Windows 7 Drivers for SoundMax ADI 198x Fix

7 Jan 2010

If you would like to skip the long story and go straight to the instructions for the fix that worked for me – scroll down.

My brother was complaining that his computer wasn’t running as well as it used to so I recently decided to format and upgrade his Dell Optiplex GX280 to Windows 7 (32-bit). We got this computer a few years ago now and as such there was no luck in finding drivers for Windows Vista let alone Windows 7 on the Dell website. I decided to go ahead and install it anyway and find any drivers that I needed afterwards – I mean….how hard could it be?!?

The installation process was pretty simple (very quick too) and after a matter of time was presented with the Windows 7 desktop. It had managed to find generic drivers for most of the onboard equipment I needed such as the graphics adapter, network adapter, firewire etc.. (although they’re obviously not as good as the official drivers) however there was no sound. The onboard soundcard in question was a SoundMax ADI 198x family card. Apparently this wasn’t going to be easy…(but then is it ever easy?)

So I began to search on forum after forum for people in a similar situation and although a lot of suggestions were put forward for drivers to try, none worked for me!! They either said they were not compatible with the hardware or that the installer couldn’t find a particular file. One driver I found was for an Intel sound card but upon installation said that the software was incompatible with my hardware. I wasn’t going to give up so I manually selected this particular driver and effectively forced it onto the card and it worked perfectly. So….for other people with a similar problem, here is what I did :-

UPDATE – For Windows 7 64-bit Version please see below

Solution for Installing SoundMax ADI 198x Sound Driver

1. Download this zip file which contains the Intel sound driver (676 kb), extract it and note the path to this directory.

2. Goto Start and right-click on Computer and click Properties.

3. The System Properties windows should appear. Click Device Manager on the left pane.

4. Locate the sound card hardware from the list. This is likely to be found under Other Devices as a Multimedia Audio Controller. Right-click the controller and click Update Driver Software.

5. A new window should appear. Click Browse my computer for driver software. At the next window click Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer. Then select Show All Devices from the list and click Next to continue. At the next window click Have Disk and locate the extracted zip file directory. Find the W2K_XP Driver directory and select “smwdmCH0“.

6. A new window should appear with a list of drivers to choose from. Select the first SoundMax Integrated Digital Audio from the list and click OK. Then Click Next and Windows should start installing the driver.

7. Reboot your computer and you should be hearing sound (Hoorah!!)

The Zip file link above contains only the driver INF file and a few DLL’s. If you find this isn’t working, please try using this link which includes the entire Intel Audio Driver setup (23.7 mb). The Sound Driver can be found in “SMAXWDM\W2K_XP” in the Intel Driver folder.

I cannot guarantee that this method will work with your computer – This just happened to work for me. Please make sure you also backup before installing drivers – I am not responsible if something happens to your computer!!

Windows 7 64-bit Users

Since writing this post many users have commented saying the above instructions did not work with their 64-bit versions but gave details of how they were able to get the sound card working. So, with thanks to ‘Kuwaiticrud’ and ‘Scott E’, here are some basic instructions on how to get the installer. I am unable to test this myself as I do not have a 64-bit system however this should work from feedback from others.

1. Download ‘R145149.exe’ on dells support ftp site by using this direct link here or by going to http://search.dell.com and searching for the file ‘R145149.exe’. The file should be the first listing in the search results.

The driver itself is a Windows Vista 64-bit version of the driver and is compatible with OptiPlex GX280, GX520, GX620 and SX280 as well as
Dell Precision WorkStation 370, 470 and 670.

2. Double-click ‘R145149.exe’ which will run the self-extractor. Once this has finished, note the extracting location and run the installer from that directory.

‘Scott E’ noted that he did not need to do anything else for the installer to work but if you have troubles you may want to use the ‘Run As Administrator’ setting or try changing the ‘Compatibility mode’.

