I have been trying to update my audio driver (currently called "Crystal WDM AC'97 Driver for ICH4"), with the Realtek AC97 Driver (A38.1). It gets part way through the installation and then XP crashes, having not completed the installation. I've tried this more than once and in the end had to reinstall the original driver. Any help?

AC97 is intergrated sound ,a PC I purchased came with AC97 onboard sound and I was constantly having problems with the sound not working most of the time and working some of the time .I finally decided to install a PCI sound card ,they can be purchased for a low price ,and will give you much better sound .Remember your speakers are important ,you can get the best sound card made however your speakers have to make the grade to get the full benifits of the sound card ,installation was just a matter of following the inclosed instructions ! Always double check your speaker connections as a first step in trouble shooting sound problems !
Good Luck Nick

If it ain't broke, don't try and "fix" it, esp. where operating systems are concerned.

Most drivers will be just fine unless some new technology comes out or something in the operating system that needs a driver that is "updated". Software sometimes requires the latest drivers, and in that case, the BEST WAY to deal with the whole thing is THIS...

for add-in (PCI, AGP and ISA) cards=

1. uninstall any and all related drivers for the card
2. pull the card outta the machine, litterally.
3. clean-up and defrag your hard drive!!!
4. DL the new drivers and unzip them to a folder (I prefer mine to be in the "C:\WINNT(or whatever your operating system main folder is)\DRIVERS...")
5. Plug the card back in
6. point the install apps towards your folder with the new drivers in it.
7. restart and you oughtta be fine.

For CHIPSET (on-the-motherboard-stuff) since you can not PULL the chip out...
1. DL the new drivers
2. back-up your system and the drivers (copy the old ones to a new folder and make sure you have the floppies or CD's handy) 3.uninstall the old drivers and chipset hardware stuff (like all of them is usually the safest bet- even if you are just updating one part or driver for one chipset)
4. restart and install the MAIN DRIVERS FIRST
5. restart (yes, restart again) and install your more periferal drivers.
6. restart and test everything.