Realtek AC'97 static (possible solution)

ShaggyJefe · 04 Feb 2009

I tried numerous versions of drivers for my Realtek AC'97 on board sound card, but each of them would reproduce the same static, garbled, analog noise sound through the speakers. Those of you that had this problem will attest to it being really annoying.

With the last set of drivers I installed I decided to take a look in the at some settings. I went Control Panel > Sound, from there I selected the Speakers under the playback devices and pushed the properties button near the bottom of the dialog box. In the Speaker Properties i went to the levels tab, on the levels tab i muted the PC Speaker and immediately the static went away.

If you are experiencing static I'd advise you to give this a shot before you pull your hair out trying to find drivers.

The drivers I installed just before this was: 6285_Vista_APO_PG536.zip
That file installs a windows vista 64 bit driver, comes out to version number, date: 6.0.1.6285, 3/25/2008

That's all i can think of at the moment, I'll update this if anything changes.

My System Info:
System
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Manufacturer System manufacturer
Model System Product Name
Total amount of system memory 4.00 GB RAM
System type 64-bit operating system
Number of processor cores 2

Storage
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Total size of hard disk(s) 279 GB
Disk partition C:\ 241 GB Free (279 GB Total)
Media drive D:\ CD/DVD

Graphics
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Display adapter type NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GTX (Microsoft Corporation - WDDM)
Total available graphics memory 1775 MB
Dedicated graphics memory 512 MB
Dedicated system memory 0 MB
Shared system memory 1263 MB
Display adapter driver version 7.15.11.7816
Primary monitor resolution 1280x1024
DirectX version DirectX 9.0 or better

Network
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Network Adapter NVIDIA nForce Networking Controller
Network Adapter Marvell Yukon 88E8053 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Controller

NosferatuX · 04 Feb 2009

Hi ShaggyJefe and welcome to the forum!

Please try installing the latest driver from Realtek here, R2.14

Let us know your progress

ShaggyJefe · 04 Feb 2009

I wasn't able to use that link, when i clicked on it i got stuck in a loop. It would load, I'd select the check box, then it would refresh so the next button would be available, then after i pushed next it would send me to a page that said that this object has moved here or something like that. so when i would click the link on that page it would send me back to the Realtek page that you just gave me.

Honestly i'll try it again this weekend, but for the time being I'm content with my workaround. Besides, who uses the pc speaker these days after the OS is loaded anyway. I understand this may not work for everyone, so to those people I wish the best of luck, but i think that webpage is broken.

Thanks for the link though, i've got it bookmarked and i'll check it out again in a couple days.

Now, you wouldn't happen to have a solution for cleaning a keyboard that my Uncle accidently spilled coke onto would you? Its getting pretty bad now, lol, the ctrl, windows key, and alt on the left side all like to stick. the keys on the left side also have a sticky tenedency but they get used alot more than the modifier keys.

NosferatuX · 05 Feb 2009

Yes, I've experienced the looping in Realtek site myself. I just use CCleaner, configure, run it, restart, visit it again

Here's the Realtek Home Page, then under quick links, click on HD Audio Codec Driver

NosferatuX · 05 Feb 2009

ShaggyJefe said:

Now, you wouldn't happen to have a solution for cleaning a keyboard that my Uncle accidently spilled coke onto would you? Its getting pretty bad now, lol, the ctrl, windows key, and alt on the left side all like to stick. the keys on the left side also have a sticky tenedency but they get used alot more than the modifier keys.

There are a lot of guides on the net to help you sort out your spilled keyboard problem. Personally, if it's an external keyboard, I'd just go ahead and buy a replacement, you can easily get a $15 keyboard that will work just fine. If it's a laptop keyboard, it's better to have a service center clean it up for you. If it's really bad, they'd recommend replacing it as well.

Now, if this is a special keyboard with sentimental value and you just want to keep and use again, or for whatever reason you might have and just want to clean it yourself, I've located a couple of very sound and logical approach which you can follow that can be used to sort out spilled liquids for external keyboard and for laptop keyboard

For minor spills, I'd do it this way on external keyboards;

Unplug it from the computer

Use a spray-type water bottle with only water in it on the area of the keys affected. If you can manage it, hold the keyboard upside down to do this, letting the excess water drip out (over a sink maybe)
Use a can of compressed air to then blast out the area around the keys (no, hair spray will just make matters worse, jk

)
Repeat as many times as needed until you feel you've gotten the bulf of the coke, coffee, salsa or whatever out
Let it dry in a cool place, for 2,3 days (upside down but elevated on the edges would be best)
Check the keys, if they're still sticky or wet, try the steps above if it's still sticky or if only wet wait another day to plug it in

ShaggyJefe · 05 Feb 2009

Yep, I'm just going to replace it. With this being the only keyboard for this computer and needing to use it daily i'll just spend the 15 bucks and get a new one. technically i have about 3 or 4 other keyboards lying around that i could use, but they are likely to have a reason that i replaced them as well. I use those as my last minute keyboards. Come to think of it, I've got alot of spare parts that fill the same role. oh well, such is the life of a future IT guy

Warluck · 14 May 2010

Bonjour,
this thread is quite old by I thought I could resurect it in hope that one of you "knows" what I'm talking about and maybe have a solution to this.

When my pc has been booted for quite a long period of time (maybe around a day) my sounds, musics everything that the sound card produce gets accompanied by what I would call static. Tics and tacs accompany the music.

Has anyone of you understand what I'm talking about, experienced something similar and mostly, have a solution.

Sound card is a Onboard Realtek HD, drivers version 6.00.0001.5998 for Windows 7 64bits.

P.S. Once I rebooted the machine static is gone.

Thanks in advance.