Again, I cannot guarantee that this method will work with your computer – This just happened to work for me. Please make sure you also backup before installing drivers – I am not responsible if something happens to your computer!!

Bondy

Tags: 198x, ADI, driver, sound max, soundmax, soundmax driver, soundmax windows 7, Windows, Windows 7, windows 7 drivers

86 Responses to Windows 7 Drivers for SoundMax ADI 198x Fix

Emerson Lima

February 17th, 2010 at 1:18 pm

Hi Mr.,

Thanks a lot for your prompt help.
Your tips was very valiable.
I have a DELL optiplex GX 280 and now my sound card is working.
Thank you very much again!

February 20th, 2010 at 8:36 pm

Thanks for posting, I’m glad it worked out for you too!!

Jake

February 27th, 2010 at 5:32 am

Hi,

same PC (just reformatted), same problem except running XP not 7, your fix and the drivers on the dell website are not helping, any chance you know how to fix it?

Thanks in advance,

***************** (Removed Email by Request) is my email, would apprciate it if you could delete it from my comment after you read it

February 27th, 2010 at 8:14 am

All good, solved it, partly thanks to your solution. Would still appreciate you deleting my email address from the above post. Thanks for the helpful tutorial

February 28th, 2010 at 1:47 am

I’m glad this has tutorial has helped you out too, don’t hesitate to add any information on how you got the drivers working with XP if you have time

February 28th, 2010 at 5:23 am

It was just dumb oversight on my part in the end. These drivers got the card installed and working, it was then just a matter of making it the default sound device in control panel.

Flea

March 4th, 2010 at 9:52 pm

Hey all. Got mine working by running the install in compatability mode for xp… The only problem is i now only have stereo sound instead of surround (whch i had previously with xp)…
Driver were from the Intel site and and im running of a Intel D865 PERL board. It worked for me so im happy for now..

Mike W

March 11th, 2010 at 4:57 pm

Thanks a lot for your great efforts to help fix what Dell should have done in the first place.

March 11th, 2010 at 9:18 pm

Thanks for leaving a comment, its good to hear its helped you!!

March 12th, 2010 at 5:55 pm

Thanks for the info!!

Kuwaiticrud

March 13th, 2010 at 6:20 am

i made a mistake. I installed the r145149.exe (from Dell’s website) on an Optiplex GX620 (not 260) that is running Windows 7 64bit Ultimate. If you do a google search on that exe, the first site that pulls up is Dell’s ftp site. Search for the EXE there and download it. Sorry for the mixup. Feel free to delete my other comments since I’ve summed up everything in this one. Thanks for the info as it ultimately helped me find this solution.

einsfck

March 27th, 2010 at 3:55 am

Finally! Awesome! Thanks a bunch!

Dave

March 30th, 2010 at 4:36 am

I’ve done as you’ve said up to the point where I need to select the smwdmCH0 file, but when I look in the extracted folder it isn’t showing individual files to select, just the W2K XP Driver folder that I can’t expand. Help please?

March 30th, 2010 at 12:17 pm

Hmm…You could try downloading the ZIP file again in case it was a bad download – just to rule it out. Just to clarify – Is it only when you click Browse my computer for driver software and search for the W2K XP folder that you can’t see “smwdmCH0“? Can you see the files in the W2K XP folder if you just browse to the folder normally?

Martin

April 1st, 2010 at 6:11 pm

I tried the procedure on my DELL 8300, didn’t work.
Reooted and followed Win7 solution “Dwnload driver from DELL”. Still no sound.. after installing/repairing.

Plugged the audio jack out of the back of my PC and connected it to the front plug for headphones. Gues what? Sound is coming out of my PC. Using DELL8300 windows Windows7 Ultimate 32 bit.

John

April 7th, 2010 at 10:11 am

Just like Dave, when choosing “Browse my computer for driver software” I only get the chance to choose a folder, not a file in a folder.

