How to get Conexant AC link Audio working for old Compaq V2000 laptop with Win7

  • Article

I have a old Compaq V2000 laptop (almost 4.5 years old) (Intel Centrino Mobile and 512 MB ram) and installed Windows 7 on that. I was scared that it will not install since the system does not meet prerequisite criteria (1 GB ram), but Win 7 got installed perfectly! But showed that 5 drivers were not installed:

> Wireless Network Adapter
> Display Adapter
> Modem
> Mass Storage Controller
> Multimedia Audio Controller

Out of these Wireless Network Adapter and Display Adapter were installed by windows update automatically (yeah, I had to reboot the box couple of times and run windows update multiple times). I think Windows Update has the drivers provided by Intel (which is what the Chipset is) here. For Modem, went into troubleshooter and it suggested to download and install the drivers from Motorola site (it actually gave me the link) and once I click the link to download it, that was installed fine as well (it shows as "Motorola SM65 Speakerphone Modem" in Device Manager)

Bigger problem was finding the right drivers for MultiMedia Audio Controller. I tried installing the drivers that came with the laptop (which was for XP) and I downloaded the latest from Realtek site, but all in vain. I tried uninstalling the one windows by default set there "multimedia audio controller" and then ran window update again and again with no help (the driver installation would always fail). Searched all over the internet and tried every possible forum entries,etc.

To resolve the problem with this, I did the following:

  • Visited https://catalog.update.microsoft.com/v7/site/Home.aspx and searched for Contexant AC link audio
  • There were 100+ matches, out of the ones that I downloaded, the succeeded one was "Conexant - Sound - Conexant AC-Link Audio"
  • Downloaded it and unzipped the cab (you can use winRAR or 7Zip)
  • set compatibility mode of HXFSetup.exe from the extracted files to XP SP2 and ran the EXE as administrator
  • This made the audio controller fire up

I am left with Mass Storage Controller, but I am not worried about that since I am able to connect and work with my USB pen drives and external hard disks. Wrote the blog post for those who have old v2000 laptops and might have been struggling with similar issues. Please note, what worked for me may not work for you, so keep posting.