ATI & Audio Nightmares - Come join the fun!

Before I start with my driver woes here is my current build:
Ultra m998 | Gigabyte P35-DS4 Rev2.1 | Intel Quad Q6600 SLACR | PCP&C Silencer 610 | Diamond Viper X1650 Pro 512MB | 2 X 1GB G.SKILL PC6400 | Thermalright ULTRA120E

When I installed Windows XP Home (SP2) for the first time everything went smoothly. I didn't experience any trouble. I installed all the drivers off the CD that came with my MB and I got all my updates from the Windows site. All of this went without a hitch. That is, until I made the mistake of sticking in the CD that came with my video card. Once that was done and I rebooted everything went whacko.

On the reboot I couldn't even reach the desktop. My computer beeped twice and then rebooted itself. After rebooting it made it to the Windows screen with the little Cylon bar below it, but then it rebooted again. This time I had to get to the desktop in safe mode and then I uninstalled all the bad drivers with Driver Cleaner Pro. I rebooted again and this time I got to the desktop, but now I started getting little pop up boxes telling me Windows couldn't find this file, or that file.

I finally decided to reinstall the OS. After the reinstall, which went smoothly the first time (before the ATI garbage), this time Windows could not download and/or find the Realtek audio drivers. No matter what I did I could not figure out what the problem was. I did some Googling around and it seemed this was a problem a lot of people were experiencing. That is how I found this forum.

I am ready to reinstall Windows for the third time, but this time I'm thinking of running KillDisk to wipe everything off the drive first. Then .... reinstall OS, visit Windows Update and get all the updates, including the "optional" ones. I think this time, after all updates, and providing Windows automatically downloads working drivers for Realtek and the graphics, then I'm going to leave well enough alone and not install any ATI garbage.

I am at a loss as to what to do about these bizarre driver problems. I mean, it's not like I have Vista. Short of buying a nVidia card (I never had any issues with my old GeForce FX5200) I think I will leave any ATI updates alone. If anyone has anything to add (suggestions, tips, personal horror stories of your own) please feel free to post them here.

Thanks.

 

HA! I got it. I did a Google search for Realtek Audio Driver Failure and found this thread right here on MajorGeeks. In a post by musksnipe I followed his steps below:

Have you tried this?
The Universal Audio Architecture (UAA) High Definition Audio driver for Windows may be corrupted or causing problems with the audio driver installation.
To resolve this, try the following:
1. Click Start > Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs.
2. Look for the following two items: Realtek High Definition Audio Driver and High Definition Audio driver Package - KB888111.
3. If these items are listed in Add/Remove programs, remove them.
4. Restart Windows.
5. Download the latest audio driver for your PC.
6. Double-click the filename to extract the files.
7. Go to the folder where the files have been extracted and browse to the \HDAQFE\xpsp2\us\ folder or the \MSHDQFE\Win2K_XP\us\ folder. (The name of this folder depends on your PC model.)
8. Double-click the file kb888111xpsp2.exe to install the High Definition Audio Driver Package.
9. Restart Windows.
10. Install the audio driver.

I looked in the extracted folder (of the Realtek drivers I got from the Gigabyte web site) and found MSHDQFE\Win2K_XP\us\ then located the kb888111xpsp2.exe file and installed that. After rebooting I was able to install the audio driver!

- w00t!

Now on to other tasks.....

 

You mean it really works?? LOL

 

Yeah, that's what I said (lol). I had read so many posts and web pages by this time I was at my wits end. I found the High Definition Audio driver Package - KB888111 (control panel/add-remove programs) and uninstalled that and I had just downloaded the latest audio file from the Realtek site. When I looked in that folder and found the KB888111 file I thought, 'This is going to work!'

Sure enough, it did. Now all I have left to figure out if it's possible to get my TV sound to come through my PC speakers.

 

You might want to open a new thread in Hardware with a title related to that problem, so the folks here that have experience with that issue will notice it.

PS. that fix came from Intel if I remember right.

 

I did, and I'm still waiting for those "experienced" users to respond.

 

LOL I've been watching that thread, I'm no help there really and the people that answer threads here aren't supposed to be taking blind guesses.
I'm sure someone will know what to do, meanwhile I'll do some googling and see if I can find anything that might help.