So I choose the folder, click next and get told that “Windows could not find driver software for you device”

The file smwdmCH0.inf is in the folder when viewed with explorer.

Tried both zip files

Any thoughts? Using a Dell precision 450

April 8th, 2010 at 6:21 am

A fix for Precision 450 with Windows 7.

Go to control panel

Click Devices and Printers, click the yellow(ish) bar at the top of the window that says “Windows can display enhanced device icons and information from the internet. Click to change”

Choose “Open device installation settings”

The “No” radio button will no doubt be selected if you haven’t got the driver with “Never install underneath”

Select “Install driver software from windows update if not found on my computer”

Click “Save changes”

Wait, and it will fix it’s self

You can always turn the auto driver update off after if you don’t want your pc updating it’s drivers by it’s self.

Hope that helps someone

April 8th, 2010 at 9:49 am

Hi John,
This is an error on my part as I wrote part of the instructions wrong. Instead of clicking Browse at that window, you should in fact click Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer. If you the select Show All Devices, click Next, then click Have Disk at the next window, you should be able to browse to the folder and select the inf. Apologies for that, I should have seen that earlier but I have now updated the instructions so they’re correct now. Hope this can shed some light on your problem!!
Bondy

matt

April 9th, 2010 at 8:23 pm

Not working GX620 win7 Ent x64bit.

Mike

April 9th, 2010 at 11:32 pm

Might only work for 32 bit OS. I’m getting a message saying incompatible or not 64 bit. Tried on Dell OptiPlex GX620 with 64 bit Win7.

Pope Bender

April 22nd, 2010 at 7:59 pm

Those of you “not seeing” the files… try unzipping them first manually. I had the same issue and that fixed it.

Unfortunately it didn’t fix the sound problem for me – Windows7 64 bit ultimate on a Dell 670, so I’m still trying…

Rpine

April 25th, 2010 at 12:47 am

Thankyou…
Was ready to through PC out the window..

spektakulaer

April 28th, 2010 at 9:10 am

THHHHAAAAANNNNKKKSS!!

David Walzer

May 10th, 2010 at 12:44 pm

Wow. Hunting around forever. Tried a bunch of SOundMax drivers and yours was the one.

The final driver to get my ‘unsupported’ IBM X31 on Windows 7 without issue.

Great!!!!

AliJi

June 3rd, 2010 at 5:22 am

It’s not working for Windows 7 (64 bit). Is there any solution for Windows 7 (64 bit) for same sound card. please help. Thanks in Advance.

June 10th, 2010 at 11:39 am

Hmm..I’ve had a search around for Windows 7 64-bit drivers but I’m unable to find anything and since I don’t have a 64-bit system I am unable to try them aswell. Hopefully someone on here may be able to help. Bondy

Dwayne

June 12th, 2010 at 4:39 pm

Thanks…found your website when searching for my audio driver for Vista….Worked like a charm!

Scott E

July 8th, 2010 at 8:58 pm

Following the advise of “Kuwaiticrud” above, I searched for R145149.exe on Dell’s support site, which showed the list at http://search.dell.com/results.aspx?s=bsd&c=us&l=en&cs=04&k=r145149.exe&cat=sup. Clicking on the first link, named “Analog Devices ADI 198x Integrated Audio, v.5.12.2.7010, A02″, I then downloaded and ran both the self-extractor, then the installer without first trying Run As Administrator or changing compatibility mode. The installation worked without a hitch on my Win7 Pro 64-bit GX620 that has the same ADI 198x Integrated Audio device and I now have full audio.

Thanks for the blog post Bondy, I found it immediately when I did a Google search for “adi 198x integrated audio driver windows 7″.

