AC'97 Audio Driver

Since I'm one of those guys who is obsessed with having all the latest and greatest drivers for my hardware devices, I had to share this recent experience I had while testing the Windows 8 Developers Preview.
After getting the Dev Preview up and running in both Virtual Box and VMware Workstation 8, I decided to give it a go on an old laptop I had on the shelf just sitting there not doing anything HP Pavillion zv5000). Just to see how it would perform on some older hardware (P4 3.2Ghz HT processor with a Gig of DDR PC2700 memory).
Well the install went flawlessly and afterward checking device manager the only issue remaining was my integrated sound device which was being identified there as a Realtek AC'97 device. So off I go to Realtek to obtain their "Vista/Windows 7 driver", downloaded installed, no help. So off I go to the Microsoft Update Catalog and download and install the most recent driver for that device (6/19/2009), still no help.
So then I decided to check HP's site and see what they had specific for my laptop regarding the integrated sound device and download and installed it using "Compatibility Mode" at the conclusion of the "SoundMax" install I was prompted to restart my computer to finish the install, imagine my surprise when I heard the shutdown system sound coming out of my speakers. So after a reboot and clearing some startup items out of the registry that were a product of the install everything works and Windows 8 Developer Preview actually runs pretty well on the old beater. So much for the latest drivers!
Regards
Randy