17nlr10

Honorable
Feb 20, 2012
2
0
10,510
Hello,
I consider myself to be proficient w/ computers. I was trying to repair a computer someone gave to me and I have a major issue. The computer is a Gateway 450ROG. Everything on the motherboard was tested (including audio) before I installed a fresh copy of XP Pro. I got every single driver installed except for the audio driver installed. It is like it wont let me install it without giving me a blue screen (BSOD) and restarting. I have tried disabling and re-enabling the multimedia audio controller and still the same. I have tried Safe Mode, even re-installing XP after I came across this problem and making sure that the audio driver was the first to be installed. I have tried the self-installer for AC97 as well as WDM_A406 from the Realtek site. Whenever I try I get a blue screen that reads "portcls.sys" before the computer restarts itself. I have tried installing the preferred and original driver from Gateway for the multimedia audio controller. The driver name is 9520522 and as it installs, it tells me "The file ALCXWDM.SYS on Realtek AC97 Audio Driver Disk is needed and "Type the path where the file is located, and then click OK." I own no such disk so I choose the option "Copy files from:" and then point it to the directory WDM_A406 which I have tried on a USB drive as well as a CD. Each time that it finds the file ALCXWDM.SYS from the file I downloaded from the Realtek site (WDM_A406), I get the PORTCLS.SYS blue screen and then it re-boots. I have tried re-installing Windows, running hardware tests (stress tests), checkdisk, SafeMode, etc. and still I have found nothing. Keep in mind that the audio on the motherboard has worked fine since the machine was brand new and this was never a problem until I decided to wipe out the computer... Can someone please help me?

New info- "I found that there was a KB and a fix available on Microsoft's website. That fix is specifically known as KB950616 and still have the same problem as before..."
 

Mark Kinsey

Reputable
Mar 22, 2015
1
0
4,510
Hi all, I struggled with this several times! my system kept crashing at the same point on upgrade. Then I turned off all emulation in bios and also the on-board and pc speaker sound in bios. also disabled my PCI port which had my second sound card and jobs fixed. It appears there conflicting information about correct onboard sound some see it as soundmax others as realtek and some cases intel 8196cab/a/b this I have found to happen on Dell PC. hope this helps