No audio through speakers, only through headphones, in my new PC build

[jvcastello99]

I recently bought a new PC for gaming. Got the box, went home, was really happy. But, when i plugged it to my keyboard, mouse, headphones and speakers, i realized i could only get audio from my headphones.

Initially, i thought it could be a hardware problem in my speakers, but i tested them in my laptop and they worked fine. So, i tried all these things i found on the internet:

- Deactivate all audio enhancements;
- Uninstall audio drivers and reboot;
- Set speakers as default audio device (it was already set);
- When i press the "test" button (in sound > playback > properties > advanced) i get a warning saying "failed to play test tone";
- I tried changing my audio format, but the sound quality frequency option is grayed out;
- I also tried using sfc/scannow in the cmd, but nothing was detected;
- Finally, i tried changing all my audio drivers in the Device Manager do the generic "High Definition Audio Device". Also not worked.

I've read on forums that, most of the time, this problem disappears automatically after a few days of turning the computer on and off. But it's been a week and i still have it.

If it helps, i'm listing down here my specs.

Windows 10
GALAX GEFORCE GTX 1060 6GB
AMD RYZEN 3 2200G
ASRock A320M-HD
KINGSTON HYPERX FURY 8GB (1X8) 2400MHZ DDR4 BLACK
CORSAIR CX550 80 PLUS BRONZE 550W

And the speaker we're talking about is a Multilaser Warrior 3D Gamer Speaker, USB connected.

Hope you all can help me. I've been saving money for a lot of time to buy this rig and i can't wait to play it, it really saddens me that this problem occured. If i can help giving any other details, i will gladly do so.

 

[Paperdoc]

There is a GOOD possibility the problem is related to your graphics card. You MAY have to make some choices here.

Your mobo has an audio output system on it feeding the jacks on the back panel, and also the front panel headphone jack. Your video card has several types of outputs, a commonly-used one being the HDMI port. HDMI ports, in particular, can send full audio signals out to the monitor or whatever you connect to. Now, it is very difficult to get the audio signals from a mobo chip connected to a video card so they can be passed along to the monitor. The simpler solution used by nearly all video card makers is to add another audio output system on the video card and use that one, instead of the mobo system. To do this, at the time that the video card is first installed in your system and its drivers automatically loaded for you, the Install process VERY often installs the drivers for that new audio system AND changes a setting in Windows to make that system (on the video card) your default audio playback system.

Now, Windows can use only ONE audio playback system at a time, even though your machine may have more than one installed in it (and yours does have two). If you go into the System ... Sounds area of Windows configuration details, you should be able to find a little panel that allows you to see and change the Default Audio Playback Device and Default Recording Device. I'm betting that the Playback device now is set to use the system on your video card. If you elect to change that, you will also see a second audio system on your mobo, often by Realtek. You can change that setting there, and then all sound output will be from the mobo system and fed out through the rear panel jacks and front panel headphone jacks, BUT no sound will be sent out on the HDMI cable to your monitor. You can change this setting back, if you wish.

So now you have choices to make. Some of this depends on what speaker system you have and on what your monitor has for speakers. It also depends on whether your monitor has OUTPUTS for "external" speakers connected to the monitor.
1. If you want to use monitor speakers for some things, and other add-on speakers plugged into your back panel for other things, you can use the Windows configuration settings to change back and forth manually.
2. If you want to use your speaker set from the back panel jacks and/or your front panel headphone jacks most of the time, set it that way.
3. If you want to use the monitor's speakers most of the time, set it that way.
4. IF your monitor has a set of audio output jacks that you can connect your speaker and/or headphones to and control their use from the monitor's menu controls, plug those speakers into the monitor jacks and set Windows to send audio out of the video card system. However, IF your external speaker system is 5.1 or 7.1 Surround Sound, you may not be able to use those features unless the monitor also has a complete set of such output jacks AND the video card can send those multi-channel signals out.

 

[jvcastello99]

There is a GOOD possibility the problem is related to your graphics card. You MAY have to make some choices here.

Your mobo has an audio output system on it feeding the jacks on the back panel, and also the front panel headphone jack. Your video card has several types of outputs, a commonly-used one being the HDMI port. HDMI ports, in particular, can send full audio signals out to the monitor or whatever you connect to. Now, it is very difficult to get the audio signals from a mobo chip connected to a video card so they can be passed along to the monitor. The simpler solution used by nearly all video card makers is to add another audio output system on the video card and use that one, instead of the mobo system. To do this, at the time that the video card is first installed in your system and its drivers automatically loaded for you, the Install process VERY often installs the drivers for that new audio system AND changes a setting in Windows to make that system (on the video card) your default audio playback system.

Now, Windows can use only ONE audio playback system at a time, even though your machine may have more than one installed in it (and yours does have two). If you go into the System ... Sounds area of Windows configuration details, you should be able to find a little panel that allows you to see and change the Default Audio Playback Device and Default Recording Device. I'm betting that the Playback device now is set to use the system on your video card. If you elect to change that, you will also see a second audio system on your mobo, often by Realtek. You can change that setting there, and then all sound output will be from the mobo system and fed out through the rear panel jacks and front panel headphone jacks, BUT no sound will be sent out on the HDMI cable to your monitor. You can change this setting back, if you wish.

