Wednesday, 19 November 2014

How to Install Old Soundmax Audio Driver in Windows 7

If you have an old laptop and install windows 7 on it, you may notice that your laptop have no audio. Sometimes device manager tells you it is installed and the volume bar work perfectly, but you can still hear no Sound. When you try to download the driver, your manufacture no longer provide updates for Windows 7, what is available only the old driver for Windows XP or Windows Vista.

Before we begin, Soundmax uses AC97 audio which is similar to Realtek AC 97 Audio. Try the AC97 audio first because sometime it did work on some model. Download Link

He is how to use that old Windows Vista or XP for Windows 7.

1. For this example we will install audio on IBM t42. First download your original XP Driver. (for t42 here is the driver: Download )

2.  Extract the driver file using 7zip or Winrar. Remember the path/location where we extract the driver file.

3. Now open device manager by click start and select run, type DEVMGMT.MSC

 
 2. Look at the audio controller and right and select update driver.




 3. Then select browse my computer for the Driver software

4.Click on browse and point to the driver folder we extracted ealier.

It will takes some time to find the driver file and install it. It will prompt i is not compatible but install it anyway.

Dell Service Tag and Express Service Code

Dell Service Tag : refer to 7 character identifier that is unique to your product.

Express Service Code :10-digit numeric Version of the service tag which can be typed into a telephone for a call routing. Sometime your products will show E Service which refer to Express Service Code.

Both ID (identification code) normally located at a sticker on the back or bottom of your products.

Every Dell products will have this information, except some peripherals and accessories.

We use both Dell service tag and Express Service code mostly to identify and obtain support online. For example your service tag is FJR6K1. Now just go to the Dell Online support website : http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/ and enter the service code in the service code field.

You can choose to enter either  service tag or express service code


Press submit and it will identify and show support that available for your products. Here is the result from service Tag we've entered earlier.
Support page

It will display the support that available online, including the basic information about your device, diagnostic, support topics and articles, drivers and downloads and parts and accessories.

Thursday, 13 November 2014

Easily Install Realtek Card Reader Drivers

Realtek Card Reader Driver or also known as Realtek USB 2.0 Card Reader Driver (PCIE) is widely used on most current Notebook (other Card Reader vendor includes Jmicron, Texas Instrument and Broadcom). Realtek provide universal Installer which is compatible with Windows XP, Vista,7,8 and 8.1.

Download (Universal Installer and Latest Version)
Realtek Download Link : Download Link

Download (From Computers Manufacturer)
Hewlett Packard (Hp and Compaq) : Windows XP | Windows Vista/7  | Windows 8.1
Lenovo : Windows XP/7 | Windows 8/8.1

Supported Card Reader:
Realtek shows on their website that this driver support the following card reader chipset:
RTS5101
RTS5111
RTS5116
RTS5169

But if you look at the driver inf file (installer information that shows compatible devices), it also support the following Card Reader Chipset:
RTS5208
RTS5209 (RTS5208 Variant)
RTS5229
Realtek 5139

During the installation process, it will take a while because it will install several card reader components.  Note that older driver version do have limited capabilities on how much storage they can read. If you have Notebook which released during Windows XP you might notice that it would not recognize storage larger than 2Gb, so it is important to get the latest driver available.
If you have problems with your card reader driver installation do let me know in the comment section below.

How to Get The Latest Realtek Audio Drivers

Realtek is the most popular Audio devices for both laptop and desktop, the audio drivers pre-installed or provided by your computers manufacturer could be outdated. Installing the latest audio driver could increase your audio experience, here is how to download and install it.

First here is the direct link to the download page, (Version R2.75)
http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/downloadsView.aspx?Langid=1&PNid=14&PFid=24&Level=4&Conn=3&DownTypeID=3&GetDown=false
 if the URL changes refer to the instruction below

1. Go to Realtek Download Site : http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/
2. Now click on the Computer Peripheral ICs - PC Audio Codecs - High Definition Audio Codecs - Software.

3. Now you  will see "High Definition Audio Codec Term and Agreement", Click accept to and Next continue to continue to the download page.

