All the basic steps have been taken, including reloading the AC97 driver (only XP compatible) from mfg site. Hardware shows good in DM, and M$ FixIt utility shows all is well with the config. The computer – Gateway 4026GZ laptop, which -you guessed it- is designed for the XP OS. It exceeds the min. requirements for Vista, and all else with the Vista install is fine. I experienced the same when installing Ubuntu 9.04LTS 2 OS installs ago. The solution, like Bigfoot, is elusive and not likely to exist. Does anyone have a success story with this issue?
Whomever steps forward to develop a working AC97 driver for the Vista OS (bonus points for Ubuntu), will no doubt be hailed a hero by the masses experiencing the same problem.
