Here is a demonstration video about Lenovo Thinkpad T430 running Windows 3.11 and using Realtek HD audio + FullHD 1920x1080 desktop:
https://youtu.be/KWqJo5-6hnQ

The video also demonstrates that Midi is also working with the help of WinGroove. And at the end of the video a fast pace board game shows that latency is also more than acceptable.

I also attach the working configuration files for Realtek ALC1150 (Gigabyte Z97x-UDH5) and Realtek ALC3202 (T430).

Falcosoft wrote on 2025-10-30, 18:26:

What kind of hardware do you really have? The ICH10 and NFORCE fields in the driver dialog seem to be only placeholder text fiel […]
Show full quote

Lualb wrote on 2025-10-30, 16:08:

Hello everyone! After a long time, I have tried again to get the driver to work, but it seems that I have problems with the volume; nothing can be heard.
I also don't see that the HDAICOUT.HDA file has been created :'(

What kind of hardware do you really have? The ICH10 and NFORCE fields in the driver dialog seem to be only placeholder text fields.
HDAICOUT.HDA has to contain codec specific commands to initialize the hardware properly.
I have working configurations for Lenovo Thinkpad T430 with integrated Realtek ALC 3202 and Gigabyte Z97X-UD5H with integrated Realtek ALC1150.

I just looked at the hardware specifications, and I see that it is a UP Gamer H81M motherboard, Intel LGA 1150, with integrated Realtek (ALC662) 6-channel High Definition audio CODEC.

Lualb wrote on 2025-10-30, 19:34:

Falcosoft wrote on 2025-10-30, 18:26:

What kind of hardware do you really have? The ICH10 and NFORCE fields in the driver dialog seem to be only placeholder text fiel […]
Show full quote

Lualb wrote on 2025-10-30, 16:08:

Hello everyone! After a long time, I have tried again to get the driver to work, but it seems that I have problems with the volume; nothing can be heard.
I also don't see that the HDAICOUT.HDA file has been created :'(

What kind of hardware do you really have? The ICH10 and NFORCE fields in the driver dialog seem to be only placeholder text fields.
HDAICOUT.HDA has to contain codec specific commands to initialize the hardware properly.
I have working configurations for Lenovo Thinkpad T430 with integrated Realtek ALC 3202 and Gigabyte Z97X-UD5H with integrated Realtek ALC1150.

I just looked at the hardware specifications, and I see that it is a UP Gamer H81M motherboard, Intel LGA 1150, with integrated Realtek (ALC662) 6-channel High Definition audio CODEC.

Then you should try my Realtek config files. Put both the .ini and the .hda files in your Win31 folder and give them a try. Try both sets since I do not know if ALC662 is more similar to ALC 3202 than to ALC1150 or the other way around.

@Edit:
Wait, I'm stupid. Sorry. You should not replace the ini file since your codec and my codec differ so the PCI id's will not match. So you should only copy/replace the relevant fields in the card's section! That is:

[HDA_1E208086,21F317AA] -> Do not overwrite, since this is specific to your card!
...
wait1=$010 -> copy this
wait2=$010 -> copy this
...
SleepingWidget=$02 -> copy this
VolumeWidget=$02 -> copy this
OutputWidget=$02 -> copy this

Falcosoft wrote on 2025-10-30, 19:39:

Then you should try my Realtek config files. Put both the .ini and the .hda files in your Win31 folder and give them a try. Try […]
Show full quote

Lualb wrote on 2025-10-30, 19:34:

Falcosoft wrote on 2025-10-30, 18:26:

What kind of hardware do you really have? The ICH10 and NFORCE fields in the driver dialog seem to be only placeholder text fields.
HDAICOUT.HDA has to contain codec specific commands to initialize the hardware properly.
I have working configurations for Lenovo Thinkpad T430 with integrated Realtek ALC 3202 and Gigabyte Z97X-UD5H with integrated Realtek ALC1150.

I just looked at the hardware specifications, and I see that it is a UP Gamer H81M motherboard, Intel LGA 1150, with integrated Realtek (ALC662) 6-channel High Definition audio CODEC.

