AeonG wrote on 2021-09-02, 18:25:

Alright, so full disclosure here: I don't 100% know what I'm doing here, and am trying my best learn. Sorry in advance for my ignorance on this. I have at least some very basic knowledge on how to get drivers working, but in trying to find drivers for my Gateway E-4000, I had no fucking idea so many useless driver websites have popped up over the years with malware and inaccurate downloads. I beleive I have got almost everything I need to work, but for some reason, I cannot get my integrated on board audio to work. At the absolute least, there is no volume button on windows XP. I took a screenshot (attached below) of what I got when I went to my hardware profile through "system" on Windows XP and saved an .HTM of my HWINFO report

I have spent hours looking on google for drivers for "Intel 82801DB(M) ICH4(-M) - AC'97 Audio Controller [B-0]" and nothing I could find worked, but hours later, I found out why, and felt even more like an idiot, because " The "Intel 82801DB ICH4 - AC'97 Audio Controller" is just the interface that allows the main chipset to communicate to the audio chipset; it is not the actual chip the produces the sound." To my knowledge, the only Intel Chipset driver I have installed was this one. I ran the exe, and that was it. I reset my computer like I believe it asked me to. But fuck knows from past experience that it's very likely there is something I didn't know I had to install.

Apologies if this post is incoherent, I'm at the end of my day and mentally exhausted. If You need anything clarified, I'll do it. If you need me to go through any steps, I'll sure as hell do that too. I'll even reinstall windows xp if that's what it takes, I just want to get this done, over with, and upload all the drivers I used to archive.org in a pack to save someone else else this day long headache.

Quick search online, confirmed by your HWINFO report (top right-hand column) is that these Gateway units use an Analog Devices AD1981A 'SoundMAX' AC97 audio codec chip - check your motherboard for this

I can see two XP download links you can probably try...

...this one (still has the old Gateway naming convention) is version 5.12.01.3571 - https://www.driverguide.com/driver/detail.php … driverid=444732

...and this one (from after MicronPC acquired the Gateway business division) is version 5.12.01.5240 - https://www.driverguide.com/driver/detail.php … driverid=433501

Let us know if either of these work, or if you have any installation issues

Well, the second download failed to detect the driver. The first download you gave me is giving me rather...mixed results. It was able to set up the driver, but there is no sound. I clicked the volume button on the start bar, it wasn't on mute, and turned the volume all the way up. I then tested the speakers I used on another machine and they do indeed work. Later I'll put a Soundblaster Live in to see if maybe its a different problem, but I don't want that to be the work around because I need that card for my 98 machine.

I'm gonna list off some things that might be helpful:

1. The instructions asked for bios BF86510A or SR84510A. My bios is RG84510A. I attached the readme.
2. The chip in my PC was a bit different from the one you posted. I attached a picture of it. Sorry for the bad image quality and dust.

According to Intel, the (part) BIOS string RG84510A marks it as a Gateway OEM version of one of 4 possible boards...

D845GRG
D845GERG2
D845GEBV2
D845GBV

There might also be a Gateway part number on the motherboard - probably 7 digits long & beginning with 2. Can you check.

Don't worry about the differences between the 2 pics - the key point is that both say AD1981A

The HWINFO report recognized my mobo as an Intel D845GRG. Just to be 100% on that I took a picture of the identifier on the board. As for the other pictures, I wasn't exactly sure what to look for, so I took multiple pictures just to be safe. Unfortunately neither of them start with 2.

Update: My "Soundblaster Live!" card worked just fine when I installed it into this machine, so the issues with the built in onboard audio either has to be a driver issue, or just an issue with the hardware itself.