Skip to main content.
December 18th, 2006

error -536870397 while installing 7021 sound (alc655) on a sis741 MB

Needed to do a windows XP reinstall (customer had a dead HDD), but when it came time to install various drivers, there were (as often happens) 3 devices that XP couldn’t install.

A quick visit to microsoft.com and I got 2 drivers installed automatically via microsoft updates. I search around for the audio driver and I eventually find what i’m after (from the SiS website).

The sound is builtin on the SiS741 motherboard (AMD). Its called either alc655, or 7021.

Anyway I download, install, but during the install, I get the message: “error -536870397″ in a small window, together with a small icon (a red circle with a white X). I click OK, and the install stops, and the device is not updated in device manager -(

Ok, I look around for other drivers. I find 2 more, but both give the same error.

At some point, I stumble across http://forums.pcworld.co.nz/archive/index.php/t-51738.html

I look through the instructions, And I like what FrankS says on 30/11/2004, and also xxxFarrellxxx on 10/08/2005

But since I don’t see the need to burn a CD, I do it slightly differently:

Firstly, I found I didn’t need to do a registry clean.

Then, instead of inserting a CD, I just have the drivers sitting in a folder on the HDD… and I run the setup program from there.

I eventually get to the point where I cannot find an item (as mentioned in the forum instructions). I reboot at that point, then complete the instructions, and the sound driver is finally installed correctly!

  • Share/Save/Bookmark


If you found this post helpful, please consider donating (I'm not wealthy, so every little bit helps my family):

Posted by Computer Help in Technical

10 Comments »

10 Responses to “error -536870397 while installing 7021 sound (alc655) on a sis741 MB”

  1. sft says:

    im having the same problem!!!!!!

  2. Al says:

    Ok, basically, even SIS messes this up.
    You need to install the Realtek AC’97 WDM driver.
    This is the link
    http://www.download.com/3001-2120_4-10696912.html?spi=38d06dd3308e9bc6c95fd176f7820a40

  3. Argh says:

    I’ve been messing with this stupid onboard sound card for DAYS. C-media drivers wont work, Realtek drivers wont work, and the SIS7012 driver does not work!

    I’ve gotten rid of all the cmedia and realtek driver files from the registry and the WINDOWS folders but NO LUCK, the SIS driver keeps giving me this “the name is already in use” error.

    I’ve checked my services and no such service exists!

    WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH IT?????

    I just want sound. I’m sick and tired of wasting my life fiddling with this crapass built in thing. I’m going to get a cheap card that does it’s job 1000 times better than this shit.

  4. Pejsvidek says:

    Your solution is
    http://www.cmedia.com.tw/?q=en/driver
    It works first try.

  5. Molo 4demoney says:

    -right click “My Computer”
    -click “Manage”,
    -”device manager”
    -right click the Multi-media with a yellow exclamation,update driver,
    -tick on “no,not this time”,
    -tick option with advanced in brackets and press next,
    -select option “Don’t Search. I will choose the driver to install”,then click next,
    -scroll down to “sound,………….” click next and wait.
    -click on “have Disk”,
    -then browse to the folder of your driver,under XP select “SIS7012.inf” click OK.
    -it will give you an error message just click OK or next.
    - Hope it works for you as it did for me.

    Molo Goli,
    South Africa,Pretoria Tshwane.

  6. Chris says:

    Thanks Pejsvidek, that worked awesome!!! I used the last option on that link:

    http://www.cmedia.com.tw/?q=en/driver

    worked like a charm.

    Thanks again!!!

  7. david king says:

    i had a similar problem to this
    the sis site driver scanner told me it was there driver, so i tried to instal it, by using device manager, and the sound was playing back slow?.
    found this site and installed the ac97 codec and got no sound, so i whent to device manager and forced the sis driver onto it and now it works

  8. Joe Turner says:

    @ 5. Molo 4demoney

    This worked an ABSOLUTE treat. I’ve been faffing with Realtek, and C-Media, etc for the good part of an hour..

    Your solution worked immediately, without the need to reboot the PC or anything.

    Thank you very much.

  9. Edwin says:

    hi. i got a same problem but u have to try some in other realtek. probably its realtek R2.14

  10. alfie says:

    Molo 4demoney, thankyou sir. it worked a treat, followed your process step by step. rtake care, god bless

To Reply:

XHTML: You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>