So now you have choices to make. Some of this depends on what speaker system you have and on what your monitor has for speakers. It also depends on whether your monitor has OUTPUTS for "external" speakers connected to the monitor.
1. If you want to use monitor speakers for some things, and other add-on speakers plugged into your back panel for other things, you can use the Windows configuration settings to change back and forth manually.
2. If you want to use your speaker set from the back panel jacks and/or your front panel headphone jacks most of the time, set it that way.
3. If you want to use the monitor's speakers most of the time, set it that way.
4. IF your monitor has a set of audio output jacks that you can connect your speaker and/or headphones to and control their use from the monitor's menu controls, plug those speakers into the monitor jacks and set Windows to send audio out of the video card system. However, IF your external speaker system is 5.1 or 7.1 Surround Sound, you may not be able to use those features unless the monitor also has a complete set of such output jacks AND the video card can send those multi-channel signals out.

Thanks for the help, Paperdoc! However, i still wasn`t able to fix the problem.

Actually, my monitor does not support audio at all (i use a DVI connection). Still, you`re completely right about the fact that i have two audio playback systems. I want to run audio through my speakers connected to my mobo, so i`ve gone into the System... Sounds area and i think i found the panel that you mentioned. There were two devices, one was the headphones (connected to the front panel jack of my mobo) and the other, the speaker (connected to the back USB 3.0 port). I was not able to identify which one of them corresponded to my graphics card`s audio playback system. Anyway, i`ve set the speakers as Default Audio Playback Device, but when i tested on a video in youtube, my computer still strangely refused to play audio through it. I`ve printed what happened. (hope the image loads)

I hope you can still aid me in this quest to find my Graphics Card`s audio playback system and change the mobo`s one as the default.

 

[Paperdoc]

Wooops! Big clue, I think!

You say your speaker system is plugged into a back-panel USB port, right? Well, there are NO systems that route analog audio output from a mobo chip to a USB port. What there ARE, though, is audio output systems that plug into a USB2 port. BUT these are systems that receive digital signals from the port and then run their OWN audio output system that can play through its speaker set. In other words, your second audio system is not in the video card, but there IS one in the USB sound system. That means that you need to have the device driver for that audio system installed in your Windows set-up. So, look first in Device Manager for that USB-connected audio output system. Make sure that a driver is installed AND that there is no yellow triangle warning beside it to tell you a problem exists.

Now, once that is OK, go into that Windows audio config screen and choose that USB-connected system as your Default Sound Playback device. This action probably will shut off sound to your front panel and earphones (because they are fed by the mobo audio chip) but will tell Windows to play sounds through the USB-connected system with its speakers.

 

[jvcastello99]

Wow! This makes sense, Paperdoc. I used the same speakers in my old PC, and i remember they only worked properly on the USB2 ports. The problem is, in my mobo's back panel, i can't find any USB2 ports, only USB 3.0. Maybe it's my mistake.

Even so, i did as you suggested and acessed the device manager to check if there would be any USB-Connected audio drivers. All i found that could be it was a "HiFler" audio driver, which seems to be from my speakers. He was okay, no yellow warnings or anything strange. Went to the audio config screen and set it as default (just like in the print i sent in my last post), but i still couldn't hear any audio from my speakers.

I'm starting to think i should just buy another speaker, maybe one with Bluetooth connection, i dunno. I will send you more prints once i get home from college, maybe that will help.

Thank you so much for your help!

 

[Paperdoc]

Well, another idea. I would assume that your system already has the device drivers loaded for its USB3 ports, but you should check to be sure. To be thorough about this, try this sequence.

1. Disconnect the sound system from the USB3 port. Open Device Manager and find the sound system and remove (or delete) that device. Now find the USB3 ports and do the same for them, then back out and shut down. This will force the system to believe it has no such ports.
2. Boot up. The system should discover that it DOES have USB3 ports but no driver is installed, and install the driver needed. When it's finished, check in Device Manager to verify that its USB3 ports are recognized and the drivers installed properly. Shut down.
3. Plug in the sound system again on the USB3 port you were using. Any USB3 port SHOULD be able to deal properly with a USB2 device connected to it. Boot up, and the system should discover a new sound device plugged into the USB3 port and load that device's driver. Then test whether it works. By the way, that sound system should also have come with some utility to configure and manage it. Check in there to be sure the system is set with volume up high and other settings reasonable.

An additional thought. I would assume that the sound system you have gets all its power from the USB2 port. BUT, does it come with a separate power "brick" that should plug into the wall and the sound system to provide power? If so, you need to use that.

 

[jvcastello99]

I tried what you said and still no audio. I gave up and went to the store to buy a new pair of speakers, but i still followed a tip you gave me: you said my audio system receives digital signals from the port and then runs his OWN audio output system that can play through the speaker set, because he plugs only into one USB2 port. I arrived to a conclusion that my rig simply wont work with a system like this, so i bought another.

I bought a speaker which used USB only for energy feed, and had a P2 connection to route audio. Installed it and immediately heard sound. I don't know exactly why my other speakers wouldn't work and i'm still pretty sure it wasn't a hardware malfunction (i'm using them in my laptop now and they're fine).

But, anyway, from the bottom of my fckng heart, thank you. I wouldn't have even thinked about this solution if it weren't for the information and advice you gave me. Cheers.

 

[Paperdoc]

Glad you got your problem solved. Thanks for Best Solution.