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Fixing sound performance on an Acer laptop

January 23, 2007 By Chris Corrigan Uncategorized 57 Comments

I bought a new laptop last Friday – and Acer Aspire 5570 – and I’m finally happy with it, but it took a few days.   THere was an annoying problem with poor sound and DVD performance, that seemed as if there was a big elephant hoggin memory somewhere.   I tried dozens of solutions and finally found this guy, who tried everything I did too, except he solved the problem:

What I did to fix it was to go to the HARDWARE part under the SYSTEM options (Control Painel). Under the IDE Controllers part I had PRIMARY IDE and the INTEL one. What I did was right click and select UNINSTALL on the IDE one… When I rebooted the whole machine was way faster, specially sound playback. Under the IDE Controllers I still get the same icons (Primary IDE and the Intel one) but I’m 100% sure that this was the cause of the fix.

It worked for me as well, and everything just hums now.

[tags] Acer, Aspire, sound problems[/tags]

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57 Comments

Newer comments
  1. Carman says:
    January 23, 2007 at 5:05 am

    Hate to be a predictable marketing snob here Chris, but that you didn’t buy a Mac is rather disappointing…. cheers, cp

  2. Chris Corrigan says:
    January 23, 2007 at 9:19 pm

    For decades now, Apple people have said to me “The Mac is so intuitve.” I heartily believe them.

    But when your first PC was an 8088 with two 5″ floppy drives, purchased second hand in 1987, you get pretty set in your ways. For twenty years I’ve owned PCs. Even with everything Mac has to offer, there’s nothing intuitive about them. Buying my second Acer was like putting on an old pair of jeans, but with that new jeans smell.

    🙂

  3. Tamara says:
    March 3, 2007 at 11:53 am

    I just bough the same laptop and I compeletly agree about the sound. It almost sounds robotic at times.

    Can you please give me more detailed instructions on how to fix this?!

    Thanks a lot!!

  4. Chris Corrigan says:
    March 4, 2007 at 1:16 pm

    Well, I can’t be any more detailed that what is in the post. Those are pretty clear instructions. If you want more details perhaps follow the link to the forum. But really, this procedure above takes about two minutes INCLUDING the re boot.

  5. Ben says:
    March 29, 2007 at 10:39 am

    Your a genious. Problem was causing me very bad sound distortion as well as modem trouble. Uninstalled the Primary IDE, restarted and hey presto it worked fine.

  6. shirley says:
    February 4, 2008 at 11:59 am

    HI JUST UNINSTALLED THE IDE CONTROLLER ON MY ACER 1640 BECAUSE I’VE HAD CRAP SOUND FOR AGES, IT TOOK 2 MINUTES & THE PROBLEM IS SORTED, THANKS A MILLION.

  7. Chris Corrigan says:
    February 5, 2008 at 12:06 pm

    Excellent…I’m glad people are finding this fix helpful.

  8. biodun says:
    February 19, 2008 at 7:16 am

    i formated my system and i was unable to hear sound from it after the new instalation

  9. fred says:
    April 30, 2008 at 11:34 pm

    cant seem tofind the exact IDE controllers talked about under hardware in control panel

    anybody help

  10. James Craig says:
    May 23, 2008 at 9:08 am

    Thanks Chris – this fixed my sound and slow start up probem, but after I switch off and then switch on again later, the problem returns until I uninstall Primary IDE again. Is there a permanent fix?
    It looks like Acer have a serious problem.

  11. mike says:
    August 3, 2008 at 10:09 am

    just tried the above fix and it’s worked a treat. all audio playback now sorted – mp3, cd, websites, you tube etc….

    THANKS!

  12. michael says:
    October 5, 2008 at 11:53 pm

    i have problem about my Aspire 5315-2713 sound when i open a YM or a online game. my sound also my mic is cut. those over use of laptop has a connection to this problem?

