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Vortex 2 WDM Drivers (3.7 MB)

These drivers are the WDM drivers for the Aureal Vortex 2 (8830) chipset.
(Note: These drivers are not hosted on the Vortex of Sound server and may go down at any time.)

From Aureal:
This driver release is beta and will not be supported in any way. Because these drivers have not been through the Microsoft certification process, they are unsigned. This means that the installation process is much more involved than usual, and is to be pursued at your own risk. By downloading these drivers you certify that you understand that Aureal and its employees cannot be held responsible for any disruption or damage to your system that this installation may cause. These drivers are posted purely as a courtesy to our most adventurous and technically adept customers.

To install the drivers:

Downloading the drivers

1. Download the drivers from the link above.
2. Unzip the drivers (keeping the folder structure intact) to a temp folder on your hard drive.
3. Copy the AU30GM.ARL file from your original Vortex CD (or any Windows 9X driver install) to the temp folder and rename it AUREALGM.ARL.
4. If you have the native Vortex drivers (from the OS) installed, continue with the next section. If not, skip ahead to the following section - Installing the drivers.

Uninstalling the native drivers

1. Launch the Windows Control Panel.
2. Double click on System.
3. Click on the Device Manager tab.
4. Select "Aureal Vortex PCI Adapter" under Sound, video, and game controllers.
5. Click the Remove button.
6. Close Device Manager.
7. Launch Windows Explorer.
8. Select Tools from the menu items, then Folder Options.
9. On the View tab, check the option "Show All Hidden Folders".
10. Uncheck the option "Hide File Extenstions for Known File Types".
11. Uncheck the option "Hide Protected Operating System Files".
12. Close the Folder Options window.
13. Navigate to the WINNT\INF folder.
14. Delete the following files:
    WDMA_AUR.INF
    WDMA_AUR.PNF
    ADM_MULT.INF
    ADM_MULT.PNF
    ADM_PORT.INF
    ADM_PORT.PNF
15. Navigate to the WINNT\DRIVER CACHE\I386 folder.
16. Rename the DRIVER.CAB file to DRIVER.OLD.
17. Navigate to the WINNT\SYSTEM32\DLLCACHE folder.
18. Delete the following files:
    ADM8830.SYS
    ADMJOY.SYS
19. Navigate to the WINNT\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS folder.
20. Delete the following files:
    ADM8830.SYS
    ADMJOY.SYS
21. Reboot.

Installing the drivers

1. When Windows starts, it will detect new hardware. When it asks for drivers, point it to temp folder you unzipped the driver files to in step 2 of "Downloading the drivers".
2. When prompted for the KSUSER.DLL file, point it to the WINNT\SYSTEM32 folder.
3. When prompted for other KS*.DLL files, point it to the WINNT\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS folder.
4. When prompted for some *.DRV files, point it to the WINNT\SYSTEM32 folder.
5. When prompted for the PORTCLS.SYS file, point it to the WINNT\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS folder.
6. For any files, point it to the temp folder you unzipped the driver files to.
7. When prompted to reboot your system, do so.

Finishing the install

1. After Windows restarts, launch Windows Explorer.
2. Navigate to the WINNT\DRIVER CACHE\I386 folder.
3. Rename DRIVER.OLD to DRIVER.CAB.
4. Download and install the latest A3D drivers.