windows 7 + realtek alc850 ac'97 = i has no sound

realtek onboard audio doesn't work, got the up to date windows 7 driver and nothing
checked the acer website for the drivers, they have an X next to windows 7 and vista as an option for a driver download so i tried the xp option, still no sound. it's the realtek alc850 and ac'97 codec
my mobo
Audio Realtek Audio Driver 5.10.00.5930 30.1 MB 2008/12/10 <---the driver listed on acer's website
6.0.1.6305 <--- most up to date driver i can find on the interweb
i've been scouring these forums and it looks like i'm not the only one with the problem, and if anyone has found a solution they have not posted it.
tried using the windows action center and the microsoft fixit center.
any suggestions?

If there are no Vista or Win 7 drivers that will work, your only other option is to use a different Win 7 compatible sound card. This is what most of the Dell users are reporting on the Dell users forum, for older XP systems that have been upgraded to Vista/Windows 7 that are not supported by Dell (drivers).

thepaulg, welcome to the Seven Forums.

Have you tried the 6.0.1.6305, which is the latest available from Realtek?

Realtek

"6.0.1.6305 <--- most up to date driver i can find on the interweb"

yup, i'm curious, has anyone tried these programs that seem to conveniently pop up in these threads? like the "driver whiz"? is this a sevenforums.com endorsed product, or just ad spam? i'm not expecting you guys to take responsibility for the people that advertise on the site by any means, but there are a lot of hack programs like this and i'm just curious whether or not any of you windows 7 veterans know anything about them?

I've only been on here for about a year and don't read all the forum sections. But, I avoid non-vendor drivers. There are the Daniel K drivers for some SoundBlaster's abd they work for most.

One thing to consider with older hardware that was designed primarily for XP. Vista and Windows 7 handle some sound functions differently than XP, thus the reason different drivers are needed. Many vendors are not updating the older XP hardware drivers - they want to sell new hardware and drivers thus users are left to mostly dump the old hardware for new/compatible hardware. In a case such as this, a PCI (assuming you have a Desktop) sound card that is Win 7 compatible is needed.

thanks for your input guys, sounds like i'm gonna have to break down and buy a pci sound card.

i'm gonna try that "fix my sound" program that's advertised on my original post first thought, definitely gonna set a system restore point first. i'll repost when i'm done and let you know how it went.

"i'm gonna try that "fix my sound" program"

a complete waste of time