July 8th, 2010 at 9:02 pm

I forgot to add that the driver is designed for Vista 64-bit and lists compatibility for Optiplex SX280, GX280, GX520, GX620, and Precision Workstation 370, 470, and 670 models. The direct link to the driver is http://support.us.dell.com/support/downloads/download.aspx?c=us&cs=04&l=en&s=bsd&releaseid=R145149&formatcnt=0&libid=0&typeid=-1&dateid=-1&formatid=-1&source=-1&fileid=193393.

indigocat

July 15th, 2010 at 6:06 pm

My new installation of Win 7 on an Optiplex GSX 270 and, thanx to you, now fully working sound! Thank you bondy!

Fabrice

July 18th, 2010 at 10:18 pm

Bondy, Thanks so much for posting this fix! I spent two hours trying to resolve this on my own until stumbling on your post.

Jlux

July 20th, 2010 at 5:48 pm

Thanks for the info! Got sound, but at start up I get an error “ADI Codec Drive for Soundmax” not installed or something to that effect. Any Ideas? Sound works fine though.

Compaq Presario R3000 / W7 Ultimate 32bit.

Thanks!

Amada Muniz

July 27th, 2010 at 3:54 pm

how would I go about finding the generic drivers for most of the onboard equipment and graphics adapter, network adapter, firewire etc for the 4700

Frank

August 2nd, 2010 at 2:07 am

Thank you so much! My hard drive suffered serious damage after moving. I didn’t want to spend $900 for a system that would be significantly better or $450 for a system with similar specs. Bought new hard drive, but during reinstall of XP, couldn’t find key. Bought Win 7, but had the driver problem. Thank you! I love my Optiplex and am glad it’s still going strong!

serhat

August 4th, 2010 at 9:17 am

hey my geek-buddy, firstly i wanna thank you so much, i have an old motherboard, it’s asus’ p4pe2-x and it works with chipset called i845pe. i’ve struggled with this driver issue during about 2 days and finally i found your blog site. i exactly made you said and solved the problem. i’m so indebted to you…

seroman from istanbul

Adrian

August 12th, 2010 at 6:22 am

Thanks so much!!
Work fine in compaq Evo Desktop D500

August 18th, 2010 at 7:41 am

Thanks for your help, worked a treat! Optiplex GX520 Win 7 x64

roxan

September 2nd, 2010 at 9:18 am

Thank you very much. It works with dell sx 280.It is very important that we have to do it manuel.I am very satifaction about this solution.Almost I have spent to days to install sound drver file

Jamin

September 9th, 2010 at 3:42 pm

THX
youre the best
(Dell 8400)

alok

September 9th, 2010 at 7:08 pm

i apriciate, really helpful and it did work .
thanks

October 3rd, 2010 at 12:41 am

Worked for me too on a GX620 – Thanks for taking the time to document this useful info and link.

mvb

October 7th, 2010 at 6:42 pm

Hey guys same prob as u!
Win 7 64Bit on Optiplex GX620
When i try to install the driver from Scott E
i get the following message:
“the File c:\dell\drivers\R145149\amd64\vistaADIHDaud.sys is missing” then installation is canceld ?!

Any ideas?

Oldcomp

October 15th, 2010 at 5:32 pm

This worked for an old Compaq dc5000 sff. Thank you!

Mitzi

October 18th, 2010 at 7:41 pm

I was reading your blog and seems we both have put the 7 on a Dell 280…only prob I am having is in the 7 I cannot change color of windows….Driver?

mohamed nageeb

October 21st, 2010 at 12:32 pm

thanks alot man now my sound card is working also my mic

Inf

November 9th, 2010 at 6:04 am

Just wanted to say Thanx for the links and information you posted here. It worked for this POS Dell GX620 that somebody dropped on my doorstep & with a Clean Install of Win7 64bit. Your site was linked from Google as a direct search from it and noted in my directory’s for future use should another one of these things happen to cross my path. Thanx again!!

