Help! HDMI has taken over my PC :(

Joulette

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Feb 25, 2015
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I'm running windows 7 on a Gateway FX-6803-25. I'm fairly tech savvy. So I have scoured the internet boards for an answer. Haven’t found a solution yet.

Situation:
Sunday evening, I connected a TV via HDMI to my pc.
Monday, I hooked up my PC normally using a headset for speaker/mic audio connections in the front ports. Everything was working fine.
Monday evening, I reconnected my pc to the tv with the HDMI cable.

Wednesday – Today, I reconnected the PC back to my normal set up with one huge difference … Now NONE of my audio plug ins, front or back, are working (i.e., connections are not being detected) even though my PC is no longer attached to the HDMI cable. I have tried each of the following to resolve the issue and regain control from the HDMI settings:

1) Uninstalling the sound card via Device Manager (not the software), restarting my computer.

2) Attempting to reset the playback and recording devices within Sound on the Control Panel. But since it’s not recognizing when I plug anything in front or back, it won’t let me select this option to apply.

3) Using Realtek HD Audio Manager - wherein nothing is recognized as being plugged in. Therefore, no options are available. "You are seeing a blank page because there is no audio devices plugged in the system. To activate GUI, please plug an audio device in the system." At the time, I had plugged in my headset to both speaker and mic jacks in the back as the front jacks are not working either.

For additional testing and searching for a solution, I systematically did the following sets of things:

Test 1
1) Disabled AMD sound device in Device Manager
2) Uninstalled Realtek HDMI in Device Manager
3) Reboot PC
4) Windows reinstalled Realtek HDMI Output
5) Front plugins not recognized

Test 2
1) Disabled Realtek HDMI Output in Sound
2) Enabled AMD HD Audio device in Device manager
3) Disabled Realtek HD Audio in Device manager
4) Reboot PC
5) No recording devices installed.

Test 3
1) Enable Realtek
2) Reinstall software for Realtek HD Audio
3) “Windows has determined the driver software for your device is up to date.” Aka it didn’t replace the software currently installed.
4) Uninstall device AND remove driver
5) Restart PC
6) Reinstall Realtek HD Audio drivers from Gateway for my exact PC
7) Front and back audio plugins still not working. PC still expecting to be plugged into HDMI.

I've exhausted the things I know to do. What suggestions would you make next (besides NEVER plugging into anything using HDMI again)?

All help is appreciated! Thank you in advance for your time.

Joulette
 
I'd uninstall all the drivers while in safe mode, including your GPU drivers. Then restart, if no sound, set realtek HD as defaults for recording and playback and then try disabling AMD HD, HDMI then realtek HDMI.

Referring to test 2 item 3, that is the one you want to work, why try to disable it ?
 




:)
 


Yes, after your suggestion. Result: the windows general driver returns with the same exact issue - Front and back plugins not working or being recognized.
 


Yes, after your suggestion. Result: the windows general driver returns with the same exact issue - Front and back plugins not working or being recognized.

Not sure why it posted this double.
 


I wanted to isolate the issue and wasn't sure at the time which audio device might work properly. So I tested both HD audio devices.
 


I'm not sure I feel comfortable uninstalling GPU drivers as well. That adds not seeing to not hearing or being heard in the case of the microphone. Is there a good reason to add the GPU drivers into the mix right now?
 
It almost feels like there is a cookie saving the last setting that was used. It keeps picking up that setting when I reinstall the drivers no matter which software gets installed.
 
There isn't cookies as you know, but maybe a bad registry key(s) or bad values. Sure if you wanted to restore, that might fix it, short of something bad happened to happened to happen during the period of plugging and unplugging.

I have an IDEA...why not make a live CD like UBUNTU and test your hardware. If it all works, it's just winders and worst case (easiest fix) just wipe it and redo it.
 
Woot! Problem resolved in the process of installing, uninstalling, and reinstalling.

So after installing the general windows drivers, I uninstalled them and tried reinstalling the Realtek drivers one last time, before thinking about moving into the GPU. After this reinstall, the drivers are properly detecting the plugins again.

I had a feeling, royalcrown, that your reasoning went along the lines you mentioned. I was hoping to put that off, which it did. I thought about the wipe and restart, but ... meh ...

Thank you both for your help!!! <3