The AC97 driver is often a bugger-bear. Though it's an Intel "standard", everyone from Aopen to Texas Micro has implemented the circuitry into their motherboard somewhat differently. As such, drivers from Intel, RealTek or C-Media will sometimes cause a CPU freeze or reboot.
Recently, I had to hunt down an AC97 and graphics controller for an Itox G4S660B (the motherboard used on a customer's DuVoice DV4, which had a physically damaged memory stick and hard disc). What a chase it was to find this stuff!
Utilities to have on hand for identification and troubleshooting include
Belarc Advisor , the
Intel Chipset and Processor Identifications Utilities and
SiSoftware\'s Sandra Lite XII diagnostic and benchmarking tool.
Once you DO find the correct AC97 driver, I DO NOT recommend using Windows Update to install what it thinks is a new or better driver.
I am so sorry that I missed your post on this, Trace. Please PM me if you ever get into a similar jam again.
