Major Realtek Audio HD problem.

[ghov]

I don't think anyone will be able to solve this problem, but i'll ask anyway.

So I just build my first computer, and I have seemingly a simple problem. The audio isn't working.
I'm using Windows XP SP3 and a ASUST M4A89GTD PRO USB3 motherboard (I can give more specs if anyone needs them).

I'll go over what I've tried so far -

Under Device Manager from Control Panel, when I go to sound, video, and game controllers, Realtek High Definition Audio shows up fine. Double click it, it's "working properly," enabled to be used as the sound device, no red or yellow anything next to it. Everything is enabled.

If I double click the volume icon in the bottom right to open master volume, everything is unmuted and all the way up, and at the bottom, it says I'm using "Realtek HD Audio output."

I've used the Driver & Support disk that came with my mobo to reinstall the driver(s?), as well as downloading them off of the internet.

I tried going to my BIOS to see if sound is enabled, but audio was listed nowhere except for to use HD audio or the ac97 or whatever thing, and HD is chosen.

WTF do I do? Buy some terrible sound card?

After all of this, when I plug my cheap apple white earbuds (which iv'e tested on my iphone for music, they work fine) in directly to the motherboard and play an itunes song, nothing comes out.

PLEASE, any help or suggestions of anything I might have overlooked would be greatly appriciated.

 

[tigsounds]

I don't think anyone will be able to solve this problem, but i'll ask anyway.

<snip>

Oh ye of little faith......

A few things must be set correctly to get sound, let's start in control panel since you know how to get there.

Go to Sounds and Audio Devices and then under the Volume tab click the Advanced button down there at the bottom. Notice it needs to know what the speakers are comprised of. Make it correct for your situation and click Ok.

Now go to the Audio tab and notice the first box allows you to select your audio device, make it Realtek HD Audio output. Click Ok and close Sounds and Audio Devices.

Not done yet...

You might see an orange speaker icon in the system tray down near the system clock. It may not be orange, but an application supplied by Realtek should be there. For now, let's assume it is there. Click it, bringing up the Realtek application. Click the Audio I/O tab and notice it shows someone's computer and the speaker layout. At the top of that picture is an obscure dropdown choice box, click it. Make that choice the same as what you set in Control Panel. Click the little Play button at the bottom of that picture and listen for sound.

If you don't have that application shortcut in the system tray, open Windows Explorer and navigate to the System Drive, Program Files, Realtek, Audio, Drivers, WDM and find RTHDCPL.exe and double-click it. It appears nothing happened, but wait, there's more... Now it should be in the system tray.

Do as instructed above with that application and let me know how it worked out.




Edit: add underlines for clarity.

 

[ghov]

To put it shorty, it didn't work...
but I made this video with my iPhone really fast... it might help a bit more....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1PmfHVoMOs

might be hard to see, but try watching in HD. Sorry, I had to record with my iphone.

*Edit* wow, looking at YouTube, I'm not the only one with this problem... Realtek needs to get their products working.

 

[tigsounds]

Now That is a reply. It all looks good except your headphones need to be plugged into the mainboard green socket. The Realtek Audio Manager should pop up when you unplug them from where they are to warn you something just got unplugged. Plug into the green socket and it will again warn you something just got plugged in and it will have many choices for you to select what just got plugged in. Check the box for Headphones or Line Out.

Realtek for all their wizardry, auto-mapping, auto configuring just hasn't got that front speaker thing perfected yet. If you have more than 2 channels, green is Front and the rear goes in the orange socket for best results. I use Klipsch Promedia 4.1 speakers with my own bass speaker and this works well for me using the green and orange sockets.

How's it sound now?

What? still no sound???

Ok, look in Device Manager expanding System Devices and look for the SMBus and the Microsoft UAA driver as pictured below.

The SMBus is part of your chipset drivers. It wont necessarily be ATI, it will be from the chipset mfg.
The Microsoft UAA driver is HERE. If you are using SP3 then it should be already installed.

 

[vnayak15]

hi, my small contribution.simply enable ac97 instead of hd in bios and feedback.

 

[ghov]

Thanks a lot tigsounds yet again, but unfortunately, still nothing.

Both the SMBus and the UAA driver showed up in the device manager, but I went ahead and downloaded it from the link anyway, which didn't make a difference, unfortunately.

