Intel Driver Support Tool delivered a bad Realtek Audio Driver. How do I get a good one?

[GTayl6]

Yesterday I had a fully functioning NUC D54250WYKH. Today I no longer have a Realtek driver because I installed an "update" from https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/intel-driver-support-assistant.html that removed the old driver and then died with the error message:

Install Realtek HD Audio Driver Failure !!

[Error Code: -0001]

No drivers supported in this driver package.

When I contacted Intel support, they said that my hardware is too old for them to care about the fact that they delivered a bad update.

Where can I find a working driver update?

Is there some way to get Intel to stop offering this bad update? It continuously offers me the same update, which no longer needs to uninstall an old driver, but still fails to install a new one.

[LeonWaksman]

The latest Realtek HD Audio Driver for your NUC you may download from this page: https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/26329/Realtek-High-Definition-Audio-Driver-for-Legacy-Intel-NUC

Leon

[GTayl6]

I appreciate your effort, but that appears to be the same defective update that is served by the Driver & Support Assistant Tool. I suppose it's philosophically good that they're being consistent, but that's not helpful to me right now.

[L__v__A]

Sorry, I just wanted to give some advice. If I'm looking for a driver or some other software, I always go to the manufacterer's website.

[GTayl6]

Reasonable advice and the place I started.

Realtek does offer a driver, but also recommends that you get the driver from the system/motherboard vendor rather than directly from the Realtek download site because their chips can be used in different ways. And the driver they offer hasn't changed in two years. I presume that the updated offering by Intel was for some purpose other than to break existing systems.

[Max44]

Crackling, popping, and other sound problems can occur for a variety of reasons. You may be able to fix the problem by adjusting your audio device settings, updating your sound driver, or pinning down another hardware device that's interfering. If a cable connection is loose, this could cause some sound problems.