Whirlpool

I just installed Vista Ultimate.

I installed the latest Realtek AC97 drivers but could not access the control panel (so could not change from default stereo setting to 5.1).

Has anyone else had problems with Realtek drivers and Vista?

bump

yes..

im having problems with vista and realtek ac97 driver too..

i downloaded the vista driver for the realtek ac97 and it just keeps complaining about not being verified..

i gave up after pressing it like 20 times and said it installed okay and rebooted and i have sound now..

will install the drivers again when the realtek ac97 driver update is out

Well I reinstalled the drivers and at least I have 5.1, but it's really poor.

It's poor because I need to switch the subwoofer/centre channels, and this is precisely why I need to access the Realtek control panel >_< My front and rear speakers work fine, but the subwoofer signals are being sent to my centre speaker and vice versa.

I hope they fix this quickly, I'm watching all my TV shows in stereo because it sounds to weird in 5.1

JB HiFi writes...

Well I reinstalled the drivers and at least I have 5.1, but it's really poor.

I knew this was going to happen with alot of devices and the way people jump in so quickly to a new Operating System. You should have really checked the compatability of your system before upgrading the OS because believe it or not there are alot of devices with driver issues under Vista. It is only a new Operating System so you need to give it some time before you start expecting mountains out of ant hills.

Expecting mountains out of anthills?

It is a year late and it is still full of bugs. I'm sorry but after all the hype and money people are spending you would think they perhaps would have looked at things like this.

OT:
I wouldn't be installing Vista on anything that has a ULi device on it either.
I've spent over 3 months trying to get a Vista driver for a ULi device from nVidia (who took over ULi)
nVidia just keep closing my support requests or passing the problem on in the chain without actually dealing with it....
Anyone who has used the beta's or RC's will have known to expect all of these driver dramas (unless they were using the latest wizz-bang hardware, I presume) :(

The only drama I have with Vista is my old SB Live Value. There are no drivers for it (for Vista). So poor me, now I have to go shopping for a new sound card LOL.

As the Apple Mac add portrays, you do need to be/have the latest model or have/do some internal surgery to run Vista :P

Hi,

Go to the Realtek site here www.realtek.com.tw
go to the downloads section and download the driver for you sound chip.
I had to find the right one and now it works great! On a laptop and onboard sound on my desktop.

Good luck. Hope this helps.

Cheers
Paul

Luke C writes...

It is a year late and it is still full of bugs. I'm sorry but after all the hype and money people are spending you would think they perhaps would have looked at things like this.

It is not Microsoft's fault that certain devices are not working correctly under Vista.
This is up to the manufacturer of the device to write a driver that works properly under the OS.

»TrentG« writes...

It is not Microsoft's fault that certain devices are not working correctly under Vista.
This is up to the manufacturer of the device to write a driver that works properly under the OS.
Completely true but unfortunately that doesn't change the fact that some people will purchase and try to install Vista only to find that not all of their hardware will work when it happily did under XP.

Currently running version 6213 of the Realtek AC97 driver (ALC850 onboard sound) on Ultimate x64. The only real problem I'm having with it is the lack of DD/DTS/AC3 passthrough when using any application other than Media Centre to watch DVDs. This problem has been present in every version of the driver I've tried, and it does tend to get updated fairly frequently.

Luke C writes...

perhaps would have looked at things like this.

Things like *what*, Luke? It's hardly Microsoft's fault that RealTek haven't got off their behind and provided consumers with up-to-date Vista drivers.