However, some good news... when I plugged the earbuds into the green socket and held them to my ear with music playing, I can't hear music, but I do hear background static, which is a first.


vnayak15, that might work, but I don't think that would let me use my $300 headphones that I'm getting soon to their full potential....

 

[tigsounds]

I recall a problem I had with my DFI LP UT 790FX where I didn't get any sound. It ended up being that the front audio header Must be plugged in or a few pins had to be jumpered on the mainboard as the audio looped through the front sound jacks. If front jacks are not plugged in or jumpered, the sound hit an open circuit at the mainboard front header.

How is your sound header doing? Front jacks plugged in? (Correctly)




Edit: still learning how to spell "mainboard"

 

[ghov]

Hmm, what specifically do you want me to check? Don't quite understand....

 

[vnayak15]

have u correctly configured the Front panel cable on the motherboard? if not then try whatever u may not get anything but noise from FP audio.

 

[tigsounds]

Hmm, what specifically do you want me to check? Don't quite understand....

You must connect the front audio jacks to the motherboard. This is the plug that makes the headphone socket in the front of the computer case operational.

The front panel headphone socket cuts off the sound to the sockets at the rear of the motherboard when headphones are plugged into the front panel jacks to give silent listening when using headphones. If this connector is not plugged into the motherboard, it is the same as having headphones plugged in all the time and no sound comes out the motherboard rear connectors.

The picture below shows the pin configuration for that set of pins depending on how your sound is selected in the BIOS. You want HD Audio so the left-hand image is what you will look at, next to the letters "AAFP." Notice it has sense and sense return pins... these detect if headphones are plugged in at the front of your computer case or not.

If you don't have a user manual for that board, it can be downloaded from HERE using the "Global" link.

 

[tigsounds]

If you don't have that application shortcut in the system tray, open Windows Explorer and navigate to the System Drive, Program Files, Realtek, Audio, Drivers, WDM and find RTHDCPL.exe and double-click it. It appears nothing happened, but wait, there's more... Now it should be in the system tray.
http://www.lzxin.info/g.php

Yea, that's what I said. What's your point?

 

[soundguruman]

I don't think anyone will be able to solve this problem, but i'll ask anyway.

So I just build my first computer, and I have seemingly a simple problem. The audio isn't working.
I'm using Windows XP SP3 and a ASUST M4A89GTD PRO USB3 motherboard (I can give more specs if anyone needs them).

I'll go over what I've tried so far -

Under Device Manager from Control Panel, when I go to sound, video, and game controllers, Realtek High Definition Audio shows up fine. Double click it, it's "working properly," enabled to be used as the sound device, no red or yellow anything next to it. Everything is enabled.

If I double click the volume icon in the bottom right to open master volume, everything is unmuted and all the way up, and at the bottom, it says I'm using "Realtek HD Audio output."

I've used the Driver & Support disk that came with my mobo to reinstall the driver(s?), as well as downloading them off of the internet.

I tried going to my BIOS to see if sound is enabled, but audio was listed nowhere except for to use HD audio or the ac97 or whatever thing, and HD is chosen.

WTF do I do? Buy some terrible sound card?

After all of this, when I plug my cheap apple white earbuds (which iv'e tested on my iphone for music, they work fine) in directly to the motherboard and play an itunes song, nothing comes out.

PLEASE, any help or suggestions of anything I might have overlooked would be greatly appriciated.

There's absolutely plenty you can do, first dump the Asus Board.
The Asus boards are infamous for chipset problems, and have caused plenty of headaches. Replace it with a board from Gigabyte or Intel.
Second, download the drivers from the motherboard manufacturer's website, turn OFF ALL security and antivirus, load your drivers.
You can spend FOREVER trying to make a defect motherboard work, but replacing it will bring instant satisfaction. Asus boards simply are not worth the time and effort.


Double click the speaker icon in the lower right hand of the desktop, this will bring up the mixer, or single click to bring up the volume control.
But in case the volume is missing, corrupted, or the audio is otherwise non-functional:
you check whichever audio was installed:
click start, control panel, add remove programs, look at the list...
which audio software is shown on the list? delete it, restart the computer.

now visit the motherboard manufacturer or computer manufacturer's website
look up your computer drivers by model number
download the latest audio drivers, save on the desktop...
turn the antivirus off,
if you have multiple security programs installed, turn them all off
(your driver may not install if security systems are turned on)
now load your new audio driver, restart, turn the antivirus back on.