Then you should try my Realtek config files. Put both the .ini and the .hda files in your Win31 folder and give them a try. Try both sets since I do not know if ALC662 is more similar to ALC 3202 than to ALC1150 or the other way around.

@Edit:
Wait, I'm stupid. Sorry. You should not replace the ini file since your codec and my codec differ so the PCI id's will not match. So you should only copy/replace the relevant fields in the card's section! That is:

[HDA_1E208086,21F317AA] -> Do not overwrite, since this is specific to your card!
...

wait1=$010 -> copy this
wait2=$010 -> copy this
...
SleepingWidget=$02 -> copy this
VolumeWidget=$02 -> copy this
OutputWidget=$02 -> copy this

Okay, I followed all the steps you indicated, I restarted Windows but I still can't hear any sound (Winplay3 and media Player play the sound files muted).

Lualb wrote on 2025-10-30, 21:21:

Falcosoft wrote on 2025-10-30, 19:39:

Then you should try my Realtek config files. Put both the .ini and the .hda files in your Win31 folder and give them a try. Try […]
Show full quote

Lualb wrote on 2025-10-30, 19:34:

I just looked at the hardware specifications, and I see that it is a UP Gamer H81M motherboard, Intel LGA 1150, with integrated Realtek (ALC662) 6-channel High Definition audio CODEC.

Then you should try my Realtek config files. Put both the .ini and the .hda files in your Win31 folder and give them a try. Try both sets since I do not know if ALC662 is more similar to ALC 3202 than to ALC1150 or the other way around.

@Edit:
Wait, I'm stupid. Sorry. You should not replace the ini file since your codec and my codec differ so the PCI id's will not match. So you should only copy/replace the relevant fields in the card's section! That is:

[HDA_1E208086,21F317AA] -> Do not overwrite, since this is specific to your card!
...

wait1=$010 -> copy this
wait2=$010 -> copy this
...
SleepingWidget=$02 -> copy this
VolumeWidget=$02 -> copy this
OutputWidget=$02 -> copy this

Okay, I followed all the steps you indicated, I restarted Windows but I still can't hear any sound (Winplay3 and media Player play the sound files muted).

Hi,
It seems the problem is that you have 2 HD audio devices present. The other is the Intel HDMI audio. This device is also present on my Gigabyte board ($0018=$0C0C8086) and unfortunately the driver selects this device as active by default.
I also had to manually tell the driver that this is NOT the device I would like to use. Look at my Realtek ALC1150 HDACFG.INI file. At the top there is the section where I tell the driver what device to use instead:

[HDA]
SEARCH=false
PCI_BUS=$00
PCI_DEVICE=$1B
PCI_FUNCTION=$00
TSR=TSR not found
PCI_VID=$8086
PCI_DID=$8CA0

Unfortunately this is system specific so you have to find out the Bus, Device, Function parameters yourself...

In your case the Intel HD audio device with the Realtek codec is $00D8=$8C208086. So:
PCI_VID=$8086
PCI_DID=$8C20

@Edit:
You can use e.g. RW everything to find the Bus, Device, Function parameters.
https://rweverything.com/download/
Look for 'Intel Corporation HD Audio Device' in the PCI devices section and then check that its Device/Vendor ID is 0x8C208086. The Bus, Device, Function parameters are shown in the selection.

Falcosoft wrote on 2025-10-30, 21:33:

Hi, It seems the problem is that you have 2 HD audio devices present. The other is the Intel HDMI audio. This device is also pre […]
Show full quote

Lualb wrote on 2025-10-30, 21:21:

Falcosoft wrote on 2025-10-30, 19:39:

Then you should try my Realtek config files. Put both the .ini and the .hda files in your Win31 folder and give them a try. Try […]
Show full quote

Then you should try my Realtek config files. Put both the .ini and the .hda files in your Win31 folder and give them a try. Try both sets since I do not know if ALC662 is more similar to ALC 3202 than to ALC1150 or the other way around.

