SiS 7012 Driver Reviews

Windows apparently keeps "Hardware Profiles" THROUGH a FULL, CLEAN INSTALL, so I guess they're saved to the BIOS or something; when you install XP, it will read your hardware profiles and find the (probably) OLD SIS driver info, and automatically install it, thus placing that "Display Name" in the Registry, which blocks you from installing the new version. You HAVE to delete this key. Also note if you have multiple profiles, you'll need to delete the key in EACH of them (they'll be listed as CurrentControlSet000, etc.)

1- Make sure you HAVE downloaded the SIS7012 or 7018 driver onto your PC and its unzipped so you can get to it easily (I put mine in my Downloads/SisDriver). Although you probably CAN update after you get rid of the old reg key, I like to be safe.

2- Do Regedit here:

H_KEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CURRENTCONTROLSET/SERVICES and DELETE the ENTIRE SIS7018 and/or SIS7012 keys (just those obvious relevant numbers though, other SIS stuff seems to be okay - for some reason, mine was 7018 even though its a 7012 driver... dunno why).

3- Go into Control Panel>System>Device Manager - remove/uninstall the generic sounding Audio Control Driver or whatever its called, the one that XP "thinks" is the SIS driver.

4- Go to the Add/Remove Programs menu and wipe out any SIS Audio Drivers that may have (partially) gotten installed.

5- Reboot

6- When XP "finds" your Audio Sound Card, DO NOT let it automatically install the best driver, but instead select the "install from a specific location" and browse to the folder where you unzipped the driver files, and into the XP subfolder and click OK. In a few seconds, you'll hear a "pop", signifying you have SOUND again!

Note that as long as you delete the old SIS key from the registry, updating from Windows Update or other online source will probably work, but I wasn't taking any chances and it worked fine for me by installing from the file on my PC - but again, you probably COULD let it automatically install it from the net, once the key is gone from the Registry.

Good luck to everyone else, hope this helps!"