4. Then on the download page you will see the latest drivers available, There are 2 type of driver packages you can choose which are:
  • executable file : Easy installation package, just download and double click to install.
  • ZIP File : Compressed driver package, require extraction before installation.
5. Select the driver base on your operating system.  To start download select one of the available download server from the left panel (US3, CN, US2 etc).
You might see a pop-up windows after clicking the download server link.

6. Other packages provided:
  • ATI HDMI Audio devices normally require by computers which uses ATI graphics.
  • 3D SorroundBack Beta : (Realtek 3D SoundBack restores audio effects, including surround sound, reverberation, and spatial effects, for legacy game titles when running on Windows Vista.).
You might see AC 97 audio codecs above the High definition audio codec, hoose Ac 97 if you know your computer uses AC 97. If not just use High definition Audio Codecs which from my experience always work with all laptops which uses Realtek Audio.

Tuesday, 11 November 2014

Latest Windows 10 TP Drivers Updates


Recently Windows 10 Technical Review is released and after installing the OS you will notice the basic drivers such as mouse, keyboard, Monitor and other basic input devices is automatically installed (In-Box Drivers). Basically if you are missing certain drivers such as Graphic, Wireless and Audio, try to install your Windows 8.1 drivers (Already tested on several notebooks and it works). For Windows 8/8.1 Base PC (notebook created for Windows 8 and 8.1), of course you will not have a problem to obtain the drivers from your manufacture site. But for older notebook which released for Windows 7 and below, you can get the Windows 8.1drivers from the devices manufacturer website such as if you have Nvidia graphic, you can get the Windows 8.1 graphic from Nvidia website since most of the time your computer manufacturer won't update or provide the driver for it. Next If Windows 8.1 drivers failed to install, try to install it in compatibility mode or run compatibility troubleshoot.

Another thing you can do is after the installation make sure you are connected to the internet so that Windows 10 will be able to search, download and install the latest compatible drivers available on Microsoft Updates.

Nvidia Control Panel Issue (NVCP)
If the NVCP is not working, you need to open device manager and look for nvxdsync.exe (or Nvidia control Panel Application) and kill the process. You can also restart the application instead of killing the process.

OpenGL Error
If you have switchable graphic and get the openGL error, try to switch the graphic (exe: switch Nvidia to Intel).

"You need to close PC setting or Store"
If you have this error you need to kill "Application Frame Host" process on task manager.

Downgrade Intel HD Graphic Drivers could help Stabilize your Nvidia Graphic
The latest not necessarily the best and compatible, such as for Intel HD graphic (tested on HD4600)  you need to downgrade the version by installing the older version (version 15.33.22.64.3621). This will solve your Switchable graphic issue such as unable to play games that you normally run without problems.

Display Link
Display Link takes one steps further by releasing Alpha drivers fro Windows 10 which you can obtain it here.

You can share your experience with Windows 10 TP or if you have question to ask feel free to drop your comment on the comment section below.

Acer Aspire E1-531 Drivers for Windows 7

Actually you don't have to waste your internet quota by downloading and install all drivers provided by Acer on their support site. After Windows 7 Installation on Aspire E1-531, you will only need to install 3 drivers because all of the other drivers automatically installed. If you look at the device manager you will see there are 3 drivers missing which are:

Network Controller (Wireless)
Ethernet Controller (LAN)
PCI Simple Communication Controller (Card reader)

So, you will notice you would not be able to use your wireless, wired connection (LAN) and Card Reader Slot. So here is the drivers you will need: (for both Windows 7 32-bit and 64-bit)

Wireless Drivers:
Most E1-531 uses Atheros Wireless drivers, but there are some models that uses broadcom or Intel Wireless device. Install according to your secification or test which work for you.
Atheros AR9xxx/AR5xxx Wireless Driver :  Download
Broadcom 802.11 Wireless Driver : Download
Intel Centrino Wireless-N 105 Driver : Download

LAN - Ethernet Controller
Broadcom Netlink (TM) Gigabit Ethernet Controller
Download

Card Reader
Broadcom Card Reader Driver
Download

That's all what you need and now after the installation your laptop will have all the drivers it need. If you need to update to the latest drivers, just simply go to Nvidia for your graphic, Intel for your graphic, chipset and USB and Realtek for your audio drivers. You will see "Automatically update" on each website (except realtek) and let it scan and suggest the latest drivers available for you laptop. Anyway, there are no significant improvement by installing the latest drivers, I will only update my drivers if there are bugs with the current drivers.