@Edit:
Wait, I'm stupid. Sorry. You should not replace the ini file since your codec and my codec differ so the PCI id's will not match. So you should only copy/replace the relevant fields in the card's section! That is:

[HDA_1E208086,21F317AA] -> Do not overwrite, since this is specific to your card!
...

wait1=$010 -> copy this
wait2=$010 -> copy this
...
SleepingWidget=$02 -> copy this
VolumeWidget=$02 -> copy this
OutputWidget=$02 -> copy this

Okay, I followed all the steps you indicated, I restarted Windows but I still can't hear any sound (Winplay3 and media Player play the sound files muted).

Hi,
It seems the problem is that you have 2 HD audio devices present. The other is the Intel HDMI audio. This device is also present on my Gigabyte board ($0018=$0C0C8086) and unfortunately the driver selects this device as active by default.
I also had to manually tell the driver that this is NOT the device I would like to use. Look at my Realtek ALC1150 HDACFG.INI file. At the top there is the section where I tell the driver what device to use instead:

[HDA]
SEARCH=false
PCI_BUS=$00
PCI_DEVICE=$1B
PCI_FUNCTION=$00
TSR=TSR not found
PCI_VID=$8086
PCI_DID=$8CA0

Unfortunately this is system specific so you have to find out the Bus, Device, Function parameters yourself...

In your case the Intel HD audio device with the Realtek codec is $00D8=$8C208086. So:
PCI_VID=$8086
PCI_DID=$8C20

@Edit:
You can use e.g. RW everything to find the Bus, Device, Function parameters.
https://rweverything.com/download/
Look for 'Intel Corporation HD Audio Device' in the PCI devices section and then check that its Device/Vendor ID is 0x8C208086. The Bus, Device, Function parameters are shown in the selection.

The attachment RW1.png is no longer available

Hi! I've just started my vacation and have more time to dedicate to my hobbies! First of all, I'd like to tell you that all this time I was misled by the motherboard's integrated sound specifications, and it's not a Realtek ALC662 as stated in the manual, but rather a Realtek ALC897 according to more extensive hardware testing

Lualb wrote on 2025-11-04, 18:29:

Hi! I've just started my vacation and have more time to dedicate to my hobbies! First of all, I'd like to tell you that all this time I was misled by the motherboard's integrated sound specifications, and it's not a Realtek ALC662 as stated in the manual, but rather a Realtek ALC897 according to more extensive hardware testing

Hi,
Why have you removed your previous post? It was helpful since it clearly showed the PCI Bus, Device, Function parameters. If I remember correctly it was the same as on my Gigabyte board so you should try this in your HDACFG.INI file:

[HDA]
SEARCH=false
PCI_BUS=$00
PCI_DEVICE=$1B
PCI_FUNCTION=$00
PCI_VID=$8086
PCI_DID=$8C20

First time you should not use the HDAICOUT.HDA file, just check if you get any sound. If not then you should make a proper HDAICOUT.HDA file for yourself. As a starting point you should use my Realtek ALC1150 based one.
Realtek codecs work similar but unfortunately there are some differences.

The first thing you should do when preparing your HDAICOUT.HDA file is to determine the address of your codec since the 1st byte of the verbs in HDAICOUT.HDA denotes the most significant byte of the codec address.
I attach a DOS utility (UNMUTE.EXE) that can show you the right address. According to its result you should modify all the verbs in HDAICOUT.HDA by replacing the '02' values (to 00, 01 etc. depending on your codec address).
So if your address is 0x00000000 then your HDAICOUT.HDA verbs should look like this:

$001F7700; CODEC RESET
$000F0000;
$000F0002;
$000F0004;
$000F0006;
$00170500;Power up!
...

But if your address is 0x10000000 then your HDAICOUT.HDA verbs should look like this:

$101F7700; CODEC RESET
$100F0000;
$100F0002;
$100F0004;
$100F0006;
$10170500;Power up!
...

@Edit:
I forgot to mention but after you modified your HDACFG.INI to reference the right HD Audio device and run Win 3.x without HDAICOUT.HDA you should get a new section in your HDACFG.INI:
[HDA_8C208086,xxxxxxxx]

The 'x's are not literal 'x's but can vary depending on your system. The important is that HDA_8C208086 is your right device. Then in this section you should modify the relevant parts. That is:
SleepingWidget=$02
VolumeWidget=$02
OutputWidget=$02

AFAIK all common Realtek codecs work with these widget values.

