philosophy" behind Windows 10. It's like, "Hey, grab a latte and we'll handle everything," but then you spend three days fighting just to get something working that ran perfectly on Windows 3.11 for Workgroups right after a five-floppy installation... 😁

Nathan Jackson56 said:It looks like I've run into a little bit of a hiccup with my hardware setup! It seems that the device identified by PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0059&SUBSYS_822C1043&REV_A2\3&241 1e6fe&0&20 is still asking for some further installation to get everything running smoothly. I suppose this might just be one of those minor technical hurdles where the system needs a little extra guidance to recognize the component fully, though I guess we'll have to dig a bit deeper to figure out exactly which driver is missing to get things back on track!
It looks like this falls under the multimedia audio controller events. I think I'll try downloading the Soundmax driver along with that other one mentioned above, and once I've given that a shot, I will definitely let you all know how it goes! Thank you so much for the help, it really is incredibly appreciated. Honestly, though, I can't quite wrap my head around the whole logic behind Windows 10. It feels like they just tell you to grab a coffee while they promise to fix everything, but then you end up struggling for three days straight just to get something working that used to run perfectly on Windows 3.11 for Workgroups immediately after installation... back when you only needed five floppy disks to get set up!😁

It looks like what you've got there is just the Nvidia multimedia driver for the HDMI output, but I guess what you actually need is the specific hardware ID for that sound game multimedia controller.

It’s not Soundmax... I can't find any Realtek drivers for 64-bit on this motherboard..
They only have 32-bit versions available here.
https://www.driveridentifier.com/sca...UBSYS_822C1043
...So looks like it's back to square one with another uninstallation.. 😠

Nathan Jackson56 said:It isn't actually Soundmax... and I think there might not be any Realtek drivers available for 64-bit systems specifically for this motherboard..
They seem to only offer them for 32-bit versions.
https://www.driveridentifier.com/sca...UBSYS_822C1043
...So, I guess we're looking at another uninstallation then.. 😠

Wait, if they aren't available, how can we say 🤣

https://www.realtek.com/en/component...odecs-software

https://www.realtek.com/en/products/...peripheral-ics

Maybe you could try downloading them directly from the official Realtek website!

You probably need either the HD audio driver or perhaps the ac97 one.

I seem to recall that those Nvidia drivers used to cause a few little conflicts with ac97, so maybe try downloading the Nvidia driver first, installing the audio, and then installing the Nvidia part once the sound is working properly?

PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0059&SUBSYS_822C1043&REV_A2
PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0059&SUBSYS_822C1043
PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0059&CC_040100
PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0059&CC_0401
It’s from that one... But everyone keeps saying it’s already installed... that AMD high definition driver which is supposedly "working properly." The thing is, I don't even have an HDMI port. I'm just working with the standard 3.5mm jack.

Man, this AC 97 stuff... if I'm reading this right, it doesn't even play nice with 64-bit Windows.. Gonna give the Nvidia drivers a shot instead, thanks.

Nathan Jackson56 said:This AC 97 thing... though if I'm remembering correctly, it might not even play nice with any 64-bit Windows versions. I think I'll try the Nvidia drivers instead, thanks!

Yeah, you definitely need that for ac97, and if my memory serves me right, there used to be some kind of conflict with Nvidia drivers back in the day.

I have a vague feeling there was also some sort of Azalia driver involved at one point🤔

Man, it's been ages since then; that hardware is basically a relic from at least 10 or 15 years ago, isn't it?🤣

Yeah, this thing is basically a relic from 2005. All the AC 97 drivers I can track down are made for 64-bit Windows 8 or even Windows XP... there's absolutely nothing for Windows 10. I might as well just start singing war songs at this point.

Nathan Jackson56 said:Yeah, this hardware is basically a relic from 2005... And honestly, the only AC 97 drivers I can actually track down seem to be for 64-bit Windows 8 or even just for Windows XP... There's absolutely nothing out there for Windows 10, so I might as well just sit here and sing a sad song about it.

Well, I suppose you aren't going to find anything for Windows 10, because let's face it, AC 97 became obsolete long before Windows 10 ever arrived.

Maybe try downloading the version for Windows 8 and see if it works for you.

http://drivers.softpedia.com/get/SOU...5-64-bit.shtml

Or perhaps try this one:

https://realtek-download.com/download-ac97/

And you should probably remember to disable the audio on your graphics card.

By the way, is this some specific branded machine, like maybe a Compaq or an HP?

You should really take a peek at this video too!



And just a little heads-up, you might want to double-check where you're plugging in that speaker; I'm thinking the ac97 port probably shouldn't go into the light green jack, though I guess it might be configured a bit differently than that.

Alright, I’m gonna give that trick from the video another shot... This rig isn't some big-name prebuilt, either; it was basically a custom build back in 2005. I actually swapped out the graphics card when the old one kicked the bucket, so right now I'm running an ATI Radeon 2600 Pro..
I'm hunting down exactly what you mentioned—that setting you said I should disable.

Nathan Jackson56 said:Well, I suppose I'll give that trick from the video another shot... You see, this Dell isn't really a major brand-name build; it was actually custom-ordered using specific components back in 2005. I did end up swapping out the graphics card once the old one finally kicked the bucket, so right now I'm running an ATI Radeon 2600 Pro.
I am currently hunting around for exactly what you mentioned—that setting you suggested I should try to disable.

Just head over to the Device Manager, right-click on the item, go into Properties, hit the Driver tab, and then select Disable device.

Man... I'm getting this error: "Windows x 64 driver version (Rtkva 64.sys) not found"