I don't believe I have AC97, how would you tell? My default XP installation has Realtek's High Definition Audio Codecs. So I've been trying those and I have them upgraded to the latest which was just released a few days ago. Still crackles. Edit: I found my problem (stupid me). It was the...
Same problem and aside from spending about 2 hours uninstalling and reinstalling until it works. I haven't found a real solution. By the way, even when I do get it working a BSOD usally messes it up again.