PS:
If you still cannot get sound then I'm afraid I cannot help more since I do not have your hardware to experiment with.

Falcosoft wrote on 2025-11-05, 11:38:

Hi, Why have you removed your previous post? It was helpful since it clearly showed the PCI Bus, Device, Function parameters. […]
Show full quote

Lualb wrote on 2025-11-04, 18:29:

Hi! I've just started my vacation and have more time to dedicate to my hobbies! First of all, I'd like to tell you that all this time I was misled by the motherboard's integrated sound specifications, and it's not a Realtek ALC662 as stated in the manual, but rather a Realtek ALC897 according to more extensive hardware testing

Hi,
Why have you removed your previous post? It was helpful since it clearly showed the PCI Bus, Device, Function parameters. If I remember correctly it was the same as on my Gigabyte board so you should try this in your HDACFG.INI file:

[HDA]
SEARCH=false
PCI_BUS=$00
PCI_DEVICE=$1B
PCI_FUNCTION=$00
PCI_VID=$8086
PCI_DID=$8C20

First time you should not use the HDAICOUT.HDA file, just check if you get any sound. If not then you should make a proper HDAICOUT.HDA file for yourself. As a starting point you should use my Realtek ALC1150 based one.
Realtek codecs work similar but unfortunately there are some differences.

The first thing you should do when preparing your HDAICOUT.HDA file is to determine the address of your codec since the 1st byte of the verbs in HDAICOUT.HDA denotes the most significant byte of the codec address.
I attach a DOS utility (UNMUTE.EXE) that can show you the right address. According to its result you should modify all the verbs in HDAICOUT.HDA by replacing the '02' values (to 00, 01 etc. depending on your codec address).
So if your address is 0x00000000 then your HDAICOUT.HDA verbs should look like this:

$001F7700; CODEC RESET
$000F0000;
$000F0002;
$000F0004;
$000F0006;
$00170500;Power up!
...

But if your address is 0x10000000 then your HDAICOUT.HDA verbs should look like this:

$101F7700; CODEC RESET
$100F0000;
$100F0002;
$100F0004;
$100F0006;
$10170500;Power up!
...

The attachment UNMUTE.zip is no longer available

The attachment unmute.jpg is no longer available

@Edit:
I forgot to mention but after you modified your HDACFG.INI to reference the right HD Audio device and run Win 3.x without HDAICOUT.HDA you should get a new section in your HDACFG.INI:
[HDA_8C208086,xxxxxxxx]

The 'x's are not literal 'x's but can vary depending on your system. The important is that HDA_8C208086 is your right device. Then in this section you should modify the relevant parts. That is:
SleepingWidget=$02
VolumeWidget=$02
OutputWidget=$02

AFAIK all common Realtek codecs work with these widget values.

PS:
If you still cannot get sound then I'm afraid I cannot help more since I do not have your hardware to experiment with.

Hi! I wanted to let you know that I now have sound working on Windows, and as you told me, I modified HDAICOUT.HDA, whose codec address is 0x30000000... Yes, thank you!

Lualb wrote on 2025-11-05, 17:41:

Hi! I wanted to let you know that I now have sound working on Windows, and as you told me, I modified HDAICOUT.HDA, whose codec address is 0x30000000... Yes, thank you!

Nice! I'm glad it worked.

Falcosoft wrote on 2025-10-30, 07:54:

ddd […]
Show full quote

AM_PM wrote on 2025-10-30, 02:54:

... starting up Windows with the driver takes more than 45 seconds with a busy mouse cursor as it tries to load the audio until finally hearing the tada and seeing Program Manager. Ahow to fix this problem.

ddd

You can reduce the wait time by modifying the wait values in HDACFG.INI. E.g:
[HDA_8CA08086,A1821458]
cardmemregistersLO=$0000
cardmemregistersHI=$F743
Mytimer=1
Verbinterface=$1
wait1=$010
wait2=$010
...