  13. tommy says:
    October 30, 2008 at 1:56 pm

    This finally fixed my problem! Thank you! I’m not sure if it’s a related issue, but I started noticing the problem when I installed Itunes7.

  14. Nick, Cork says:
    November 26, 2008 at 4:40 pm

    Incredible. I am fixing an Acer Aspire 1640 for a friend who inherited it from his father who got rid of it because the sound was unusable and the CD/DVD was suspect. I upgraded his RAM from 512 to 2 Gig to make a proper PC of it, upgraded to XP SP3, installed AVG, but the sound problem had me beaten. I have loaded and reloaded the Realtec drivers about 4 times. I had even lined up a replacement DVD drive on eBay. Then I found this thread. Five minutes later, and 2 reboots – all was fixed. The sound is perfect. The DVD works. Thanks for the advice.

  15. Chris Corrigan says:
    November 26, 2008 at 7:32 pm

    Glad this works for you. I know how relieved I was when I found the solution.

  16. Horace says:
    January 8, 2009 at 9:51 am

    Thank you very much for the solution.
    This inspired me to find the solution on an Acer Aspire 7720: There are no more IDE controllers but ATA.
    I reinstalled ATA but wasn’t enough so I disabled devices that used the same IRQ as the High Definifion Audio (see System Information) and it worked! Sound problem fixed!
    But you were right it has to be the IDE or just say IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers.

    This is the full story to fix sound distortion on Acer Aspire 7720:

    Part I
    -Reinstall ATA/ATAPI controllers, SATA AHCI Controller, Ultra ATA Storage Controllers
    -you need to restart
    -Enable / Check if enabled Ultra DMA on IDE/ATA controllers
    -Install (or update) all above drivers (original, WHQL)
    -Check if all System Devices are installed (a fresh Windows doesn’t install all of them correctly!!
    ->check manumacturer drivers: a lot of Intel and Microsoft drivers)

    If still not working try the following:

    Part II
    -Look for resources conflicts/sharing in system information => disable devices that use same IRQ as audio -controller, look in device manager for IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers.
    -Disable Memory controllers (sticks, SD/MMC, xD-Picture Card …)
    => At this stage there is no more sound distortion (play an mp3 in WMP or something to confirm)
    -restart Windows to see if sound is still ok
    –> enable the disabled devices => normally no more sound distortion.

    For IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers
    The order of installation is important:
    1. High Def Audio Device
    2. Memory controllers (sticks, SD/MMC, xD-Picture Card …)

    This worked for me (Part II is most important)

    Horace

  17. Michelle says:
    March 3, 2009 at 5:37 pm

    I can not Thank you enough! I’m back in business 🙂

    1. Chris Corrigan says:
      March 3, 2009 at 10:21 pm

      You are most welcome. I’m glad this post has been useful to folks.

  18. Domonique says:
    March 4, 2009 at 8:18 pm

    Hey Chris,

    I have been trying to follow your instructions regarding the sound problem but my thing is I have 2 IDE channels under the IDE ATA/ATAPI control list and one Intel channel. One is at 0 channel and the other is set to channel 1. Which Ide channel should I install?

    I have lost complete sound in my Acer laptop. I have tried to update the drivers and computer says its current and working fine but still no sound.

    Any suggestions would be very helpful

  19. Chris Corrigan says:
    March 5, 2009 at 12:01 am

    Got me…since I posted this I’ve moved on from Acer machines and have Toshiba now. Perhaps others will help you.

  20. victor says:
    March 19, 2009 at 3:26 pm

    hi,

    thanks!! exellent!! the solution work 100%

  21. alex says:
    April 23, 2009 at 4:11 am

    dominique uninstall the primary channel the at 0

  22. barry says:
    May 4, 2009 at 3:56 pm

    Hi, Chris
    I can’t believe how easy your fix was, and what a remarkable difference it made in the performance of my Acer Aspire laptop. LIke night and day difference! I was about ready to trash the darned thing, it was totally useless for playing back sound. I even called Acer about it– why they wouldn’t have this solution is beyond me
    Anyway, you another VERY satisfed customer!
    Thanks

  23. Serena says:
    June 9, 2009 at 12:31 am

    Hey Chris!

