"0xe0000234" When trying to install Realtek

[Floris_Heinen]

Hi lads, so I've ran into this problem trying to install Realtek HD Audio drivers and I was hoping some of you might know a solution to my problem.

So I bought new parts on 14th of Jan (i5 6600k, Asus Maximus VIII Gene, Corsair Vengeance LPX 2x4gb 3600 mHz). Swapped them with my old i5 760, Gigabyte motherboard and 8gb RAM.

The day after I installed my new components, Windows prompted me to activate Windows (apparently a new motherboard counts as a new computer thus a new license required). I ignored it, installed all the new drivers for my motherboard and CPU (Realtek worked fine BTW). 2 days later I couldn't stand the "Activate Windows" thingy at the bottom of my screen, so I decided so sacrifice my money to Microsoft to buy another license of Windows 8.1 Pro.

Installed Windows 8.1 Pro via USB (erased all data on SSD first) and upgraded to Win 10 from there.

So there I was on a clean Win 10. Used Ninite to install most common Apps, and went over to my motherboard's driver page over on ASUS's website. Downloaded the Realtek Audio Driver from there ((4.35) 6.0.1.7629), and tried to install it.

While I find the Realtek installer really outdated and janky, it normally works. The installer showed up and began extracting all sorts of files (mostly .dll files), the big blue window in the back popped up and after a while the message "InstallShield Wizard is installing..." popped up. It was then when I received the message: "Install Realtek HD Audio Driver Failure !! [Error Code : 0xE0000234".

So it's listed between Programs and Features, and I can also find it in the Device Manager, Under "Other Devices" as "Unknown Device". When I double click that the status reports:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The drivers for this device are not installed. (Code 28)

Driver is not intended for this platform.


To find a driver for this device, click Update Driver.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Clicked "update driver", manually searched for the drivers in the extracted setup folder, didn't work.


Well, that's... something. I'd greatly appreciate it if any of you PC-guru's could help me!

Cheers!

 

[Lutfij]

What was your OS prior to the swap in your components? I'm assuming Windows 8.1?

...(apparently a new motherboard counts as a new computer thus a new license required)...

It does count as a new machine though in reality if you changed any component in your machine while on an installation availed via the upgrade process then it would also be counted as a tampering of activation of OS. In order to properly execute the hardware upgrade while on an upgraded Windows OS is to revert to older OS, change/swap hardware, reinstall older OS, update OS until you reach the free upgrade path option and then install Windows 10. After doing so you can reinstall Windows 10 provided you don't change your hardware anytime after the upgrade. So in short you didn't need to purchase another licence for Windows 8.1 Pro. Might I ask if you've updated the BIOS?

Is it possible to pass on your full systems specs?

In device manager try and remove the hardware's that are flagged with the error message and anything that pertains to the Realtek audio device. Scan for hardware changes and then reinstall as requested. You might want to try running the installer with an elevated command i.e under administrator rights [right click>run as administrator]

Have you also tried the other way round? Installing on your older licence key for Windows 8.1 and then upgrading to Windows 10?

 

[Floris_Heinen]

What was your OS prior to the swap in your components? I'm assuming Windows 8.1?

...(apparently a new motherboard counts as a new computer thus a new license required)...

It does count as a new machine though in reality if you changed any component in your machine while on an installation availed via the upgrade process then it would also be counted as a tampering of activation of OS. In order to properly execute the hardware upgrade while on an upgraded Windows OS is to revert to older OS, change/swap hardware, reinstall older OS, update OS until you reach the free upgrade path option and then install Windows 10. After doing so you can reinstall Windows 10 provided you don't change your hardware anytime after the upgrade. So in short you didn't need to purchase another licence for Windows 8.1 Pro. Might I ask if you've updated the BIOS?

Is it possible to pass on your full systems specs?

In device manager try and remove the hardware's that are flagged with the error message and anything that pertains to the Realtek audio device. Scan for hardware changes and then reinstall as requested. You might want to try running the installer with an elevated command i.e under administrator rights [right click>run as administrator]

Have you also tried the other way round? Installing on your older licence key for Windows 8.1 and then upgrading to Windows 10?

Hey Lutfij,

Thanks for the response.

When I posted this a while ago I also asked reddit if they had any solutions, as well as contacting ASUS Support. I decided to try to install the new one, worked fine apparently. So I just stuck with the latest realtek (without the SupremeFX Equalizer) for a week while in the meantime contacting ASUS, So a whille later I decided to scan my Windows for errors with a command prompt. It solved a few errors. Installed the latest Maximus VIII BIOS and decided to try to install the driver again.

This time it did work. Now I'm guessing that it was the BIOS update, but it could be other system updates or virus scans as well.

To answer your question, I did update the BIOS (ASUS support also advised me to do this). I tried running the installed as admin but that didn't work either, also I couldn't even see any audio device icons.

Anyways, thanks for the reply!

 

[Lutfij]

Thank you for selecting my post as the answer though I think you got the problem sorted out Kudos to Asus for contacting you promptly...? and glad to hear that the issue is resolved.

+ You're welcome! Just helping out!