AM_PM wrote on 2025-10-30, 02:54:

This whole ordeal has been puzzling. HDADRV9J/K/L driver files have a lot of files in them that don't actually get used and that confused me as for why it's there.
...

Those other files are the Delphi/Pascal source files for the project(s). They are not needed for the driver to work but with the help of them you can modify the driver for your like. Delphi 1 is needed to compile them.

PS:
For better overall performance you should try PluMGMK's VESA video driver. The faster the GUI the better the audio performance.
https://github.com/PluMGMK/vbesvga.drv/releases

Thanks for the reply. Changing the wait1= values didn't make a difference. I tried some other values too but no luck.

Ahh I see, they were source files. Usually such compiling files are separate zipped downloads. It's not a problem that they were included but that it wasn't properly documented hence confusion!

Oh by the way I am already using the VBESVGA driver! Looks great to use 3.1 with it. But sadly it doesn't seem to have an effect on the audio issue here.

AM_PM wrote on 2025-11-06, 01:52:

Thanks for the reply. Changing the wait1= values didn't make a difference. I tried some other values too but no luck.

Changing the wait values should have an effect, but only in the right section.
As you can see in the posts above in case of multiple Intel HDA devices multiple sections are created by the driver. Make sure you modify the right one.
You can see in my test video how much the waiting time can be reduced:
https://youtu.be/KWqJo5-6hnQ

Falcosoft wrote on 2025-11-06, 04:08:

Changing the wait values should have an effect, but only in the right section. As you can see in the posts above in case of mul […]
Show full quote

AM_PM wrote on 2025-11-06, 01:52:

Thanks for the reply. Changing the wait1= values didn't make a difference. I tried some other values too but no luck.

Changing the wait values should have an effect, but only in the right section.
As you can see in the posts above in case of multiple Intel HDA devices multiple sections are created by the driver. Make sure you modify the right one.
You can see in my test video how much the waiting time can be reduced:
https://youtu.be/KWqJo5-6hnQ

Hmm I checked it (and compared it to yours, in the video description) and my one looks to have only one HDA device and only a single [HDA 123...] part in the config file. And yeah that's where I put the 'wait' values.

AM_PM wrote on 2025-11-06, 18:32:

Falcosoft wrote on 2025-11-06, 04:08:

Changing the wait values should have an effect, but only in the right section. As you can see in the posts above in case of mul […]
Show full quote

AM_PM wrote on 2025-11-06, 01:52:

Thanks for the reply. Changing the wait1= values didn't make a difference. I tried some other values too but no luck.

Changing the wait values should have an effect, but only in the right section.
As you can see in the posts above in case of multiple Intel HDA devices multiple sections are created by the driver. Make sure you modify the right one.
You can see in my test video how much the waiting time can be reduced:
https://youtu.be/KWqJo5-6hnQ

Hmm I checked it (and compared it to yours, in the video description) and my one looks to have only one HDA device and only a single [HDA 123...] part in the config file. And yeah that's where I put the 'wait' values.

And you get exactly the same waiting time when you modify from default wait1=$100, wait2=$100 to wait1=$010, wait2=$010 ?
That's strange and definitely not what I experienced.

Long waiting times can also be attributed to long list of verbs in HDAICOUT.HDA.
The verbs in default HDAICOUT.HDA aim blindly and try to enable all kinds of devices/nodes so the list is unnecessarily long. Try to shorten it according to your codec's documentation (or by trial and error).

Falcosoft wrote on 2025-11-06, 18:58:

And you get exactly the same waiting time when you modify from default wait1=$100, wait2=$100 to wait1=$010, wait2=$010 ? That' […]
Show full quote

And you get exactly the same waiting time when you modify from default wait1=$100, wait2=$100 to wait1=$010, wait2=$010 ?
That's strange and definitely not what I experienced.

Long waiting times can also be attributed to long list of verbs in HDAICOUT.HDA.
The verbs in default HDAICOUT.HDA aim blindly and try to enable all kinds of devices/nodes so the list is unnecessarily long. Try to shorten it according to your codec's documentation (or by trial and error).

