Trying to install sound drivers (Realtek, X-Fi)

I am trying to install some sound drivers. When I first loaded vista 64 on my system, I installed the Realtek drivers that came with the motherboard CD, all was well, everything worked.

Then I tried to install an X-Fi ExtremeMusic card, I first uninstalled the Realtek driver, and anything else related to the Realtek HD driver. Turned off the audio in the BIOS.

When I went to install the Vista 64 Creative X-Fi driver, it would not complete the setup, it would just kinda hang (hard drive would be running) for about 5 minutes or so, and come back telling me the install process timed out. I tried many different way to get the driver installed to no avail. Tried the .EXE file, and tried to make Vista update the driver.

Well after many frustrations, cuss words and what not. I decided to remove the X-Fi card and go back to the Realtek on-board audio. Well when I got to install the latest driver for the Realtek, it does the same thing. Says it is installing (for about 5-8 minutes) Then it comes back saying ERROR, drivers were not installed, or something to that effect. It is doing almost the same thing the X-Fi drivers were doing.

On top of all this Vista keeps wanting to install generic drivers on boot up, this is really annoying, as it takes Vista about 10 minutes to let me know that new hardware was installed, what do you want to do? Even though I tell it to do nothing, it seems it still installs the driver.

So I did a system restore, and got my sound back, but it is using a generic microsoft driver. I have tried many things to get these drivers installed, and I am not having any luck. Hopefully someone out there can point out something I have not tried, or maybe I have a setting wrong or something.

I am on the verge of just reformatting, I have done many google searches on this matter, and it doesn't seem to be a problem with too many people, if it was a problem they didn't post no solutions.

Will post my complete specs when I get home, if it even matters. I am also wanting to update my graphics driver as well, but I am scared to now.

I understand your frustration. Please post your specs at your convenience and maybe we can help you get this problem sorted.

here is a run down of my system specs...

Gigabyte GA-X48-DQ6 motherboard
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450
G.SKILL 240-Pin DDR2 8gb (four 2gb sticks)
BFG Geforce 9800 GX2
Enermax 600w Power Supply
Vista Ultimate 64 - OEM edition

Nothing is overclocked at the moment, and bios is pretty much at default settings.

My thinking is now, that the X-Fi card should have worked since it is giving me basically the same error as the Realtek is now. Something is just not letting me install the drivers, but it is not giving me any reason as to why that is, other than timing out. Any help would be GREATLY appreiciated!

it gives food to a lot of discussion on these x-fi cards. i can only add something about my experience:

my present rig is based on a gigabyte microatx-board and the x-fi xtreme music card i had with my previous rig did not want to co-exist with this gigabyte board. weird messages during install of the drivers and crackling sound (if it worked). it worked fine however with the asus fullsize atx-board in my previous rig. with the same drivers...

so i bought a x-fi xtreme gamer (half height) card and that one installed and functions fine. both under xp x86 as well as vista x64. no idea why the fullsize xtreme music card didn't.

and the x-fi drivers coexist peacefully besides the realtek sound drivers. both under xp x86 as well as vista x64.

Do you use 5.1 speakers or any of the advanced features of your sound card sanse?

Bongerman, for some REALLY good answers about your XFi sound card, you should peruse the forums of Creative Labs. Look under the Vista section to see how folks over there like their XFi cards......... or don't lol.

Yes I use a 5.1 speaker setup, I know about the whole X-Fi debacle. But the point is, some people are using their X-Fi card with Vista 64 and loving it.

The problem I am having is I cannot install ANY driver for sound (Realtek, or X-Fi), except for the generic one Microsoft installs. I have lurked through the Creative boards, and haven't seen much about the problem I am having.

I don't think this is a Creative, or a Realtek issue since both errors I recieve when trying to install the drivers are pretty much the same.

Also note, I was able to install the Realtek drivers provided by the motherboard manufacturer CD upon install of Vista 64. Since then I have not been able to update the driver, or change hardware, because the drivers will not install.

I can't even install the original Realtek drivers that came with the CD now, it times out as well now.

I missed that you wanted the realtek drivers. Sorry. I had a problem with that myself. First download the drivers from Realtek and save them to your Desktop.

Here is the file if you are have the HD version:

Realtek

ANd here it is for the AC '97 version:

Realtek

The file showed up on my computer (the HD version) as Vista_R190. When I ran the file it first uninstalled the audio drivers and required a reboot. After the reboot, the program continued and installed the new drivers. I then had to go into program manager and click on the Realtek icon to configure it. After you config it, it shows up on your toolbar, along with the Vista one, but it (realtek) is the one being used.

Make sure your AV is off when both when you download the driver and when you install it. Use MSconfig to stop it from booting in the start menu for the reloads. My install kept hosing up until i killed the AV.

Use this to remove all of your Realtek and Creative driver remnants:

Guru3D - Driver Sweeper (Setup) download from Guru3D.com

Reboot then load the realtek driver. Bubba is right, make sure you have the correct Realtek driver (I believe the X48 is HD Audio) and try it. The X-Fi has had a number of problems with Vista64 and 4GB+ of RAM but I believe that has been limited to nvidia mobos. I know I had that problem with an X-Fi and an nForce4 (A8N32) mobo and had to pull it. I use an Auzen X-Fi Prelude now with a 780i mobo and 8GB of RAM and it works perfectly. If you use the X-Fi, I would get the latest drivers on their website before you install the card. See if we can get the Realtek to work first, though.

Bubba said:

Do you use 5.1 speakers or any of the advanced features of your sound card sanse?

Click to expand...

not 5.1 speakers. only 2.0/2.1, but cmss, eax and the crystalizer all work. creative installed something called "open al" on my system. wasn't that the cure to circumvent the fact the sound hardware no longer is accessible directly through the vista sound system?

I am having a problem similar to bongerman. I am running Vista Ultimate x64 on a machine that I built. I have the following components:

Mobo - Asus P5B Deluxe Wi-Fi Ap
CPU - Intel Core 2 Duo 2.13 Ghz
4 GB Ram
2 ATI Radeon x1650 pro cards (another problem - crossfire mode unavailable)
2 WD 500GB SATA hard drives - not in RAID
1 Maxtor 300 GB IDE drive
Linksys WMP300N wireless network card
Creative Labs Soundblaster X-Fi Extreme Gamer

I have disabled onboard audio and wireless network in BIOS. And I have updated to the latest BIOS and drivers. All Windows updates have been installed after a clean Vista Ultimate x64 install. I downloaded the latest driver from Creative and installed the software. When I rebooted my PC, windows asked to install my sound card, but then couldn't find the correct driver.

I have tried to get this box running for a while now, continually doing fresh installs of Vista 32, Vista 64, and several flavors of Linux. This current setup, even with sound problem and crossfire issue, is the closest I've been to having everything work properly.