VIA AC'97 Audio Controller (WDM) Driving Me Crazy!

Ok I have an old HP Pavilion 521c and the sound just started having issues. I got some new(er) speakers about two years ago and had the same issue I'm having now (sound plays really fast and is garbled). Last time this happened I just updated the sound driver and it was fine. But this time, when I tried updating the driver it only made it worse! rolleyes

My current driver version is 6.14.1.3880. The version I can rollback to is 5.12.1.3820 but when I do I still have the same problem. I updated to the only version I could find: 6.14.1.4180. When I did update, the sound only got faster and more garbled. I don't understand what is going on.

I have used driver 6.14.1.3880 for about two years and I suddenly started having problems. I haven't changed anything about my computer since then (except other software installed of course). I hadn't installed any new software within a week of starting to have this problem. I'm wondering what other factors could cause this issue and what I can do to resolve them.

I've tried rolling back the driver then reinstalling 6.14.1.3880 but still had this problem. I have no other speakers I can use with the computer and I'm afraid if I buy even newer ones I'll still have this issue (though maybe the newer driver would work then?) :confused

Any information to help me with this incredibly frustrating issue is appreciated.

 

:wave Welcome to Major Geeks! :major

I was not able to locate drivers for your exact model of motherboard, but I found some other VIA drivers for a model very close to yours (you have a A7V-VE, these drivers are for A7V-V). I attached a ZIP file below. Once extracted, you'll find 2 folders, the one ending in "wxp" is the driver, the other is a patch to be installed after the driver. There is no "setup.exe" file so the driver must be installed via the Device Manager/Hardware Wizard. The patch is an EXE file and can be run by double clicking it. If you need info on using the Hardware Wizard via the Device Manager to install drivers, follow the steps in this thread. Good luck! I hope this helps!
:-D

(BTW- uninstall your current drivers first -OR- try installing the patch over your current drivers maybe? Install the drivers I posted first, then install patch if it appears to be needed; I'm not sure what the patch actually patches so it may not be needed in your situation)

 

Thanks! I'll give this a try!

 

I uninstalled my driver then installed the one you posted and still had the problem. Then I installed the patch, and now I have no sound at all!

Any other options?

 

I rolled back my driver since I had no sound, and tried to update it using the hardware manager. It found an updated driver and started to install it.

A message appeared asking for a location to look for a missing file. It wanted a file called, "ksuser.dll" from the Windows XP Service Pack 3 CD. I, like most people, got SP3 from windows update so I obviously don't have the cd. I tried updating again using the hardware manager and again, it needed a missing file. This time, however, it asked for a file called "viaudio.sys" from the VIA AC'97 Audio Controller Driver cd, which I do not have. Is there anyway I can get these files? This issue is driving (no pun intended ) me up the wall!