Update Realtek Audio Drivers
Unless you use your PC as nothing more than a glorified typewriter, you would want it to produce sound. The particular piece of hardware or device that enables this is called the sound card. It functions and interacts smoothly with the operating system and other devices through its software component called a driver. When the audio starts getting choppy, garbled with static, or is not coming out at all, that usually means there’s something wrong with the sound card. More often than not the solution involves updating the audio drivers.
Drivers need to be updated every now and then because new applications are constantly cropping up that may demand more capacity from hardware devices. For example, the sound effects and music from a video game released this year may not even playback if the computer the game was installed in has a sound card manufactured five years ago. To keep up, sound card makers release new versions of drivers for particular device models that extend its functionality.
You should take note that sound cards come in two general varieties. One is a small and removable integrated circuit board that plugs into the motherboard and somewhat shaped like a card. The other is a smaller chip or set of chips permanently embedded into the motherboard. Realtek audio devices belong to the latter type. To solve audio issues with Realtek sound cards, you can either disable and bypass it by installing a different removable sound card or update its driver. Realtek audio drivers are free and available for download on the official website.
Before you can download a new driver, you obviously have to know what specific version to get. That means you will have to clearly identify the model of your Realtek sound card as well as the type of operating system you’re using and the motherboard to which the device is embedded. Typically one uses a utility program like a device manager to get this information. It’s important to be accurate about this because compatibility is a major factor with drivers.
As you can see updating a driver can be a daunting and tedious task. Fortunately there are solutions out there on the web. One of them is called Driver Detective from PC Drivers HeadQuarters. This program can practically automate the whole process. It will first scan your computer’s hardware profile, compare it with an extensive database, identify possible device and driver issues, and then display recommendations. Not every PC owner or user can quickly figure out the nuts and bolts of their computer and its operating system. With software such as Driver Detective, you don’t have to feel hopeless in the face of driver-related issues, audio or otherwise.