Interesting. Well I took a look at my HDAICOUT.HDA and there were so many "Power up!" lines. Comparing it with yours, clearly my output was very long.

So I blindly tried to make a change, deleting all but one of those lines, and it ended up in Windows not booting the Progman at all (after the busy cursor it turns to a normal cursor, but no sound and no GUI starting). I've since restored the original file.

Here I have pasted my HDAICOUT file as it is: https://pastebin.com/3xrrZnRn. Any clues in there?

AM_PM wrote on 2025-11-06, 19:48:

Interesting. Well I took a look at my HDAICOUT.HDA and there were so many "Power up!" lines. Comparing it with yours, clearly my […]
Show full quote

Falcosoft wrote on 2025-11-06, 18:58:

And you get exactly the same waiting time when you modify from default wait1=$100, wait2=$100 to wait1=$010, wait2=$010 ? That' […]
Show full quote

And you get exactly the same waiting time when you modify from default wait1=$100, wait2=$100 to wait1=$010, wait2=$010 ?
That's strange and definitely not what I experienced.

Long waiting times can also be attributed to long list of verbs in HDAICOUT.HDA.
The verbs in default HDAICOUT.HDA aim blindly and try to enable all kinds of devices/nodes so the list is unnecessarily long. Try to shorten it according to your codec's documentation (or by trial and error).

Interesting. Well I took a look at my HDAICOUT.HDA and there were so many "Power up!" lines. Comparing it with yours, clearly my output was very long.

So I blindly tried to make a change, deleting all but one of those lines, and it ended up in Windows not booting the Progman at all (after the busy cursor it turns to a normal cursor, but no sound and no GUI starting). I've since restored the original file.

Here I have pasted my HDAICOUT file as it is: https://pastebin.com/3xrrZnRn. Any clues in there?

You have not mentioned so far what HD audio device you have. Anyway in the strict sense HDAICOUT.HDA is not required to load the driver. In the worst case it should result in no audio but no freezing.
So try to remove the HDAICOUT.HDA file temporarily from the Windows folder and compare the boot times. If it is the same long boot then it makes no sense to play with HDAICOUT.HDA.

Falcosoft wrote on 2025-11-06, 20:03:

AM_PM wrote on 2025-11-06, 19:48:

Interesting. Well I took a look at my HDAICOUT.HDA and there were so many "Power up!" lines. Comparing it with yours, clearly my […]
Show full quote

Falcosoft wrote on 2025-11-06, 18:58:

And you get exactly the same waiting time when you modify from default wait1=$100, wait2=$100 to wait1=$010, wait2=$010 ? That' […]
Show full quote

And you get exactly the same waiting time when you modify from default wait1=$100, wait2=$100 to wait1=$010, wait2=$010 ?
That's strange and definitely not what I experienced.

Long waiting times can also be attributed to long list of verbs in HDAICOUT.HDA.
The verbs in default HDAICOUT.HDA aim blindly and try to enable all kinds of devices/nodes so the list is unnecessarily long. Try to shorten it according to your codec's documentation (or by trial and error).

Interesting. Well I took a look at my HDAICOUT.HDA and there were so many "Power up!" lines. Comparing it with yours, clearly my output was very long.

So I blindly tried to make a change, deleting all but one of those lines, and it ended up in Windows not booting the Progman at all (after the busy cursor it turns to a normal cursor, but no sound and no GUI starting). I've since restored the original file.

Here I have pasted my HDAICOUT file as it is: https://pastebin.com/3xrrZnRn. Any clues in there?

You have not mentioned so far what HD audio device you have. Anyway in the strict sense HDAICOUT.HDA is not required to load the driver. In the worst case it should result in no audio but no freezing.
So try to remove the HDAICOUT.HDA file temporarily from the Windows folder and compare the boot times. If it is the same long boot then it makes no sense to play with HDAICOUT.HDA.

Realtek ALC272. I just did what you requested and it's the same long boot time! Sound still fine yeah, it's definitely loading the driver causing it.