    I have an Acer Aspire One mostly for taking notes in class but it crashed last semester and shortly after I had AWFUL sound problems, especially when watching video. This totally worked! Thanks so much!!!

    Also, for any who have a total of three channels like me (I have the intel, a primary, and a secondary) I only uninstalled the primary. =]

  24. Jenny says:
    June 21, 2009 at 2:42 pm

    Well I uninstalled the Primary channel about 100 times since I first got these tips back in March and my sound is still distorted and robotic sounding and I have an Aceer Aspire one

  25. Marce says:
    June 30, 2009 at 6:16 am

    this guy is a genious. did the same thing after my audio was running slow in any application and it was fixed. thanks.

  26. Wild Bill says:
    June 30, 2009 at 11:35 am

    Wow, it worked right away!!! Thanx a million. You’re THE MAN!!!

  27. Jaime says:
    July 17, 2009 at 9:13 am

    Thanks so much I have an acer aspire one and the sound was distorted thought i would have to send it in to get fixed but figured i would try your way first. I’m so glad I did it worked and didn’t take long at all and it also starts up so much faster thanks again

  28. Alfie says:
    July 27, 2009 at 4:28 pm

    The most thorough and informative information I have found. Enjoyed it immensely.

  29. Ahmar says:
    August 13, 2009 at 3:13 am

    My ACER4630z has not detected the sound driver. there is no sound

  30. Paul says:
    August 26, 2009 at 5:14 pm

    quick question.. did u install it back again?.. or just disabled it?..

    1. Chris Corrigan says:
      August 28, 2009 at 8:42 am

      Just disable it, if I recall. I can’t believe that after all this time, Acer computers are still suffering this fate!

  31. Eric says:
    September 13, 2009 at 8:30 pm

    thank you!!! I stopped using my acer laptop until now.. thank very much ^^

  32. just me says:
    September 22, 2009 at 3:25 pm

    Hello….my 5720Z Acer Aspire sound is awful:(

    The only “Controllers” my laptop finds is “Game Controllers”,help me to get rid of this problem asap and i will send u a beer using UPS:D

  33. Chris Corrigan says:
    September 22, 2009 at 6:23 pm

    Look at the hardware list again. There will be an IDE controllers line. That is the one you want.

  34. just me says:
    September 23, 2009 at 2:05 am

    First i own an Acer Aspire 5720Z.

    Found ATA/ATAPI controllers:

    first – ATA Channel 1
    second – IDE Channel
    third – Intel……..
    fourth – Intel ….
    ……………..
    Total 7 controllers

    ATA Channel 1 appeared after ive unistalled the first IDE Channel in the list and restart but no change to the sound:(

    Right now if i unistall the ATA Channel 1 and restart,computer will reinstall it.Ive unistalled the second IDE Channel and after restart the list changed into:

    first ATA Channel 0
    second ATA Channel 1

    but the sound remains the same!

    Am i doing something wrong?

  35. just me again says:
    September 23, 2009 at 6:38 am

    my problem comes from the cpu,when the cpu usage is high (close to 100%)than the sound is terrible….when is normal…you can really listen to music….but most of the time the cpu usage is high…ive disabled some startup programs,done a little cleaning and … big difference!

  36. just me again says:
    September 23, 2009 at 6:41 am

    And Chis the sound is better but i still want to try your method because the sound is not 100% like it should be!

    Looking forward to your help:d

  37. Chris Corrigan says:
    September 23, 2009 at 1:40 pm

    Well…my solution was for a computer I bought and set up three years ago, so things might have changed. Perhaps you’ll have to dive into Google like I did to find a new fix.

