Windows 10: Realtek Audio Driver - Add Legacy Hardware causes crash help please.

My Realtek suddenly vanished after restart. I couldn't find a fix so I uninstalled it then reinstalled it but when it restarted my pc it didn't do anything. I have no audio without Realtek hd audio manager. I can't find it anywhere not in my C/programfiles/realtek not in device manager not in control panel. I've reinstalled the hd manager like 20 times and every time does nothing. The one place I found the name Realtek was in device manager, add legacy hardware but when I tried to add it my system would blue screen every time without fail. I have no idea how to fix it where I can reinstall it

:)

 

Realtek Audio Driver - Add Legacy Hardware causes BSOD

Your motherboard is almost new. Legacy drivers are for out of date hardware.

It looks like the Realtek driver is not installed, and trying to install a Legacy driver from Realtek is very likely to cause BSOD

if the driver installs at all.

It's best to use the driver provided by the mfg of your motherboard.

(Realtek point this out on their download pages - or still did a couple of years ago).

While you are at the ASUS download page also download and install any other newer driver versions that may be available.

If you continue having BSOD with the Realtek driver installed also update the BIOS if a newer version is available.

PRIME H370M-PLUS｜Motherboards｜ASUS USA

- After you get the driver sorted out, go over the Sound settings and make sure Speakers are set to default.

(assuming you are using the speaker output on the machine. External speakers in monitors\TV use HDMI or Displayport for audio

via Nvidia HD Audio, which comes with your Nvidia graphics drivers)

 

Realtek Audio Driver - Add Legacy Hardware causes BSOD

Hi Riley,

Thank you for posting to Microsoft Community.

I understand that you are facing an issue with your Realtek Audio Driver. In order to get clarity and to assist you accordingly, please reply with the answers to the questions below.

1. What is the make and model of your motherboard?
2. Which build of Windows 10 is running on your system? To check that, click on
   Start, type winver and press Enter.
3. Was there any major change or an update on your system, prior to which you weren’t facing this issue?
4. Is the audio currently not working in your system without the Realtek Audio driver?
5. What is the error code or message that you received when you got the BSOD?

The error Code 10 in Device Manager usually occurs when
the device's hardware key contains a "FailReasonString" value and the value string displays an error message defined by the hardware manufacturer. If the hardware key does not contain a “FailReasonString” value, the message
above is displayed. I would suggest you to follow the methods below and check if it works for you.

Method 1: Check by enabling ‘Show hidden devices’ in Device Manager.

1. Press the Windows key and R key, this will open the
   Run dialogue box for you.
2. Type devmgmt.msc and press Enter. This will open the
   Device Manager for you.
3. Click on View and select Show hidden devices.
4. Now, expand Sound, video and game controllers and check if your audio driver is grayed out. If so, right-click on it and check if you are able to
   Update the driver.
5. If you are unable to update the driver, Uninstall it.
   
6. You will receive an Uninstall Device prompt, click on the check box to
   Delete the driver software for this device and Restart the system. Upon restart the Windows 10 will automatically install the driver that is compatible with your system.
7. Once the system is restarted, check if the audio is working. If not, please follow ‘Method 2’.

Method 2: Install the audio driver from the motherboard’s manufacturer website.

After you have uninstalled all the audio drivers in your system, I would suggest you to download and install the Realtek Audio Driver from the Motherboard’s manufacturer website. Once the installation is complete, please restart
the system and check if you are able to hear the audio.

If the issue still persists, please include a
screenshot
of the 'Device Manager' with 'Sound, video and game controllers' and 'Audio inputs and outputs' expanded. We will look into this for you.

Note: Please make sure to not capture any personally identifiable information within your screenshot.

We await your response.

Aaron Summith

Microsoft Community – Moderator

 

Realtek audio drivers causing crashes on some systems

TL;DR - Tracked a crashing issue down to realtek audio driver. Generic windows 10 HD audio driver works fine. I'm wondering if anyone has encountered a similar issue. (Or maybe this info can be helpful to others doing troubleshooting)

This seems to be linked to a strange file included in the realtek audio driver package - mbfilt64.sys

It's signed by Creative Technologies (Not Realtek!) and is very old - Dated 2009 according to it's signature! This file is distributed even in the very latest Realtek driver packages.

I've got an MSI Z97 Gaming 5 motherboard which includes the Realtek ALC1150 chip

For a while I'd been having very infrequent crashes. Maybe once every few weeks- A freeze, followed by a bluescreen and a reboot. Never during games. Always during streaming video. Running windows 8.1

About two weeks ago I installed a new NVME M.2 SSD and did a clean install windows 10.. And the crashing increased to once every few days.

Ok, So I'm thinking I've got a hardware or RAM issue.. OCCT runs for 8 hours, no problem. Prime95 - No problem. Ran Memtest for 24 hours. Again, no problem. Crashes only occur while streaming video.

Next, I ran Driver verifier using the following instructions

Redirecting

Immediately crashed on boot (Had to boot in to safe mode to disable verifier) - Crash dumps immediately pointed mbfilt64.sys, which I verified belonged to the realtek HD audio driver using the device manager (Listed under driver details)

I uninstalled the Realtek package and let windows revert to the generic HD audio driver - Less optimal solution as you don't have the ability to configure audio jack options without the control panel. I have, though, been crash free
ever since.

Googling for "mbfilt64.sys" I found lots of people reporting random crashes similar to mine, with mbfilt64.sys being listed in system info dumps. Also lots of advice to update audio drivers because of mbfilt64.sys's old 2009 timestamp

Problem is, there is only one version of this file and it's distributed with even the lastest Realtek driver packages available.

I've got a hunch this driver is causing problems on some people's systems. I don't know what triggers the bug. Maybe it's specific to the ALC1150. Maybe it's something else.

It's odd that there is a creative signed driver being distributed with Realtek audio software, but I vaguely recall some creative branded something or other being sold with motherboards that had realtek chips (Some sort of software
enhancement) I also know that Realtek packages branded features for some motherboard manufacturers. - If you install the driver package, downloaded from Realtek's web page, on a system with an MSI motherboard (like the one I list above) then the control panel
will have MSI branding.

It's possible that this creative signed driver
mbfilt64.sys only gets installed under specific circumstances. Looking at the laptop I'm posting now I see that it has a realtek audio chip.. But the offending creative driver is not present under the device manager.