More Sound Issues (ASUS Integrated Board)

[SSBN743]

OK, so I had a similar issue with sound in Windows 8 that has been described multiple times in this forum.

1. The sound was crackling and buzzing – so I installed Realtek audio drivers, as suggested in this forum, and it started working; albeit temporarily.

2. The sound will now work fine for a number of minutes, sometimes up to 30 minutes, before wigging out and freezing the application that is running sound or sometimes even the whole damn machine.
So, after some investigation and reading I believe I am on the correct tack to solving this problem but have hit a snag.

I have the ASUS P6TE board with onboard audio. The driver I downloaded from Realtek, by following a link in a forum post (Realtek), was the Realtek HD audio driver. Now, I’m pretty sure my board is not the HD audio board but rather the standard AC’97 board. I have a CD that contains these drivers but when I try to run it in Windows 8 I am greeted with the “This CD is not supported by this OS” message.

Ok, so I downloaded the AC’97 driver off the same page I used for the HD driver. I’m pretty sure this is the right driver, as I said above, and this was further solidified as I recognize the installation menu. However, now I have an error message “This driver is not digitally signed”. Of course I am given the option to proceed with the installation anyway, or to cancel. I click proceed anyway and the error message just keeps re-appearing in an endless loop; though it cheerfully responds when I click cancel and terminates the installation –sigh!

So – two ways this can go:

1. Can I fake a digital signature, or get a signed driver from Realtek for the AC’97?

2. Figure out how to bypass the digital signature required by Window security.

I’ve already tried a few things with Option #2 with no joy at all – if anyone knows I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks!