kevincxy
Back to home

How I Installed Audio Drivers on a Chinese Motherboard With No Official Support

5 min read
Homelab

When I bought a BKHD 1264 NAS motherboard off the Chinese market, I had a pretty clear use case in mind: my home NAS. But as it often goes in the world of DIY builds, plans changed. I found a better board for the NAS, and decided to repurpose the BKHD board as a daily driver instead.

I downloaded a fresh copy of Windows 10, installed it, and... immediately hit some bumps.

đź“ş Graphics & Audio Missing? Yep.

Right out of the box, the graphics and audio drivers were missing. The display looked ridiculously oversized — classic "no GPU driver" behavior — and there was no sound output at all.

âś… Graphics Fix: Just Use Windows Update

This part was easy. I ran Windows Update a few times, and eventually it pulled in the correct graphics drivers. No manual download required — Windows sorted it out after a couple reboots.

But audio? That was another story.

🎧 The Audio Driver Struggle

Unlike graphics, Windows Update didn’t magically fix the audio issue. I checked the BKHD motherboard’s official page, and unsurprisingly — no drivers were listed.

I tried a few generic Realtek audio drivers, but none of them worked. My system still showed no audio devices installed. That’s when I started digging deeper — and found a workaround that might just help others dealing with motherboards that lack proper driver support.

🔍 Universal Fix: Install Audio Drivers Through Device Manager

Here’s the method that worked for me:

1. Open Device Manager

You’ll likely see a mysterious device under Other Devices. Mine was called:

Multimedia Audio Controller

This was a clue that the audio hardware was detected — just not correctly recognized.

2. Right-Click > Properties > Update Driver

Choose:

  • Browse my computer for drivers
  • Then: Let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer

Immediately, I saw:

Intel Smart Sound Technology BUS

Windows recognized that this was a compatible driver for my device.

3. Select It & Install

Once I picked the driver and clicked through, Windows installed it — and my audio came alive!

🧠 Plan B: Identify Your Audio Chip with Hardware IDs

If that didn’t work for you, don’t give up just yet.

You can manually identify your hardware using its PCI vendor and device ID. Here’s how:

1. Go to Device Manager > Right-click the Unknown Device > Properties

  • Head to the Details tab
  • Choose Hardware IDs from the dropdown

You’ll see something like:

PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_A170
  • VEN_8086 = Vendor (in this case, Intel)
  • DEV_A170 = Specific device ID

2. Visit devicehunt.com

Paste in your VEN_xxxx & DEV_yyyy values and see if they can identify the hardware.

In my case, devicehunt didn’t have a working driver, but at least I now knew exactly what device I was dealing with.

3. Google Your IDs

Armed with the vendor and device ID, try searching:

VEN_8086&DEV_A170 audio driver download

This may lead you to forums, driver repositories, or manufacturer downloads that you can manually install.

🎉 Final Thoughts

Buying off-brand or OEM Chinese motherboards can be a great way to save money — but they often come with little to no driver support.

If you're in that boat, don't panic. Windows Device Manager is surprisingly powerful, and between its built-in compatibility listings and PCI hardware IDs, you can usually get your system working without needing manufacturer downloads.

In my case, a little digging and some patience brought my BKHD 1264 board fully to life — and now it’s running smoothly as my daily workstation.

💬 Have you dealt with similar driver issues on obscure hardware? Got a better method? Let me know — I’m always down to learn more DIY tech fixes.