Question No sound at all in Windows after updating motherboard BIOS (UEFI) and my Nvidia GPU drivers ?

[very_452001]

Hello,

Here my specs:

- MSi A520M-A PRO Motherboard

- Gamemax RPG Rampage 700W PSU 80 Plus Bronze.
- AMD Ryzen 5 5600 Processor with its stock Fan Cooler.
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti Graphics
- 16GB of DDR4 RAM running at 3200MHz
- 1TB M2 NVME SSD

- Windows 11 Pro

I game on my LG CX aka LG C10 OLED TV. My PC is connected to my TV via a HDMI v2.1 cable from my Graphics Card.

I noticed no sound at all in Windows after updating my motherboard Bios UEFI and my Nvidia GPU drivers. I'm not sure whether the updates has caused this no sound issue for sure however I do remember sound was working before the updates I did. It could be windows updates in the background that caused this, who knows for sure? What sound settings do I check in Bios Uefi or how do I diagnose the no sound problem in Windows?

Does the audio chipset on my motherboard provide sound output or is it my 3060 Ti Graphics card and how do I get the sound back on? What's the most common fix for this?

My TV supports Dolby Atmos, how do I optimise my Windows Gaming PC to output audio in Dolby Atmos to see if that fixes the no sound issue and does the 3060 Ti support Dolby Atmos output support?

Cheers,

 

[dwd999]

My TV supports Dolby Atmos, how do I optimise my Windows Gaming PC to output audio in Dolby Atmos to see if that fixes the no sound issue and does the 3060 Ti support Dolby Atmos output support?

Cheers,

In the Microsoft Store there's a Dolby Access app that supports atmos; just install it for speakers and not for headphones. There's a free 3 day trial so if it doesn't work you can just uninstall it.

 

[boju]

It's possible only missing audio components with Nvidia driver. Go here https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/drivers/ input system fields and grab the latest driver. Run custom clean install option.

Once done audio should work. Just might need to set audio to tv in audio playback devices in Windows if it doesn't do it automatically.

 

[Nafryti]

I do like the specs on that TV, however, to answer your question about the audio, that would be supplied by the GPU via the GPU Drivers, I recommend @boju's answer for clean installing your drivers. And would further suggest not using HDMI-2 as that port is for sending BACK audio data to a Soundbar or other device that would receive the HDMI-ARC audio signal.

Other features to consider, going through your Nvidia control panel to enable G-Sync compatible on the TV for Fullscreen and Windowed applications, and then enabling Variable Refresh Rate through Windows Settings > System > Display > Graphics > "Change default graphics settings" > Variable refresh rate. While you're here you can squeeze out some more performance with "Hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling"

ADDITIONALLY:
Is there a speaker in your task tray with a red line over it? If so this could be the work of the antiquated sound manager just giving up. I've had plenty of issues trying to stream with a ton of features like Voicemeeter and Voicemod and Music, and OBS all running audio pipelines this way and that. Simply put, Microsoft needs to get off their butt and update the sound manager's robustness so it stops dying after several dozen pipelines are started up.
If you still have a speaker showing without the red line, then it could just be a case of simply choosing the default sound device again, Windows loves to change your defaults when one device suddenly disappears from the list. I've been searching for a means to force stop Windows from doing that, no such luck yet. Seems Windows 10 was far better for handling audio devices than 11 is.

Looking over your specs, the only thing i would point at to being slightly out of spec would be the HDMI cable, your TV supports HDMI 2.2 (we have 2.2 now?), and while that's not necessarily going to be a smoking gun to me IDK what HDMI version is on the GPU. I do like your setup, seems odd that the audio stopped working after a Mobo BIOS update and GPU driver update.
I'd really blame windows' stupidity of changing devices without your consent, give that a look over, then reinstall the drivers if the device is showing enabled as default and still nothing comes out.

Remember, Windows 11 allows you to choose which device apps will play audio on, be sure you haven't accidentally told the app you're trying to play from to play on something completely unused.

 

[boju]

Long as display gives 120Hz at 4k the Hdmi cable is 2.1 spec. @Kamikazi2142 where are you seeing Hdmi 2.2?

 

[Nafryti]

Long as display gives 120Hz at 4k the Hdmi cable is 2.1 spec. @Kamikazi2142 where are you seeing Hdmi 2.2?

Apologies, I misread HDCP 2.2

LG CX 55-inch Class 4K Smart OLED TV w/ AI ThinQ® | LG USA

Get even more from your viewing experience with the 55-inch LG OLED Smart TV, with 4K visuals and AI ThinQ® technology.

www.lg.com

 

[boju]

Yeah I was wondering maybe i advanced to the future 😁

 

[very_452001]

In the Microsoft Store there's a Dolby Access app that supports atmos; just install it for speakers and not for headphones. There's a free 3 day trial so if it doesn't work you can just uninstall it.

