Windows 7 No sound with Realtek AC 97 and MSI K8 Neo4 Mainboard

[haakon]

Hi, I have a dualboot PC, Windows 7 and XP Home. Sound works fine when I run XP. In W7 I have no sound from the soundcard on then mainboard, but I am able to get sound via a USB sound device. I have installed the latest drivers for my mainboard and sound device from MSI home page. Could anybody help?

Haakon


BIOS Version/Date Phoenix Technologies, LTD 6.00 PG, 22.05.2006
Mainboard : MSI K8 Neo4 (MS-7125)
Chipset : nVidia nForce4
Processor : AMD Athlon 64 3700+ @ 2200 MHz
Physical Memory : 2048 MB
Video Card : NVIDIA GeForce 6600 (Prerelease - WDDM 1.0)
Hard Disk : SAMSUNG (250 GB)
DVD-Rom Drive : SONY DVD RW DW-Q28A ATA Device
Monitor Type : BenQ BenQ G2220HD - 22 inches
Network Card : AR5212 802.11abg NIC (3CRDAG675)
Network Card : MV88SE614x PCIe to SATA2 controller Yukon 88E8053 PCIe Gigabit Ethernet Controller (Copper)
Operating System : Windows 7 Ultimate Professional 6.01.7100
DirectX : Version 10.00
Manufacturer : MICRO-STAR INTERNATIONAL CO., LTD
Mainboard : MSI K8 Neo4 (MS-7125)
Bios : Phoenix Technologies, LTD
Chipset : nVidia nForce4
Physical Memory : 2048 MB DDR-SDRAM

Device Audio : nForce4 AC'97 Audio Controller
Audio Playback : Speakers (Realtek AC'97 Audio)
Audio Playback : Microsoft Sound Mapper
Audio Recording : Microphone (Realtek AC'97 Audio
MIDI Output : Microsoft GS Wavetable Synth
MIDI Output : Microsoft MIDI Mapper
Reproduction : Speakers (Realtek AC'97 Audio)
Driver date: 10.03.2009
Driver Version : 6.0.1.6303
Manufacturer : Microsoft
Corporation
Product ID : 100

 

[kemical]

Hi Haakon,
when your using 7 what does it say in device manager? Is there any yellow question marks?

 

[haakon]

Realtek on MSI mainboard

Hi, in device manager everything checks OK. No yallow flags. When I play music the indicator on the "Volume Mixer" indicates green according to the sounds that should be coming out of my speakers. I have also tried to plug the speaker jack into all the different outlets on the sound part of the mainboard.

Haakon

 

[kemical]

Have you configured the speaker setting for your set up?

 

[haakon]

Hmm..., if you mean the settings where I can choose from 2 channel, 5.1 surround etc...Yes. The setting is 2 chanel/2front speakers.

 

[kemical]

I reread your post and you say that you've installed the drivers for your mainboard (which I take you mean onboard sound) and also your sound card..? Does this both are enabled/installed? I see from your post though that your pc is only seeing the Realttek device.. I'd either take the card out or disable the onboard sound and just try and configure one device or have I misread your post...


Just in case I did misread it.. Try downloading the latest drivers from Realtek which are for win 7/vista:

Link Removed - Invalid URL

I'd un-install the old ones and install the new set..

Check out the screenshot of the high definition drivers highlighted

 

[Highwayman]

Also disable any 3d/enviroment enhancements in the mixer as that can bork the output.

 

[haakon]

Hi, thanks for the inputs. Still no luck. I have reinstalled with new drivers from Realtek, first the regular AC 97 then, the "High definition Audio Codec". I have tried to upgrade, then I tried to uninstall-install. No 3d or other environmental settings have neen selected. I have not messed with the BIOS yet, since sound is great when I boot XP Home there shouldn't be any problems with the Bios??

There is no separate sound card in my PC. The "sound card" is incorporated in the MSI motherboard/mainboard, using Realtek driver.

 

[kemical]

The bios might be worth checking as 7 obviously works quite different to xp... Perhaps there's nothing to find or change but at least it's another 'probable' crossed off the list.

 

[haakon]

I just tried to disable the AC 97 in the BIOS (I found no other sound related options in the BIOS). What happens is that the sound part of the mainboard is unavailable when I start Win7. There is a red X over the speaker-symbol in the bottom right corner, and when I put the cursor over it the message is "No audio autput device installed". When I try to install the driver I have downloaded the setup stops. Seems like the only solution is to buy a USB soundcard.

For info, in the manual to the MSI mainboard it says that the audio part is "Chip integrated by Realtek ALC850, direct sound AC97 audio, 7.1 channel output". As far as I know, there is only one sound device in my PC, and that is the one integrated in the mainboard.