 

[ghov]

There's absolutely plenty you can do, first dump the Asus Board.
The Asus boards are infamous for chipset problems, and have caused plenty of headaches. Replace it with a board from Gigabyte or Intel.
Second, download the drivers from the motherboard manufacturer's website, turn OFF ALL security and antivirus, load your drivers.
You can spend FOREVER trying to make a defect motherboard work, but replacing it will bring instant satisfaction. Asus boards simply are not worth the time and effort.


Double click the speaker icon in the lower right hand of the desktop, this will bring up the mixer, or single click to bring up the volume control.
But in case the volume is missing, corrupted, or the audio is otherwise non-functional:
you check whichever audio was installed:
click start, control panel, add remove programs, look at the list...
which audio software is shown on the list? delete it, restart the computer.

now visit the motherboard manufacturer or computer manufacturer's website
look up your computer drivers by model number
download the latest audio drivers, save on the desktop...
turn the antivirus off,
if you have multiple security programs installed, turn them all off
(your driver may not install if security systems are turned on)
now load your new audio driver, restart, turn the antivirus back on.

I've already tried everything you mentioned in the second two paragraphs.

As for the motherboard, I know Gigabyte and Intel are better, but I haven't had any problems with it at all except with the audio. Everything else works perfectly. The only reason I bought it was because when I compared boards, I was looking for a board that was

Standard/full ATX size
At least 2 USB 3.0 outputs
HDMI output
Around $100

And this board is actually the only one I could find that matched all of those specifications, and as I said, it's been great (until the audio problem).


-----tigsounds:
I went ahead and opened up the side of the case to check, and yup, the front panel is connector is plugged in correctly -- I don't think there's any need for me to make a video for it, you'll just have to take my word that I've made sure it's plugged in the right way. Also, it might not matter anyway because in the Realtek audio manager connector settings, I've un-checked the "Mute rear panel output when front headphones are plugged in."


As of right now, I'm seriously considering just buying a sound card... that would replace the Realtek audio driver, right?

 

[tigsounds]

-----tigsounds:
I went ahead and opened up the side of the case to check, and yup, the front panel is connector is plugged in correctly -- I don't think there's any need for me to make a video for it, you'll just have to take my word that I've made sure it's plugged in the right way. Also, it might not matter anyway because in the Realtek audio manager connector settings, I've un-checked the "Mute rear panel output when front headphones are plugged in."


As of right now, I'm seriously considering just buying a sound card... that would replace the Realtek audio driver, right?

See your PM

 

[vnayak15]

the sample drawing for FP cable sent by tigsounds clearly states that FP cable is dedicated to ac97. may be I am wrong.

 

[ghov]

Why does it say "We recommend that you connect a high-definition front panel audio module to avail of the motherboard's high definition audio capability," then....

 

[tigsounds]

Some cases are supplied with 2 cables, or one cable and 2 sockets in the case at the front panel.

 

[ghov]

I know, but I meant why would he say that the FP cable is dedicated to AC97, when the motherboard recommends you plug in the HD audio, and the 902 has a HD audio and AC97 cable.
Right now the HD audio cable is plugged in to the appropriate socket on the motherboard (in the bottom left).

 

[tigsounds]

The front panel socket can accommodate either HD or AC'97. They are configured a bit differently at the front panel. Today the case makers are not so likely to include provisions for AC'97 since most new mainboards are shipped with some sort of HD audio. Who would use AC'97 if HD was available? I like to enjoy some medicinal herbal relaxation methods and I truly love having HD sound at those times.

You have a problem with that board for sure. If I had it in front of me the problem would be located and resolved, but you probably don't have the equipment needed to track down the sound (a good oscilloscope for starters). Your backup plan to buy a plug-in board for your HD audio is not without it's merits. You can purchase one that does everything you want that the built-in may not do.

 

[ghov]

Best answer selected by Ghov.

 

[tigsounds]

Best answer selected by Ghov.

n
n
nThanks for the vote. I suppose a best answer is probably just that, even if it didn't result in success. 🙁

 

[ghov]

Thanks for the vote. I suppose a best answer is probably just that, even if it didn't result in success. 🙁

Yeah.
I have $300 left. I'm getting a GIGABYTE GA-990FXA-UD5 motherboard and the Senneiser PC350s. After that, i'm saving up for a ASUS Xonar Phoebus sound card, and lastly, an Astro Gaming Mixamp Pro. If I still have problems after this, I'm buying a pre-built computer -__-