Okay just to confirm its not free for headphones, but free for life for other outputs like my HDMI TV?

 

[very_452001]

It's possible only missing audio components with Nvidia driver. Go here https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/drivers/ input system fields and grab the latest driver. Run custom clean install option.

Once done audio should work. Just might need to set audio to tv in audio playback devices in Windows if it doesn't do it automatically.

When running the Nvidia installer, I remember selecting the Custom Install route and the installer showed me on screen that the Audio Driver and PhysX Driver current versions are the same as the new latest version so I did not update these as there's no point right so I just did the clean install on the Graphics Drivers.

Did I do right?

 

[very_452001]

Okay I'm using HDMI-1 port.

Other features to consider, going through your Nvidia control panel to enable G-Sync compatible on the TV for Fullscreen and Windowed applications, and then enabling Variable Refresh Rate through Windows Settings > System > Display > Graphics > "Change default graphics settings" > Variable refresh rate. While you're here you can squeeze out some more performance with "Hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling"

Great, any other Optimisations that you suggest I do? I am using hdmi v2.1 cable. I'm sure the 3060 Ti GPU has hdmi 2.1 port and my tv has hdmi 2.1 port too.

If you still have a speaker showing without the red line, then it could just be a case of simply choosing the default sound device again, Windows loves to change your defaults when one device suddenly disappears from the list. I've been searching for a means to force stop Windows from doing that, no such luck yet. Seems Windows 10 was far better for handling audio devices than 11 is.

Yes I can see the speaker with no redline on it. Doesn't Windows 11 recognise there's only 1 output that is my TV device so why windows changing the defaults to other devices that I don't have?

 

[dwd999]

Okay just to confirm its not free for headphones, but free for life for other outputs like my HDMI TV?

No, its not free for hdmi tv.

 

[dwd999]

Okay I'm using HDMI-1 port.



Great, any other Optimisations that you suggest I do? I am using hdmi v2.1 cable. I'm sure the 3060 Ti GPU has hdmi 2.1 port and my tv has hdmi 2.1 port too.



Yes I can see the speaker with no redline on it. Doesn't Windows 11 recognise there's only 1 output that is my TV device so why windows changing the defaults to other devices that I don't have?

Go into the Control Panel Sound app and Disable any device you don't have so that only the TV is Enabled.

 

[very_452001]

No, its not free for hdmi tv.

I see its free on Xbox.

 

[boju]

When running the Nvidia installer, I remember selecting the Custom Install route and the installer showed me on screen that the Audio Driver and PhysX Driver current versions are the same as the new latest version so I did not update these as there's no point right so I just did the clean install on the Graphics Drivers.

Did I do right?

I meant use custom install so it uninstalls and reinstalls every component, in case there's corruption with audio.

After that make TV as default audio source if not already in playback devices. Check TV audio settings too that optical/ external audio hasn't somehow turned itself on.

3060Ti has Hdmi 2.1, all 30 series does.

 

[very_452001]

I meant use custom install so it uninstalls and reinstalls every component, in case there's corruption with audio.

After that make TV as default audio source if not already in playback devices. Check TV audio settings too that optical/ external audio hasn't somehow turned itself on.

3060Ti has Hdmi 2.1, all 30 series does.

Hi in the Sound window in Windows I see my LG TV High definition audio device which is green ticked set as default device. I click on Test and I can visually see the green audio frequency bars playing flashing up and down but cant hear no sound at all.

For my tv setings do I set PCM or Bitstream for HDMI audio input? Does the 3060 Ti support pcm or bitstream over hdmi and which is the correct one for dolby atmos?

 

[boju]

Not sure about Atmos but that shouldn't matter hearing audio from TV speakers. Something else is going on. You don't have anything plugged in to headphone out on TV?

 

[Nafryti]

Hi in the Sound window in Windows I see my LG TV High definition audio device which is green ticked set as default device. I click on Test and I can visually see the green audio frequency bars playing flashing up and down but cant hear no sound at all.

For my tv setings do I set PCM or Bitstream for HDMI audio input? Does the 3060 Ti support pcm or bitstream over hdmi and which is the correct one for dolby atmos?

oh... OH!
Did you perhaps accidentally turn the TV volume down or did the TV disable audio output to speakers? or perhaps it's trying to bypass the audio down the HDMI-2 ARC channel, or the Optical, etc, check the settings on the TV. My first order of troubleshooting would be to check what the TV volume is at, and then the volume level the output is at in Sound Manager, then you'll want to check if you're outputting a supported format like PCM 2 Channel, etc, then look into the advanced settings for the bitrate and depth, sometimes TV's only support 48Khz rate at 16bit depth.