  38. Ricky says:
    November 7, 2009 at 7:11 am

    Chris
    I had the same recurring issue on my Aspire One notebook – after doing a complete system re-install, it came back again. Your solution has worked – thanks!

    I took the liberty to add some screen shots for those of us who don’t modify the device manager every day – here:
    http://rickynotes.blogspot.com/2009/10/acer-aspire-one.html

    Thanks again!

  39. Lisa says:
    November 21, 2009 at 12:40 am

    I’m running Windows 7 and under IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers I have four items:

    ATA Channel 0
    ATA Channel 1
    Intel(R) ICH8M Ultra ATA Storage Controllers – 2850
    Intel(R) ICH8M-E/M SATA AHCI Controller

    Could you please tell me whch to uninstall. Thanks

  40. Chris Corrigan says:
    November 22, 2009 at 9:02 pm

    Sorry Lisa…I have a Mac now. Perhaps others will help you here.

  41. Apaulas says:
    December 3, 2009 at 9:11 pm

    HOLY S*** I tried everything possible to fix my sound problem to no avail. This was so easy. Unfortunately I had a disk check scheduled when I rebooted so it took about an hour before I could test this fix and Kaboom! it worked. Chris I could almost kiss you you’ve made me that happy. Now I can use my Acer as my car stereo. You ROCK! I normally don’t leave comments but you deserve a BIG thank you. THANKS.

  42. Chris Corrigan says:
    December 4, 2009 at 1:14 am

    You’re welcome Apaulas! Kisses back!

  43. Ezra Shapiro says:
    December 8, 2009 at 4:25 am

    Brilliant – deleting the Primary IDE Channel worked for me. Thanks!

  44. Jim Wakeham says:
    December 12, 2009 at 5:14 am

    Thank you.. Legend…

    I would never have ever tried this, you have successfully outgeeked every website I have looked on for a week.

    Thank u again..

  45. Vicks says:
    December 25, 2009 at 8:37 am

    Hi Chris & others,
    This is Vicky from India. After using Toshiba, Fujitsu and Dell for last 5 years, first time I went for ACER and recently bought ACER aspire notebook.

    Unfortunately, right from day one I am facing exactly same problem mentioned by many of people here – distorrted sound and system getting slow after playing video/mp3.

    Tried many solutions. Nothing worked. ACER service center responses are pathetic. Pissed off now.

    Tried procedure suggested above.
    I could find total 6 entries under IDE/ATA ATAPI controller list.-
    2 no of Intel controllers
    2 no of Primary IDE channel
    2 no of Secondary channel
    As suggested above, i uninstalled primary one. But after reboot windows is again installing it. And The problem persists.
    Can anybody tell me what exactly should I do to get rid of this problem?? I will be very thankful…

  46. neeraj says:
    February 9, 2010 at 11:34 am

    God bless you…man! 🙂

  47. Dag Arne says:
    February 17, 2010 at 8:09 am

    Helped me out with my brothers slowbooting aspire 1640, done in less then a minute !! Tried many sharewareprograms like ashampo winoptimzer etc. but they didnt help.
    Thanks a lot 😉

  48. Charmaine says:
    March 3, 2010 at 2:14 pm

    Hi Chris,

    I didn’t work for me. My sound is still with a cross. i removed the IDE and when i rebooted it installed ata automatically. but still to no avail. I nearly tried everything. It has been two motnhs now but to no avail

  49. chandranil says:
    December 9, 2010 at 2:12 am

    hey chris, i am from Kolkata, India and I,m a bengali. I have did the same thing on my Acer Aspire 5572 but nothing happened!

    please help me.

    in bengali: aamaar shaahaajo kauro. [please help me].

    Dhonnobaad [thank you]

    but the chaacters are different in bengali.

  50. chandranil says:
    December 9, 2010 at 2:13 am

    🙂 🙂

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