Windows 10 reinstall - driver questions (Predator PO3-600)

haiarn

(Seems I've accidentally posted this first in PREDATOR LAPTOPS so reposting here...)

I have a Predator PO3-600 (https://www.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/support-product/7712?b=1&pn=DG.E1BEQ.00A&sn=02600025518) and I just did a clean install of Windows 10 and everything seems to be working quite OK, but I'm a bit uncertain whether I should try to install the drivers provided at the support site and which ones... Here's what I have done so far:

After the clean install, I had some unrecognized devices in the Device Manager. From the drivers available at the support site for this model, I installed "Chipset Driver", "IRST (Intel® Rapid Storage Technology) Driver", Card Reader Driver (RealTek). Chipset Driver did seem to fix the problem with the unrecognized devices. The next "problem" was with the Realtek Audio drivers... Before the clean install I recall that I did have Realtek components and software installed. So I manually installed Realtek drivers and the audio utility but I couldn't get the audio utility to show up - it didn't even turn up in the Realtek program directory (C:\Program Files (x86)\Realtek\Audio). (Tried following the instructions given in this thread: https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/588107/if-you-have-realtek-audio-problems-or-want-new-realtek-audio-drivers-follow-this). Only then I noticed that Windows had probably recognized some components and automatically installed drivers as Device Manager showed "Creative Audio Effects Component" and "Sound Blaster Connect". The sound does work, so no problem there, but the question is should I be using the Realtek audio utility instead? I'm not sure if Sound Blaster Connect is even working properly - if I launch the app and try to change the settings, I don't recognize any difference in the sound...

So to recap my lengthy "question" - what should I do with the drivers in this situation? Any recommendations regarding the drivers in general and specifically the sound drivers? Here's a screen capture of the Device Manger if this sheds any light on the issue.

Thanks!

billsey

It looks to me like you are good to go with the versions MS installed for you.

Joe9844

You somehow installed the realtek driver incorrectly. No realtek software components mean no realtek audio console.

Your computer model's driver page clearly has realtek audio console (it is called audio utility in the webpage). You have to use the setup.exe or similarly named installer. After you see the realtek software components in your device manager, run Microsoft store to pull the realtek audio console app.

Then run my tutorial and update your driver to 6.0.9057.1 and 1.20.235.0 audio console.