Realtek AC '97 - sound wont work on win7 ultimate

Hello there all,

I re-formated my pc to windows 7 ultimate. My sound refuses to work. It worked fine on xp, but on windows 7 it doesnt? In device manager, the sound device displays normally without a question mark because the driver is installed.

Its realtek AC '97 drivers, and its for my motherbords on board sound. I have tried for the past 3 days to figure out why it isnt working, but with no luck at all. Its really irritating not being able to listen to any music on my pc.

Notes:

1) The sound is not muted
2) the driver was installed
3) device manager doesnt display a question mark
4) the sound appears to play in media players eg. winamp, wmp, wmpc etc etc
5) i have audio codecs installed... didnt help at all.
6) even though the sound plays i hear nothing
7) the speakers ARE on and ARE working - tried other speakers too
8) volume is up on media players
9) speakers are plugged into the right jacks

So that should about cover the list of expected questions from the answers list i hope...

If anyone could give me a solution to this, i would be most greatful!!

Thanks in advance!

Sinobiah said:

Hello there all,

I re-formated my pc to windows 7 ultimate. My sound refuses to work. It worked fine on xp, but on windows 7 it doesnt? In device manager, the sound device displays normally without a question mark because the driver is installed.

Its realtek AC '97 drivers, and its for my motherbords on board sound. I have tried for the past 3 days to figure out why it isnt working, but with no luck at all. Its really irritating not being able to listen to any music on my pc.

Notes:

1) The sound is not muted
2) the driver was installed
3) device manager doesnt display a question mark
4) the sound appears to play in media players eg. winamp, wmp, wmpc etc etc
5) i have audio codecs installed... didnt help at all.
6) even though the sound plays i hear nothing
7) the speakers ARE on and ARE working - tried other speakers too
8) volume is up on media players
9) speakers are plugged into the right jacks

So that should about cover the list of expected questions from the answers list i hope...

If anyone could give me a solution to this, i would be most greatful!!

Thanks in advance!

There are a couple of other things to try...

Right click the Microsoft speaker icon in the task bar, select "Playback Devices".

"Speakers" should be the default output device, (green check mark)

Select speakers with a single left click... to buttons should become active.

Configure and Properties. Under Configure make sure you're set to stereo.

After that click on the Properties button..you should see a config window with several several tabs. If you have the Enhancements tab selct it, check immdiate mode then "Disable All Sound Effects". Then click the advanced tab and select 16-bit - 44.1kHz (CD Quality).

Might want to reboot after all this.

Ap

[QUOTE=Aphelion;973839]

Sinobiah said:

There are a couple of other things to try...

Right click the Microsoft speaker icon in the task bar, select "Playback Devices".

"Speakers" should be the default output device, (green check mark)

Select speakers with a single left click... to buttons should become active.

Configure and Properties. Under Configure make sure you're set to stereo.

After that click on the Properties button..you should see a config window with several several tabs. If you have the Enhancements tab selct it, check immdiate mode then "Disable All Sound Effects". Then click the advanced tab and select 16-bit - 44.1kHz (CD Quality).

Might want to reboot after all this.

Ap

Hey there,

Thank you for the kind response! was watching and waiting for someone to reply.. Im really desperate here!

I did what you said under the tabs, but when i go to the advanced tab it doesnt let me select anything from the dropdown list. It stays on 16 bit, 48000 Hz, (DVD quality).

So because of this i cant change the quality setting

Any other suggestions? I really want my sound to work. And i also need to hear sounds when i create flash websites, because i dont want it to sound all moggy n stuff! So its very frustrating to me because of this. I tried to see what could cause the dropdown to stay greyed out but i cant figure out what it is.

Sinobiah said:

Any other suggestions? I really want my sound to work. And i also need to hear sounds when i create flash websites, because i dont want it to sound all moggy n stuff! So its very frustrating to me because of this. I tried to see what could cause the dropdown to stay greyed out but i cant figure out what it is.

What dropdown?

Have you tried to update the drivers from the Device Manager?

In device manager dbl click on AC97 (or realtek) audio then select the drivers tab, click the Update Drivers button.

AC97 is an older format, how old is your computer?

Have you looked at the conputer's BIOS options and see if there's selections for audio type? You might see something like AC97, Azalia audio or High Definition audio. Of you might just see enable or disable.

If you have high definition or azalia audio select that.

Ap

Also, can you post a pic of the window that shows Playback Devices.

Ap

Aphelion said:

Sinobiah said:

Any other suggestions? I really want my sound to work. And i also need to hear sounds when i create flash websites, because i dont want it to sound all moggy n stuff! So its very frustrating to me because of this. I tried to see what could cause the dropdown to stay greyed out but i cant figure out what it is.

What dropdown?

Have you tried to update the drivers from the Device Manager?

In device manager dbl click on AC97 (or realtek) audio then select the drivers tab, click the Update Drivers button.

AC97 is an older format, how old is your computer?

Have you looked at the conputer's BIOS options and see if there's selections for audio type? You might see something like AC97, Azalia audio or High Definition audio. Of you might just see enable or disable.

If you have high definition or azalia audio select that.

Ap

Im not sure howold my pc is. Its a P4. I have re-installed the latest Realtek drivers, and still nothing happens. I have also updated the drivers but it says there are no better drivers etc. And i have manually installed drivers too..

Everything looks good.. 16-bit 48,000 hz is standard for AC97 audio so I wouldn't worry about other selection not being available. I would de-select the two Exclusive Mode selections. I don't know how well AC97 reacts to those.

Here's a few other things, but I'm just guessing... I don't think Win-7 actually supports AC97.

Under the communications tab, select Do Nothing.
Under the Levels tab scroll down and make sure all levels are at least at 50%
You should've "disabled all audio effects" under the Enhancements tab.

Someone posted that a different output jack was working while the standard one was not.

What is under the Custom tab?

Hopefully someone with a similar setup has some ideas.

Do you have the make/model number of your PC, you should post it and any other info you might have.

Ap

thanks Ap. Turns out my soundcard was blown.. thanks for the great advice anyway!

I figured it was blown when i plugged the jack into the front plugs... and it worked. And sound never worked when it i plugged the speakers into the back. The front plugs werent connected, so i connected it and voila.. then realised my rear onboard sound was blown..