Reinstalled Windows 7, had no sound, installation of an audio driver kills it

Iva83

Reputable
Sep 11, 2015
3
0
4,510
Hello,

My desktop computer was quite a beast when a hardware guy put it together in January 2011, but life's been busy, annoying, weird and I somehow have not performed a reformat or reinstall of anything on it until yesterday. Needless to say that the backup to two external HDs took err...six hours.

So, I did a reinstall of Windows 7, unaware that, unless I specify so, there won't be reformatting involved. I first installed the driver for my router, then for my monitor, then a bunch of others. This went a bit hard because I had issues with concentration and memory at the time the computer was first put together and, if I have utility CDs/DVDs, I am not aware where they could be.

What caught me by surprise is that the Windows Splash Screen would take 3-4 minutes to disappear upon each restart.

And then, the system crashed when I tried to install the audio drivers, which I could not even guess what they were, because Windows.Old had both VIA and Realtek folders in them. The BSOD showed me that the cause was related to portcls.sys and none of the repair options from the Windows DVD worked.

Therefore, I resorted for another Windows 7 reinstall, this time with a reformat.

What I want to make sure now is that this does not happen again. And, of course, I want sound on my machine.

If that helps, here is what I have:

Motherboard: ASUS M4A88T-M
HD: 2 Tb, Western Digital, split into two partitions, the one formatted was the smaller one.
RAM: 8 Gb
Monitor: Dell P2213

The ASUS website outputs a huge list of drivers and utilities for M4A88T-M and now I literally wonder if I need all these things and if I need them in specific order. I don't want to have to install Windows for the third time, by any means.

Any help would be more than welcome. Thank you!
 
Solution
https://www.asus.com/Motherboards/M4A88TM/HelpDesk_Download/

For drivers you need Chipset, LAN, Audio, VGA. One have multiple drivers. They are for the SAME one but just new versions.

Also drivers for Routers/Monitors aren't needed unless by router you mean wireless card because routers DON"T have drivers. They have installation or managment CD's but they aren't needed.
https://www.asus.com/Motherboards/M4A88TM/HelpDesk_Download/

For drivers you need Chipset, LAN, Audio, VGA. One have multiple drivers. They are for the SAME one but just new versions.

Also drivers for Routers/Monitors aren't needed unless by router you mean wireless card because routers DON"T have drivers. They have installation or managment CD's but they aren't needed.
 
Solution

Iva83

Reputable
Sep 11, 2015
3
0
4,510
Thank you.

This time, the system did not crash and I got to sound, but the system is not detecting the said VGA update. I don't even see 1680x1050 among resolutions that the monitor supposedly cannot display.
 
Yea you need to find out what your video card actually is. uninstall the onboard drivers, and install the proper drivers for the addin card. If it is an nvidia card then there will def be an issue with the onboard video drivers being installed as well