Drivers Guru

• Q1: Does Realtek support audio/video drivers for Linux?
A1: Realtek is now working on Linux driver for ALS100/ALS100+/ALS300/ALS4000.Please check http://www.opensound.com for availability.
A1: Realtek is now working on Linux driver for ALS100/ALS100+/ALS300/ALS4000.Please check http://www.opensound.com for availability.
• Q2: Does my sound card work under full-duplex operation?
A2: Sound cards built based on ALS1XX, except for ALS007, will support full-duplex mode. Be sure to update third party applications that support full duplex audio cards to maintain full compatibility.
• Q3: I can not record/playback from my microphone.
A3: Please check under volume control\recording & playback properties that Microphone is selected.Note: If there is no sound from your microphone, please make sure that your microphone is a stereo plug/type.
A3: Please check under volume control\recording & playback properties that Microphone is selected.Note: If there is no sound from your microphone, please make sure that your microphone is a stereo plug/type.
• Q4: My CD-ROM does not playback sound.
A4: Make certain that your system detects the presence of your CD-ROM. Then check that the CD audio lead (4 wire lead) is connected correctly between the CD-ROM drive and the sound card 4 pin connector. Also check that the CD volume has not been muted under volume control.
• Q5: I have problems with my MS digital game pad/SideWinder 3D ProJoystick working with my game port.
A5: Models OTHER than the ALS007/ALS100 will support the said devices. If there are still unresolved joystick related issues, please check the Microsoft web site.
A5: Models OTHER than the ALS007/ALS100 will support the said devices. If there are still unresolved joystick related issues, please check the Microsoft web site.
• Q6: My system reports that my driver is not DirectX certified when installing MS DirectX driver.
A6: Audio drivers supporting DirectX will work despite the fact that the system reports the driver has not been certified.
• Q7: There is no sound from my speakers.
A7: Make sure speakers are turned on and the phone jack is connected properly. After driver installation, check if all audio sound devices appear under CONTROL PANEL\SYSTEM\DEVICE MANAGER\SOUND, VIDEO & GAME.If there are yellow exclamation marks beside any one of the audio devices, it isn’t working or the driver has not been installed correctly. Remove the faulty device using remove tab, and then go to the WINDOWS\INF\OTHER directory and delete the REALTEK*.INF file.

You can now re-start the system to install the driver again or simply install through “add new hardware” from the control panel.

A7: Make sure speakers are turned on and the phone jack is connected properly. After driver installation, check if all audio sound devices appear under CONTROL PANEL\SYSTEM\DEVICE MANAGER\SOUND, VIDEO & GAME.If there are yellow exclamation marks beside any one of the audio devices, it isn’t working or the driver has not been installed correctly. Remove the faulty device using remove tab, and then go to the WINDOWS\INF\OTHER directory and delete the REALTEK*.INF file.

You can now re-start the system to install the driver again or simply install through “add new hardware” from the control panel.

• Q8: Why is there a parity error message when using the ALS300 sound device?
A8: If you are experiencing parity error in an IBM model 300GL/PII system, please “disable” the parity check from CMOS setting for DISABLE/ENABLE parity check.
• Q9: Why is there a yellow exclamation mark next to the MPU401,WAVE, or OPL3 devices of “audio/video & game controller…” list under [Device Manager] upon completing ALS 300 driver installation?
A9: Under “automatic setting” of [resource] for the above mentioned virtual devices, they will not “share” IRQ with the physical devices, but with virtual devices ONLY. And if there are no IRQs left over (most commonly being PS2 mouse and ISA devices), OS will not be able to assign share IRQ between virtual and physical devices. To resolve this problem, please try the following:

1. Under BIOS CMOS setting of IRQs, free up unused IRQs such as COM, Printer, or USB ports.
2. Turn off the “automatic setting” option from [resource] found under [property]/[[Device Manager] and manually assign share IRQ with devices, i.e. network card. (Note: Do not share an IRQ with the ALS300 PCI).

In addition, you can check Microsoft’s technical support web site.

A9: Under “automatic setting” of [resource] for the above mentioned virtual devices, they will not “share” IRQ with the physical devices, but with virtual devices ONLY. And if there are no IRQs left over (most commonly being PS2 mouse and ISA devices), OS will not be able to assign share IRQ between virtual and physical devices. To resolve this problem, please try the following:

1. Under BIOS CMOS setting of IRQs, free up unused IRQs such as COM, Printer, or USB ports.
2. Turn off the “automatic setting” option from [resource] found under [property]/[[Device Manager] and manually assign share IRQ with devices, i.e. network card. (Note: Do not share an IRQ with the ALS300 PCI).