I'll check back again later!

 

[very_452001]

Not sure about Atmos but that shouldn't matter hearing audio from TV speakers. Something else is going on. You don't have anything plugged in to headphone out on TV?

No nothing connected to my tv except the PC connected via Hdmi.

 

[very_452001]

oh... OH!
Did you perhaps accidentally turn the TV volume down or did the TV disable audio output to speakers? or perhaps it's trying to bypass the audio down the HDMI-2 ARC channel, or the Optical, etc, check the settings on the TV. My first order of troubleshooting would be to check what the TV volume is at, and then the volume level the output is at in Sound Manager, then you'll want to check if you're outputting a supported format like PCM 2 Channel, etc, then look into the advanced settings for the bitrate and depth, sometimes TV's only support 48Khz rate at 16bit depth.

I'll check back again later!

TV volume at normal. Checked tv settings and the settings look right, I see tv speakers selected in my tv menu. I am using hdmi1 port of the tv. There's 2 settings on my tv that is Bitstream or PCM. Which one does the 3060 Ti GPU supports for Dolby Atmos Output?

Yes in Sound Manager I can visually see the green sound bars/frequencies going up and down when I click on test audio but cant hear no sound at all.

Yes please check again.

 

[kerberos_20]

TV volume at normal. Checked tv settings and the settings look right, I see tv speakers selected in my tv menu. I am using hdmi1 port of the tv. There's 2 settings on my tv that is Bitstream or PCM. Which one does the 3060 Ti GPU supports for Dolby Atmos Output?

Yes in Sound Manager I can visually see the green sound bars/frequencies going up and down when I click on test audio but cant hear no sound at all.

Yes please check again.

PCM for normal audio, bitsream for atmos...that is you need to play atmos content to hear atmos sounds, normal windows sound is PCM, your TV doesnt have auto option? that would be preffered

 

[Nafryti]

TV volume at normal. Checked tv settings and the settings look right, I see tv speakers selected in my tv menu. I am using hdmi1 port of the tv. There's 2 settings on my tv that is Bitstream or PCM. Which one does the 3060 Ti GPU supports for Dolby Atmos Output?

Yes in Sound Manager I can visually see the green sound bars/frequencies going up and down when I click on test audio but cant hear no sound at all.

Yes please check again.

Your best practice will be to abandon the push for Dolby Atmos as you will not output anything 100% using Dolby Atmos, or Dolby Digital, or technically Dolby anything. It will be PCM by default, so I suggest just setting your TV to PCM.

Located here your TV will display the Supported Formats:

https://imgur.com/3QiIGUs

and here to select the default format your device will output:

https://imgur.com/XGRZOw4

If you don't see the formats you're wanting to use in the Supported Formats, then it's not supported in that configuration.

 

[very_452001]

Your best practice will be to abandon the push for Dolby Atmos as you will not output anything 100% using Dolby Atmos, or Dolby Digital, or technically Dolby anything. It will be PCM by default, so I suggest just setting your TV to PCM.

Located here your TV will display the Supported Formats:

https://imgur.com/3QiIGUs

and here to select the default format your device will output:

https://imgur.com/XGRZOw4

If you don't see the formats you're wanting to use in the Supported Formats, then it's not supported in that configuration.

Okay I changed my tv setting to PCM, I went to the sound settings window you shown in windows, selected the bit depths and sample rates that my tv supports. Now the sound is muted breaking up like every 1 sec.

 

[Nafryti]

Okay I changed my tv setting to PCM, I went to the sound settings window you shown in windows, selected the bit depths and sample rates that my tv supports. Now the sound is muted breaking up like every 1 sec.

how can you hear it break up if it's muted?

 

[very_452001]

how can you hear it break up if it's muted?

Sorry I mean there sound but its muted every 1 sec.

New nvidia drivers released today. I do the clean install as suggested above to see if that fixes it. Is it safe to delete the extracted Nvidia folder in the root C: drive before install?

After doing the install above and still no sound then what shall I do? Is there a way to reset all the sound settings to default in windows? Also is there a way to reset the sound settings in nvidia settings? What about sound in device manager?

Cheers,

 

[boju]

Sorry I mean there sound but its muted every 1 sec.

Changing audio settings bit rate etc gave partial sound then? I don't understand relevance to this compared to your original problem with no sound at all.

Could try DDU (display driver uninstaller) and use it to remove everything Nvidia and start fresh. Yes you can delete extracted Nvidia driver from c drive once install finishes. Think from memory there's an option you can tick that lets installer delete downloaded/ extracted files after installing.