Haakon

 

[Highwayman]

In that case the driver should be the realtek AC97 or HD drivers, but since the bios has it disabled the driver installer won't work, what you could do is prehaps extract the installer and cherrypick JUST the actual drivers manually on device manager....see if that works as often its bundled mixer software that causes most of the issues rather than the hardware itself.

 

[haakon]

Thanks for the reply. In device manager...sound... everything is greyed out, there is nothing to click on due to noe device installed. Any other ways into picking only the driver? Wich of the files in the downlaoded folder do i click on to install the driver only? The folder with drivers I have downloaded is called "Vista_Win7_R231".

 

[kemical]

What happened when you re-enabled the device in the bios? Didn't your pc find it when you booted back up?

 

[haakon]

Hi, I'll check that when I'm back on sunday. I have tried to remove the sound drivers completely and let the computer find the best driver automaticly on restart, and I have tried do do the same except telling from which folder the device manager should pick the driver. I have not tried the "turn sound off/onn" in BIOS yet.

 

[kemical]

Try this app as it removes any left over driver residue:
Guru3D - Driver Sweeper

 

[haakon]

Hi, thanks again for the reply!

After I run the driver sweeper it calls for a restart. If I let the AC97 stay disabled in the BIOS during reboot, I am unable to finish the setup of the driver. I get the message "Windows cant veryfy the publisher of this software", with the option "don't install" or "install it anyways". If I select to install it anyways I get the same warning again and again.......indefinately!

If I select to enable the AC97 in BIOS during reboot, Windows7 automatically install a driver from march 10 2009. Still no luck with the sound. In the mixertool I get green bars according to the music levels when I play music using the different mediaplayer I got, but no sound in the speakers or my headphones. I have tried all 5 jackoutlets on the integrated soundcard.

I have also tried to cancel the automatic driver installation performed by Win7 duriong startup (in order to try different drivers from MSI and from Realtek homepage...), but even if I click on cancel the driver get installed.

 

[Highwayman]

hmm sounds a bit like driver signing may need to be disabled prehaps?

 

[kemical]

Hi, thanks again for the reply!

After I run the driver sweeper it calls for a restart. If I let the AC97 stay disabled in the BIOS during reboot, I am unable to finish the setup of the driver. I get the message "Windows cant veryfy the publisher of this software", with the option "don't install" or "install it anyways". If I select to install it anyways I get the same warning again and again.......indefinately!

If I select to enable the AC97 in BIOS during reboot, Windows7 automatically install a driver from march 10 2009. Still no luck with the sound. In the mixertool I get green bars according to the music levels when I play music using the different mediaplayer I got, but no sound in the speakers or my headphones. I have tried all 5 jackoutlets on the integrated soundcard.

I have also tried to cancel the automatic driver installation performed by Win7 duriong startup (in order to try different drivers from MSI and from Realtek homepage...), but even if I click on cancel the driver get installed.

Have you tried the 'update driver' route via device manager... You'll need to choose the 'Have disk' method (see screenshots) and look for the driver 'inf' (it'll probably have 'inf' already in the box (again see screenie)

 

[haakon]

I tried the above procedure 3 times, using 3 different drivers I have found for the realtek (two from Realtek homepage and one from MSI). The procedures seemed to be complete with only one question if I really wanted to install the driver. Still no luck or change in the indications. When i try automatic driverupdate from speaker properties I end up with a new driver dated June 19 2009 (It does not matter witch of the 3 drivers I started out with). Still noe luck or change in indications. I still got fine sound if I boot XP home.

 

[kemical]

Hi, thanks again for the reply!

After I run the driver sweeper it calls for a restart. If I let the AC97 stay disabled in the BIOS during reboot, I am unable to finish the setup of the driver. I get the message "Windows cant veryfy the publisher of this software", with the option "don't install" or "install it anyways". If I select to install it anyways I get the same warning again and again.......indefinately!

If I select to enable the AC97 in BIOS during reboot, Windows7 automatically install a driver from march 10 2009. Still no luck with the sound. In the mixertool I get green bars according to the music levels when I play music using the different mediaplayer I got, but no sound in the speakers or my headphones. I have tried all 5 jackoutlets on the integrated soundcard.

I have also tried to cancel the automatic driver installation performed by Win7 duriong startup (in order to try different drivers from MSI and from Realtek homepage...), but even if I click on cancel the driver get installed.

If you press F8 whilst booting into 7 you get the advanced options screen as you know, On there though is the option to disable install signed drivers... I just wondered with the above post if this would help any?