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Update Sound Card Driver: Tips and Tricks to Optimize Your Audio Performance



This article describes how to update a sound card driver in Windows Vista and in Windows XP.This article is intended for a beginning to intermediate computer user.You may find it easier to follow the steps if you print this article first.


Under Sound, video, and game controllers, double-click the entry for your sound card, and then click the Driver tab.Note If a Driver tab is not present, the entry that you clicked under Sound, video, and game controllers may not be the correct entry for your sound card. Try clicking any additional entries listed under Sound, video, and game controllers.




Update Sound Card Driver




If you receive a message that the device is not working correctly, the sound card is not listed, or you must obtain driver software, contact your sound card manufacturer for more help. You may also have to contact the computer manufacturer if you find that the steps to update the sound card driver do not work. For information about your hardware manufacturer, visit the following Web site:


Driver updates for Windows, along with many devices, such as network adapters, monitors, printers, and video cards, are automatically downloaded and installed through Windows Update. You probably already have the most recent drivers, but if you'd like to manually update or reinstall a driver, here's how:


Go to Audio, Video and Game Controller and look for the name of your sound card. It might include one of the popular sound, video, or game controllers visible in the screenshot below, or it may have another name entirely:


No sound: If you turn on your computer for the first time and hear no sound, or if your speakers suddenly stop producing sound, this could mean the driver is missing, defective, or out of date.


To get more features: Sometimes, newer audio driver packages give you extra features. They might enable new sound effects or give you more control over your speakers, such as adding levels for rear audio speakers.


Ready to automatically update all your drivers with a single click? Then you should use a specially designed tool that makes driver updates super easy and convenient. After a quick scan of your entire PC, AVG Driver Updater will identify any outdated or malfunctioning drivers (sound drivers, graphics drivers, and any others), automatically find updates, and quickly install them for you.


Available for Windows 10 as well as Windows 8 and Windows 7, AVG Driver Updater supports millions of drivers from over 100 popular hardware brands. Try a free scan now to see if any of your drivers need an update.


You can also work within Windows to update your drivers by yourself. Windows Update is a built-in service that maintains your operating system (OS) and a number of Microsoft programs, but it can source driver updates as well. For a more direct manual process, you can update individual drivers within the Device Manager.


If you are having audio issues in Windows 10 or macOS, you may need to update your sound card drivers. We'll show you the right way to check for updates to your sound card and other drivers on your PC or Mac.


Realtek is a very common audio solution for many OEM computer brands. Realtek is usually a simple platform for delivering quality sound/audio solutions to consumers. Below are some of the more common solutions to Realtek audio driver issues and installation options.


Out-of-date drivers and operating systems can cause a variety of issues and are one of the first things to check when a game is having problems. The instructions below will help you check and update your drivers.


A Software Update is an incremental update of the Mac OS and its applications, Security Updates, device drivers, and firmware updates. For Blizzard games, it is important to download and install all software updates, as our games are designed for the latest version of the supported system requirements.


Problems such as recordings freezing up, difficulty in selecting the correct, working input source or having the full range of input sources available, usually mean your sound device has faulty, outdated or inappropriate drivers. If this occurs it is important that the drivers are updated. Drivers are the piece of software that tells your computer how to talk to the specific hardware you have installed or connected to your computer. The drivers must be specific to the particular model of your computer or sound device, and are usually produced by the sound device or motherboard manufacturer. On a 64-bit operating system, the drivers of the sound device must be 64-bit.


You may need to find out the name, specifications and current driver details for your sound device, so you can update it correctly. To do this, you can use Device Manager on Windows, System Profiler on a Mac or the /lspci or /lsusb commands on Linux. Device Manager can also try and update the drivers for you itself, and Windows users are strongly recommended to try this update facility as a first step - see Extra help for Windows users below.


Note that basic plug 'n' play USB sound devices without a choice of inputs (like a USB microphone or a USB turntable or cassette deck) generally use the operating system's USB Audio Class drivers. If such a device is malfunctioning and the manufacturer does not offer special drivers, examine the USB cable and connections, or look in the device's or the operating system's control panels for issues with the device or with the Universal Serial Bus controllers. See USB troubleshooting.


After the update (even if more recent drivers were not found), you should right-click over the device again, click Properties and then on the Driver tab to check the "Driver Provider". You don't want drivers from Microsoft - in most cases these are only generic drivers, not specifically matched to your hardware. This often leads to problems such as not being able to select the correct input, or recordings not being made correctly. These must be replaced with drivers made by the manufacturer of your hardware, so they are correctly matched to that hardware.


If the recording problem persists, note the name of the Driver Provider in Device Manager. If the driver provider is Microsoft, note the name of the sound device you right-clicked over. Then visit the website of the computer manufacturer or motherboard manufacturer. You can search Google or Yahoo to find the correct internet address of the manufacturer.


If you have a branded computer, go to the computer manufacturer's website. If you have a PCI or external soundcard or interface, go to the website of the soundcard manufacturer. In all other cases where you use the motherboard's integrated sound device, it's almost always best to visit the website of the motherboard manufacturer for assistance. You will need to know details of your motherboard. If you don't have details to hand, try the following free utilities to gather relevant information:


Always look for a driver update which is specific to your computer model and version of Windows (for example, Windows 10). This is especially critical if you are on Windows 10 , Windows 8, Windows 7 or Windows Vista, as the way the drivers communicate with the hardware and the operating system is quite different than with earlier versions of Windows. Be sure to uninstall the old drivers of the device (right-click over the device in Device Manager > Uninstall) before installing the new ones.


If you cannot locate suitable drivers at the computer or motherboard manufacturer's site you could also try the website of the stated "Driver Provider" or "Manufacturer" of the sound device, but any drivers you find may only be generic drivers not properly matched to your motherboard.


If you suspect a driver update problem, launch Device Manager from the Windows Control Panel. Expand "Sound, video and game controllers" by clicking on the arrow, then right-click over your sound device and choose Properties. Click on the "Driver" tab to check the driver provider, date and version. If an update has occurred at any time, the Roll Back Driver button will be active. You can click this button to revert the driver to its previous installation. You can also view a video of the rollback process on Windows Vista later.


If rolling back does not help or makes matters worse, go back to the "Driver" tab and click "Update Driver". After the update, check the Driver Provider again. If the driver provider is now Microsoft you could see if your problem is resolved, but the general recommendation would be to visit the website of the computer or motherboard manufacturer and look for appropriate drivers specific to your computer model and version of Windows.


Note that certain other custom devices or applications may similarly be incompatible with Audacity. A known example that has been reported in the past is the Total Recorder application which uses "virtual drivers" to capture sound directly before it reaches the inputs of any other installed sound devices. If you want to use Total Recorder as the default Windows device you may need to set Audacity explicitly to use your inbuilt sound device. Alternatively you can leave Audacity set to "Microsoft Sound Mapper" but set the Total Recorder preferences so that the Total Recorder drivers load only when Total Recorder is in use. If you've already explicitly set Audacity to use the Total Recorder drivers and it won't launch, reset the Windows sound device then Audacity's preference settings as per the above paragraph. As a possible alternative to Total Recorder, you can try SoundLeech which is a free application running from the system tray. It records to lossless WAV format only.


If your high-end sound device consistently crashes Audacity, make sure you are using the latest drivers supplied by the manufacturer (but note Audacity will not work with any kind of ASIO driver). Also please try the latest version of Audacity. This will always incorporate the latest available version of PortAudio, which might solve the problem. If that doesn't help, please report the sound device to us by writing to our feedback address. 2ff7e9595c


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