Im having trouble finding a working driver for my sound card, according to everest this is what it is
Intel 82801AA I/O Controller Hub - AC'97 Audio Adapter [B-1]

Id prefer an official driver but at the moment i dont really care as long as it works
because my driver currently has a problem
it works for the 98 startup sound
it works when playing files in vlc
it does not work when playing files with wmp6.4/9 or mplayerc

This is incomplete information, there should be something like:

in the Multimedia section.

Petr

--------[ PCI / PnP Audio ]------------------------------------------------------
Intel 82801AA I/O Controller Hub - AC'97 Audio Adapter PCI

is this what you mean?
i actually have two computers with this soundcard onboard.

Double-click on volume control icon and ensure all the sliders are not muted...

What version of Everest do you use? I remember that the old versions did not displayed this information, I use the latest one (3.50.xxx). For my controller the first build showing the correct information is 2.451

1.51.195 to 2.20.444:- not useful information

2.20.451 to 3.50.792:- useful information

Petr

2.20.405

Everest Ultimate Edition 3.50.761
--------[ PCI / PnP Audio ]-----------------------------------------------------
Analog Devices AD1881A @ Intel 82801AA I/O Controller Hub - AC'97 Audio Adapter [B-1] PCI

OK, this is the important information. AD codecs use SoundMax drivers, they are OEM specific and not available from Analog Devices, just from the motherboard manufacturers - and you have not mentioned it yet.

For example, all of these drivers are SoundMAX drivers for AD codec with 82801AA AC'97 controller:
http://www-306.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss...ocid=MIGR-43318
http://www-306.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss...cid=MIGR-4R9SWY
http://downloadmirror.intel.com/df-support...DM3030D_SM3.exe

But I'm not sure if they work just with AD1881A chip and with your motherboard, every motherboard has its own ID and these drivers support the following ones (for 82801AA):
d69z28us.exe

ven_8086&dev_2415 means Vendor ID 8086 = Intel, Device ID = 2415 = 82801AA
subsys_016A1014 is Subsystem ID, 1014 is Subsystem Vendor ID, 1014 is IBM, 016A is ID of some specific IBM product.

WDM3030D_SM3.exe
Subsystem Vendor ID 8086 = Intel, 107B = Gateway
Intel uses two letters identification converted to hexa code in the Subsystem ID, it means:
4241 = BA = BA810 (Baton Rouge)
4F52 = OR = OR840 (Outrigger)
4341 = CA = CA810 (Cayman)
4153 = AS
4257 = BW = BW810 (Birchwood)
4753 = GS = GS810 (Great Smokey)
4250 = BP = BP810 (Black Pine)
5355 = SU = SU810 (Sumatra)
4652 = FB = FB820 (Fairbanks)
4541 = EA = D815EEA (Easton)
4742 = GB = D850GB (Garibaldi)
424E = EN = D815EEA2/D815EPEA2 (Easton 2)

This is specific to specific manufacturer and therefore is so hard to find the right SounMAX driver if you don't know the motherboard manufacturer and type.

Petr

Motherboard Name: IBM 6266G6A
the other board is a compaq but i dont have access to it at the moment to check it.

If this mean Netvista (as you wrote here) 6266 then your drivers are here: http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss...cid=MIGR-4RZ2LT

DriverVer = 08/01/2000,5.12.01.3000
http://download.boulder.ibm.com/ibmdl/pub/...ta/d64z14us.exe

DriverVer = 08/01/2000,5.12.01.3003
http://download.boulder.ibm.com/ibmdl/pub/...on/d64z18us.exe

DriverVer = 08/01/2000,5.12.01.3011
http://download.boulder.ibm.com/ibmdl/pub/...on/d69z28us.exe

DriverVer = 08/01/2000,5.12.01.3029
http://download.boulder.ibm.com/ibmdl/pub/...on/d64z21us.exe

DriverVer = 10/16/2001,5.12.01.3037
http://download.boulder.ibm.com/ibmdl/pub/...on/d64z24us.exe

Full package:
DriverVer = 10/16/2001,5.12.01.3037
http://download.boulder.ibm.com/ibmdl/pub/...n/dsiz14usa.exe

(This version is probably the latest with support of 82801AA southbridge)

Both IBM and Compaq have very good archive of all drivers.

Petr

ok thanks, ill find out what the compaq motherboard is soon

tried the bottom two ibm drivers and the soundcard still doesnt work properly