A8N-SLI Defies Realtec Vista Drivers. Soundlessness Presists

[jonmed]

Greetings from a novice:

I have followed the oft-repeated advice, downloaded any Vista driver I could get hold of in the Realtek site, imposed it on my long-suffering MOBO -- to no avail. Though the Device Manager suggests the audio control works just fine (that is, the exclamation points are gone, and so are the unwelcoming messages from MS each time I reboot), a much smaller message is unleashed at me each time I go to Control Panel, telling me my drivers are incompatible with Vista and advises me to go back to Realtek.

The drivers I have downloaded and attempted installation of, either individually or jointly, are

-- 6213_Vista_APO

-- AudioADI610x6100_Vista

-- Vista_R160

-- WDM_A398

I assumed that I need first to install a fresh AC97 general audio driver, reboot and then install the Vista-oriented R160. Having failed that I tried to combine AC97 with 6213. To no avail. No sound, the little error message keeps popping at me.

Needless to say I still have the option of smashing my computer to pieces (and cutting myself off the electric grid), but I reserve it as the last resort but one.

Any advice, practical or compassionate, will be greatly appreciated.

Mine is a dual-core AMD 4800 with an A8N-SLI MOBO, 2 Gig of RAM, 7600 nVidia.

Many thanks
-- Jon

[powerarmour]

Download the Realtek 6171's, the 6213's didn't work for me either...



Here:-

http://www.sharebigfile.com/file/90173/Realtek-6171-Vista-zip.html

[Mark Phelps]

I have an A8N32-SLI mobo but am not using onboard audio, and you post has stopped me from switching over to using it -- which I was about to do.

I did an exhaustive search for ALC850 drivers and found the same files you did, so sorry, don't have any other driver files to suggest.

But, crazy it it seems, you might try the following:
1) Disable the onboard sound in the BIOS and reboot
2) Uninstall the Audio drivers in Device Manager, and reboot
3) Vista should NOT reinstall any audio drivers (this is a guess)
4) Shutdown, reboot and re-enable the onboard sound in the BIOs
5) Vista should then detect the onboard audio and load the right driver (this is also a guess).

When I first installed Vista Ultimate, I had the dreaded no audio device installed message, but later, Vista automatically found and installed a C-Media driver for the chip on my sound card. I don't know how long ago you installed Vista, but new drivers are popping up every day. Having it redetect the ongoard sound might force Vista to look for an updated drivers -- and it just mignt work.

[marstein]

Isn't there a little jumper on the mobo where you have to switch to the rear outputs or something like that??
Check the manual page 2-28 - Front panel audio connector - connect the 1st and 3rd pair of jumpers if rear connectors are to be used!

[kageon1]