In addition, you can check Microsoft’s technical support web site.

• Q10: My joystick fails to install or is not recognized when using the WinNT4.0 driver under WinNT 4.0 for my audio cards.
A10: If your joystick (analog) is not recognized by the system, please follow the driver installation procedure as mentioned in the readme except that the driver source will be in your WinNT 4.0 CD- ROM under \DRVLIB\MULTIMED\JOYSTICK\X86 when asked for. For digital game pad or joystick, drivers are available from the list provided by your WinNT system.
• Q11: Why am I not getting OPL or Midi sound when playing games using the WDM driver under a DOS BOX?
A11: This is a limitation of the Microsoft WDM architecture.
A11: This is a limitation of the Microsoft WDM architecture.
• Q12: Why don’t Playback and Recording mixer volumes synchronize as with Windows95 VXD?
A12: Again, this is another limitation of the Microsoft WDM architecture.
• Q13: Could you please advice me which driver I should download for my sound card?
A13: We are a chip supplier, not a card manufacturer. Please read the model number of the audio controller chip on your sound card. The model number starts with “ALS” and a number follows (e.g., ALS120). With the model number, please find out its corresponding drivers at http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/downloads1-1.aspx?lineid=8.
A13: We are a chip supplier, not a card manufacturer. Please read the model number of the audio controller chip on your sound card. The model number starts with “ALS” and a number follows (e.g., ALS120). With the model number, please find out its corresponding drivers at http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/downloads1-1.aspx?lineid=8.
• Q14: I have installed 3 Realtek ALS4000 PCI sound cards in my Win98 machine.
A14: Each VxD driver doesn’t allow installation of multiple cards in one machine because it needs a unique ID to handle system messages. If you have installed multiple cards with VxD drivers, then they will conflict with each other.  But if you install WDM drivers, the system will work fine.
• Q15: I downloaded the latest drivers of Windows updates for my sound chip and it installed a sound effect manager in my taskbar. There are no options to disable or remove this feature. What can I do?
A15: You can remove the sound effect manager by the following ways:
1. Run “regedit.exe” (for Win2000, run regedt32.exe)
2. Delete the registry value “SoundMan” located on HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run.
A15: You can remove the sound effect manager by the following ways:
1. Run “regedit.exe” (for Win2000, run regedt32.exe)
2. Delete the registry value “SoundMan” located on HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run.
• Q16: I need the latest Windows3.1/95/98/NT or DOS driver for my audio/video card with Realtek chip.
A16: To download the latest generic drivers for Windows 95/98, you can download from the following URL/sites:

http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/downloads.aspx
Sound: ftp://ftp1.realtek.com.tw/pc/sound/
AC’97: ftp://ftp1.realtek.com.tw/pc/ac97/

Note: Windows95 drivers will work under Windows98, even though Realtek has updated Win98 WDM drivers.

After some problems on my laptop i formatted it, i have re-installed windows xp proffesional it all seems to be working fine. But i am missing some key drivers namely the USB driver and the LAN driver. Now i don’t have the cd to install these drivers and i can’t connect to the internet to get them or transfer them from a usb stick.

Download from another computer (say a friend’s or public library, etc) and save to CD. Then install on your laotop.

If your graphics card is based on an nVidia chip, then you can go ahead and just run the new driver when you download it. If it’s based on a Radeon chip, then uninstall the drivers first, which is a pain in the rear. I quit using Radeon/ATI products years ago for just that reason, no end of driver problems even when you did an uninstall. Since AMD bought them out it may have improved.

Before you give the gut reaction, the driver for the sound card, let me explain that I know this. I have two used desktops and one used laptop I’ve repaired, exchanging some parts. The desktops are 98 and the laptop is ME. I’ve identified the sound card, downloaded the appropriate driver and istalled it. The problem? While the computers think everything is OK, all 3 do not produce sound. If it were one, I’d call it a bad sound card, but not all three. When I look on my XP computer, there is a whole bunch of items in addition to the sound card driver listed under sound devices in the device manager. Are there other software drivers that need to be installed in addition to the actual sound card driver?

is there any error on those bunch of items? if there is none then try to check volume control. if there is then you might have installed the wrong driver. normally just a driver is enough for the sound card to work. try to look at the sound card’s chip and search the driver online