AC97 Drivers

AC97 is short for ‘Audio Codec ’97 and was developed by Intel for onboard sound systems, sound cards and modems. Developed in 1997 by the Intel Corporation, it is currently used in most computer systems. Codec is a combination of two words, or what is called a portmanteau. Codec is derived from ‘compressor-decompressor’ or, ‘coder-decoder’, which is the function of the program. It is used to encode and/or decode digital data and produce audio from it.

Audio drivers are parts of the program that sets the device in motion and ensures that it is operating correctly, or operating at all. A driver tells the device what to look for and what to do when it is commanded to operate. Without the correct audio driver, the sound card may not produce any sound, or it may be low quality sound. AC97 Audio Drivers are component specific, which is to say that each device that requires the audio driver needs a particular version of this driver. Most of these drivers are contained in the start up disk that is included with the sound card or main board, if the audio is built into the board. Occasionally, the drivers need updating to operate with the newest gaming and sound utilizing programs being developed. In such cases, the audio drivers can usually be downloaded from the motherboard or sound card manufacturer’s web site. It is a good practice to check these sites occasionally to see if any new upgrades have been released. Once a year should be often enough to stay current on the drivers, for the audio and any other device on the motherboard.

Keeping the manuals and information from the system or device will assist in locating the correct drivers for the system and its components. Without this information, model numbers from the system and/or device will need to be located. This is sometimes very time consuming and frustrating, especially if the system is custom built and the main board or audio card model number needs to be found. Each item has many numbers on it and the right one has to be located to be of any use. Of course, purchasing a pre-built system from one of the major computer manufacturers makes finding the model number and the drivers fairly simple.

There are also third party sites that offer drivers, most free of charge. Since the AC97 driver is very common, it is likely that someone can find the correct version by using any search engine. Be careful when searching and finding a site that offers ‘free’ downloads of drivers and ensure that it is completely free. It just takes a little perseverance and patience to find the correct drivers. Sometimes, depending on the age of the device, this is the only solution to finding the audio driver. After a certain amount of time, some manufacturers do not carry the drivers any longer and archiving sites are the only ones that stock them.

AC97 audio drivers and other system drivers are important to the system and must be maintained. Errors that can occur and require reinstallation of the drivers are corrupt driver files, motherboard chipset drivers not installed, and it could be possible that the sound card is malfunctioning or has become non-functional. In the case of the latter, if the card is built into the motherboard, purchase a sound card and install it in one of the available slots. It will come with a driver disk to be installed upon completion of hardware installation. Many times, the windows operating system will have a generic AC97 audio driver that will work the sound, but it is recommended that the proper driver always be installed. Whether it is downloaded or from a factory disk it is important to keep them in a safe place for future use.