Phill

November 25th, 2010 at 4:22 pm

Finally I found what I’m looking for and it works

Thanks Bondy – U R the best

Trip

December 17th, 2010 at 6:33 pm

Nice! Thanks for the help. Worked for my DELL

loki

January 6th, 2011 at 3:34 pm

Thanks for the info. I’m using a Dell sx260, and I’ve just been given a (legal) copy of Win7. Haven’t installed it yet because of the audio erm… difficulties I’ve had in the past.

Thought I’d do a bit of a web search first to see how other people have coped.

Yours was the first post I found at Driver Guide. For once my luck seems to have changed.

Cheers!

Roudway

January 8th, 2011 at 9:59 pm

This did not work for my 32 Bit. Any suggestions for gx620 32 bit.

Dawid

February 25th, 2011 at 6:04 pm

hey I have the same problem but your solution dosen’t work on my computer.

When a tried to install driver (last step) new window is appearing and shows “Acces denied”

Carrie

March 2nd, 2011 at 5:36 pm

I just upgraded our stand alone computer, a Dell Gx280, and I couldn’t get any of the drivers to work. I finally found you site, and it worked great. Everyone in my shop is really appreciative, as we use this system as our jukebox.

Thank you!

varol7

March 14th, 2011 at 1:26 pm

help me
intel d865gbf sound max for windows 7 drivers ve softvare ?

Ehsan

April 9th, 2011 at 4:43 pm

Hi.
Thanks as my sound driver is now ok & working properly by following ur above guidelines
But i am unable to use microphone with my this system gx280 having windows 7 installed on it.

i have checked the headphone, it works on other system but when i connect the same headphone to my system, i can hear the sound coming from other side through headphone but unable to speak as mic doesnt work at all.

plz help

Thanks in advance

Regards,
Ehsan

April 9th, 2011 at 4:52 pm

Hi Bondy!

It seems that u r not here since long time

secondly i visted ur blog but was unable to find ur contact details.

FroschYankee

May 21st, 2011 at 1:07 am

Big thanks, John! You are absolutely genius… Driver working on my IBM now.. very nice.

Gavin

May 26th, 2011 at 11:49 pm

I followed this setps but it didn’t work for me. I tried the same steps but used the XP drivers from the Dell website and it worked. The installer must check the OS but when you manually add it mustn’t bother. This was still very very helpful so thank you!!

Tobz4real

June 6th, 2011 at 6:34 pm

YESSSSSS………….. MY AUDIO NOW WORK ON DELL OPTIPLEX GX620, WINDOWS 7 64BIT MANY MANY MANY MANY THANKS TO YOU……..

Jack Coan

June 16th, 2011 at 4:08 pm

Bondy!

Can’t thank you enough man!! I was going to use “The Royal Hand Grenade” on this one!! LOL!!

God Save the Queen!!

Eleanor

July 23rd, 2011 at 9:30 am

you are AWESOME! Running a dell dimension 4600C that I upgraded to win 7 and this little puppy worked a treat – thank you!!!

Karl

August 26th, 2011 at 5:18 am

I love you, dewd!

I spent a good part of 3 hours trying to find a Win 7 audio driver for a Compaq Evo N620c. It was the same situation as with your bro’s – the computer was not running well. I could get Win 7 free through a part-time college teaching gig so it seemed better to upgrade than to try to reinstall XP. I went ahead thinking to sort out the problems later. Your 32-bit fix worked perfectly.

Thanks for posting!

flemming

September 21st, 2011 at 10:28 pm

Great it really worked

Pete

September 27th, 2011 at 8:03 pm

I have never felt the need to comment on anyone who has posted a fix on a blog before. You are now the exception!! Thanks for this clear and concise guide. This weekend searching for a fix was not in vain!

