I can't find the drivers for my Audio controller

[Pioneer621]

Hello all!

Ok, I recently was given an old Gateway E-3400 desktop computer from family as it was not powering on properly & was about to be tossed in the trash, so it was given to me for parts / possible repair (they bought a new one). I replaced four vented caps on the main board & all is well. I am using the computer as I type & it has been working good other then one small problem.

Here is my problem now: I had to install a spare hard drive in this computer do to an accident I had with my OTHER computers hard drive.

The spare hard drive was empty so I installed Windows XP Professional, all went well & I figured I was ready to go! Then I found there was no sound as the Audio controller driver is missing! It was also missing the Graphics controller driver but I managed to find that one, however, I cannot find the audio controller driver & I have tried a bunch & looked for hours.

Here is what it says in the device manager:

Intel 82801BA/BAM AC ’97 Audio Controller-2445

Under properties it says; The drivers for this device are not installed. (Code 28).

I figured, ok, I will find the drivers for it like I did with the Graphics controller, but I cannot find this one anywhere for some reason. I can’t seem to find any that will work on the Windows XP Professional. Although the old hard drive that was in here had Windows XP Professional installed & the audio worked fine!

I have the old hard drive which still works fine, I just had to take the PC board off of it to put on my other computers hard drive that I booger’ed up as it has important stuff on it (luckily both hard drives were the same model so I could swap the boards).

I can temporarily put the board back on the old hard drive if there is a way to get the audio controller drivers off of it to install on this hard drive, but I have no idea how to get the drivers off of a hard drive & burn them to a CD for the audio controller, I am thinking there must be a way to find them & make a copy.

If someone can tell me where to find the correct driver for my sound I would appreciate it very much. I guess I could always get a new sound card, but since the built in one works fine I really did not want to buy a new one. I just got my router wired up & have a computer in my radio room here, & just need the sound problem fixed.

Thank you for taking the time to read this & I hope someone can possibly help. I figured I would at least ask here as someone may know. Take care.

Pioneer621

[Pickles]

Go to yahoo and search intel audio drivers 82801BA; one on the first page should work.

[Pioneer621]

Go to yahoo and search intel audio drivers 82801BA; one on the first page should work.

Hello there Pickles!

I appreciate the reply. I did just recheck yahoo with the search you recommended, but I could not seem to locate it still. I found one download that looked promising, but it gave me the page not found when it tried to open the download. I checked a few more with no luck as well.

What I think I am going to do is pull the hard drive out of my other computer, take the PC Board off it & put it back on the original hard drive that was in this computer since it has the driver for my audio controller & is on windows XP, so if I can find all the files for that driver in my other hard drive which I think I figured out how to do (not sure yet) I should be able to copy them to disc then try to install them on this hard drive. I don’t know if it will work like I am thinking but I hope so.

If that doesn’t work I will probably eventually buy a new sound card as that should take care of my problem & they can be picked up pretty cheap these days. What sucks is I have a few old sound blaster cards & an I/O magic (I think that is the brand, but don’t remember off the top of my head) sound card in the box with all the papers and drivers, but they don’t fit the sockets in this computer! I guess there too old, oh well.

Again, I greatly appreciate the help!

Take care.

Pioneer621

[Pickles]

Well, good luck with that I've never tried it before but i have a friend that has. But he is a computer tech! If you need anything else just ask and if i cant help maybe he can!

[Pioneer621]

Yeah I am no computer tech, but don’t mind tinkering with them & am learning more as I go, it can be fun!

Again I do greatly appreciate the help! If I remember, I will try to post back with what I end up doing or if it works out ok.

Thanks again man!

Pioneer621

[hobbieville]

Don't know what the problem is and hope by now you have it resolved....any Realtek 97 driver package should work and then you can update from there. In any case, if you haven't fixed the problem, get the driver download off of CNet.

Realtek 97 Driver Download at CNet

Hope this helps, good luck, and 73.

[Pioneer621]

hobbieville, I definitely appreciate the help / reply! However, I tried that driver & it did not work, & actually caused & error in windows while trying to install it & I had to boot up in safe mode to delete it back off to get the computer to boot up normal. I may have actually tried that download before as I had it do that once before when I was looking for the driver. I do appreciate you taking the time to try & help though!

I am happy to say I just found the driver (1-22-2010) for it so all is well & I now have sound on my computer!

It uses the SoundMAX driver for windows 2000 which I found at Gateways website. (SoundMAX Integrated Digital sound driver, version 5.12.01.3005)

I kept looking for the XP driver, but I guess the 2000 driver works just fine. I actually just started downloading whatever drivers I could find & was searching google & came across a computer forum where someone had linked to that driver as a possible solution for someone else with a similar problem to mine, so I thought I’d try it since I was trying everything I could find, & it worked!

Again, I appreciate all the help from you guys, it helped keep me on my search as after I tried what you suggested I kept looking for a while to see if I could find it, took several hours for several days, but it paid off.

Thanks again!

Pioneer621

[hobbieville]

That is really weird as the AC 97 audio package is generic to all I've heard of but some MACs and Atoms.

Glad you got it squared away and 73.