Friday, 31 October 2014

How to Fix No Sound/Audio From Speaker

No sound or Audio output from your internal speakers is a common problem for most devices with built in speaker such as Laptops and Tablets. Regardless what model your laptop is (Acer, HP, Compaq, Asus, Lenovo, Toshiba and etc), there is a common solution for this. Here I will point out the problems and how to solve it.

The Basic Setting You Need To Check First
1. Make sure your volume is not muted. Click on the volume Icon and click mixer, for best result max up all volume by using the slider.
Click on the mixer for more volume options.
2. Make sure you already install the audio driver. You can tell if your system does have the audio driver installed or not by checking the driver status on the device manager. Normally if your computer need an audio driver, it will prompt "no audio device installed" if you try to play any audio file.

3. Make sure your audio device is enable. You can do this by go to device manager and look at sound, video and game controller, make sure your audio is enable.

You can disable/enable your audio by right click on the audio device

p/s: If you are wondering why do people need to disable the audio? sometimes desktop user can get a separate Audio card, so they would disable the default on-board audio device, and of course this is optional.

4. I make changes to the setting, and Now the speaker does not work properly - Just use system restore to undo the changes, or click set to default setting on the audio setting (control panel).

Speaker does not work but headphone work 
The first thing to do is get a toothpick and stick it in the audio jack (gently wiggle it). This is because sometimes your audio jack sensors is jammed, and the computer thinks there is a headphone plugged in when there isn't. We use toothpick t unjammed it (you can use other object such as pin or needle).
If the toothpick does not work, try to set the speaker as default, you can read on how to do this here: http://laptop-driver.blogspot.com/2010/12/set-speaker-as-default.html

Headphone does not work, internal speaker work 
This problem is very rare, but in case it is happen to you first thing to do is make sure you are using the right jack. laptop normally have 2 jack, and desktop have 3 or 6 jack. For desktop the common color for audio jack is green. For laptop you will see a small icon located near to the jack which tells you either it is for headphone or for microphone.
Second, if you are using Realtek audio, make sure the jack setting is set to headphone instead of line out.
You can also try with another headphone, to make sure your current headphone is not the problem. Last but not least, sometimes you are using your mobile phone headphone/headset on your laptop and computer audio jack. Note that not all mobile phone headphone will work properly on laptop or desktop, sometimes you need to plug in halfway to hear the sound.

Speaker suddenly stopped/not working.
System crash, Windows update or Installing Third Party Software could interfere with your audio device. Windows update for example could install a new audio driver version, and it did install properly but the audio did not working (I get that a lot). So if your audio suddenly stopped working, there are 3 things you can do:

1. System Restore : We need to restore our computer back to where the audio is still working. This will also undo changes made by Windows Update or other software.
2. Recovery : Most notebook do have this option, for example Hp can use HP recovery manager, select hardware driver re-installation and select audio from the list.
3. Re-install the driver, try to re-install the drivers (original driver released by your notebook manufacture, not the latest driver by the device manufacture).

No sound from both internal speaker or headphone
Normally when this happen it means 3 things, your audio driver is not yet installed, your audio device is disabled or your internal speaker is broken. I already explain how to solve all this 3 problems above, to summarize the solution : Download and install audio driver for your computer, make sure your audio device is enable and if it is broken you need to replace internal speaker (You can't change notebook sound card), or get a USB audio card (it is cheap, about USD 3- 10 base on the model and functions). It is a plug and play device, which means you don't have to install driver, software or firmware, you just can use it right away.

7.1 Channel External USB Audio Sound Card Adapter

Only One side of The Speaker is Working (Left/Right)
First of all, check your jack (make sure you plug the speaker properly (external speaker). Next is to check the audio balance (right and left) on your audio manager, example I am using realtek Audio so I just need to open realtek Audio Manager and Set the slider in the midlle between left and right.

If you have other problems with your speaker do let me know in the comment section below.