Cheers again buddy

mode

September 27th, 2011 at 11:04 pm

tnx alot

Khirad

October 7th, 2011 at 2:20 pm

Thanks a Lot Dear

Nathalie

October 11th, 2011 at 1:12 pm

Thanks alot!!

elazotenica

October 21st, 2011 at 5:01 pm

Gracias… lo probaré, tiene bastante lógica la explicación… he probado de todo y nada, espero este me solucione…

Zola

November 7th, 2011 at 12:46 pm

Thanks it worked for on Dell Optiplex GX620 Windows 7 x64

Syclone Josh

November 9th, 2011 at 4:14 pm

Thanks Bondy! Worked perfectly on my Dell Dimension 8400, Windows 7 64 bit. Shame on DELL for their garbage support and not listing this as a Windows 7 driver.

Kaleb

November 11th, 2011 at 6:06 pm

THIS WORKED IMMEDIATELY!!! (i’m 64 bit win7) Please make this more public if possible, i.e. Dell website forum. It took me FOREVER to find this and I installed win7, downgraded to xp black, upgraded to vista (was going to do a 3 stage upgrade tier) then back to xp then back to win7 once I saw this. IT WORKS! Thank you SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH!

Jagan. G

November 20th, 2011 at 7:05 pm

Great Bondy….. Cheerup…

I really do not understand why is it not done by DELL.

Ijlal

November 25th, 2011 at 11:54 am

Thanx for the help might .have been chekin out forums after forum …

khalid pk

December 5th, 2011 at 10:30 am

thanks budy . i changed its compatabality to vista sp 2
it workedddddddd
in optiplex GX620 P D 3.4 1 gb

Tony

December 19th, 2011 at 12:20 pm

Thanks Bondy, Worked a treat and now have sound.. A year on posting this and it is still helping people.. what a Star man…

Cheers

Ceilia Barber

December 20th, 2011 at 5:20 pm

Worked like a charm, thank you!!!

DigitalCes

December 29th, 2011 at 7:43 pm

Awesome guide man, came very useful at work I deployed a 620 with Windows 7 x64 and this driver took care of it.

waqas aziz

February 27th, 2012 at 12:25 pm

bundle of thanks man………………

Pedro

April 1st, 2012 at 8:58 am

Thank you soo sooo much!
Very usefull topic!

Thanks Thanks Thanks! Good Work, man!

zubair

April 2nd, 2012 at 9:30 pm

thnx bro u r a genius thaks a lot for the driver.

Leniux

April 24th, 2012 at 11:16 pm

Dude, ive tried your steps with no luck! platform is a dimension 4600 runnin win 7 32 bit OS. please help! i haz to have this working!

jasper.

June 1st, 2012 at 2:30 pm

thank you very much

June 8th, 2012 at 11:32 pm

The actual driver is now available from Dell support:

http://downloads.dell.com/FOLDER96614M/2/ANALOG-DEVICES_ADI-198X-INTE_A01_R297329.exe

Bill

June 29th, 2012 at 3:57 am

Thanks Sir this worked perfect on my Dell dimension 4700

$hawn

July 14th, 2012 at 5:39 pm

worked like a charm with 520 and windows 7 x64

Christo

August 18th, 2012 at 9:58 pm

Thanks a mil. You saved the day for me

Andrew

August 19th, 2012 at 8:18 pm

Thanks.
It worked Great for me too on a Win7 system. However i had “ADI AC97 Integrated Digital Audio Driver for Microsoft Windows Vista (32-bit)” that the computer couldnt figure out why i wanted it cous it wasnt vista OS on the computer =)

Extracted the downloaded .exe drivers to a map. Then did I the installation manually by the device manager.

Andrew: Thanks. It worked Great for me too on a Win7 system. However i had "ADI AC97 Integrated Digital Aud [...]

Christo: Thanks a mil. You saved the day for me [...]

$hawn: worked like a charm with 520 and windows 7 x64 [...]

Bill: Thanks Sir this worked perfect on my Dell dimension 4700 [...]

Frank: The actual driver is now available from Dell support: http://downloads.dell.com/FOLDER96614M/2/AN [...]

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Windows 7 Drivers for SoundMax ADI 198x Fix

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