[SOLVED] No audio in Gigabyte B450 Aorus Elite rev 1.1. Possibly broken audio chip?

[kosmaaa]

Hello.
For the past day or so I've had issues with my onboard audio not working. Both front panel audio and back panel audio don't work. Could the cause of this be me scratching up the motherboard trying to put in a second GPU I had laying around since the audio chip is near the second PCIe lane (very unlikely and also don't ask why) or Windows having a panic attack when I tried to put in a second GPU while the PC was running and then trying to connect my HDMI cable to it? For more info I'm using a DVI to HDMI converter on my main GPU if that's important.
Here's what I've tried so far:

• reinstalling Realtek drivers multiple times
• uninstalling drivers through CMD
• installing older drivers both generic and for my motherboard
• installing through safe mode
• resetting BIOS by removing the BIOS battery
• resetting BIOS settings through the BIOS
• updating the BIOS
• testing audio in Linux to no avail
• redoing the scenario with the second GPU and the PC running

Looking through hidden devices in Device Manager shows me nothing with each reinstall, though when I was first tackling the issue all my Realtek inputs and outputs were grayed out and apparently "disconnected". So I uninstalled them completely and now they just won't show up. One thing to note is that in System Devices I have two High Definition Audio Managers instead of one. I also don't have any Microsoft UAA Bus to disable either. I've looked through many forum posts and nothing has worked for me so I've decided to make my own post. It'd be a shame to return my motherboard because it's relatively new (bought 2 months ago). Only thing I haven't done yet is format my main drive and install a fresh copy of Windows or disconnect the front panel audio.

Specs in case anyone is asking:
CPU: Ryzen 5 2600 (no OC)
GPU: Palit GTX 970 (no OC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte B450 Aorus Elite
RAM: 16GB 2x8 2400 MHz kit

Any help is appreciated.

edit: was able to add a sound controller but it says it cannot start since the request is not supported

 

[Ralston18]

Regarding:

1.) "Could the cause of this be me scratching up the motherboard trying to put in a second GPU I had laying around since the audio chip is near the second PCIe lane"

Yes.

2.) " or Windows having a panic attack when I tried to put in a second GPU while the PC was running and then trying to connect my HDMI cable to it? "

Also yes.

(However, it was not a "panic attack". It was likely some hardware component shorting out - damaging itself and possibly nearby components as well. Damage may not be visible. Drive data may have been corrupted as well.)

= = = =

Scratching the motherboard anywhere and/or otherwise working with the computer power turned on does not end well.

Either one or both probably voided any warranty. And other things may have happened that have yet to appear......

This motherboard?

https://download.gigabyte.com/FileL...101_v1.pdf?v=c929cd26479904dd13427b268b6f94c6

Verify that the link is correct.

Refer to the motherboard to double check all connections and related configurations.

Start over from beginning to end and "rebuild" the system.

Be sure to back up all data before doing so. Or start with a single fresh drive.

Clean windows install.

https://forums.tomshardware.com/faq/windows-10-clean-install-tutorial.3170366

Follow the reinstall procedure.

Warning note:

Be aware that the build, primarily the motherboard, may not be salvageable. And depending on what all has happened you may be putting other components at risk by using the motherboard.

 

[kosmaaa]

Thank you very much for your reply. I'll try your solutions after I install Windows on an empty drive just to make sure that it's all I needed to do. I'll give an update after I'm done following the instructions.

 

[kosmaaa]

No luck. Fresh install shows nothing even if I installed drivers myself. Bit of a shame but I guess I learned something new from my stupidity.