Hi
I have sort of unusual and frustrating sound problem. My desktop is an older AMD 955 Phenom BE with a Gigabyte motherboard. Yeah, it's old, but still works great for daily work. It has always been a solid reliable setup and until recently I have never had sound problems before. I've always ran Windows 7 and Ubuntu flavors, and sound has always worked on both partitions in the past.
Well, the computer sat unused for three years while I was overseas. Came back to the States and fired it up one day. Everything seemed okay, but I didn't check the sound. Next I took it apart and put the motherboard in my suitcase --fairly well protected-- and took it to Asia, where I bought a new case for it. All back together and everything seemed okay, but then I noticed no sound. Okay, did a fresh install of Windows 7 and Linux Mint 17. Hmm, still no sound. Messed around with Alsa setting and the usual Realtek settings in Windows 7. Nothing, no sound out of front or back audio jacks on the motherboard. But in both Windows and Mint I get the jumping green bars in the sound settings like everything is fine, both with regular analog and SPDIF, but only a faint hiss on speakers. The BIOS is updated too.
EXCEPT, I do have sound through the motherboard integrated AMD graphics HDMI port using a Dell monitor with a sound output. That's the only sound that works. However, I wanted to have two monitors, so I put the old 9800 GT video card back in, and then two monitors worked. But again, no sound.
Next, I read about a hack of using jumpers to jump from the S/PDIF sound out on the motherboard to the video card. Followed the instructions carefully and also used a DVI-HDMI adapter for the Dell monitor. Didn't work of course.
Next step. I ordered a cheap, simple 5 channel sound card off Ebay. Put that in, loaded the drivers (CMI 8738). Everything seemed okay, again green bars jumping around in both Windows and Mint, so sound card recognized and drivers loaded. But no sound. Turned off inboard sound too and tried that. Same, with both Windows and Linux. Green bars of active sound on new sound card, but nothing out. Basically identical problem to Realtek sound. I also tried a live boot of Mint, and it recognized and loaded the new sound card but again no sound.
So basically I have a decent desktop with two monitors and no sound. If I want sound I have to turn off the graphics card in BIOS, and plug into HDMI inboard graphics and use the Dell monitor with a speaker. So basically, I can only play COD with no sound because I have to use the graphics card, and do dual monitor daily work with zero sound as my motherboard does not support simultaneous DVI and HDMI out. For sound I can only use the one Dell monitor with no graphics card.
I think something is physically broken on my motherboard because both Windows and Linux have the same problems, which is unusual. In the past when something didn't work in Linux it usually worked in Windows. Anyone have any suggestions or ideas? Am I overlooking something? Will USB sound work, or is that another lost cause?
Thanks much for reading.
Specs: AMD Phemon 955 BE
GA-MA78GM-US2H Gigabyte motherboard
8 gigs of DDR2 ram
Nvidia 9800 GT video card
700 watt PSU
Window 7 and Linux Mint 17.3
I have sort of unusual and frustrating sound problem. My desktop is an older AMD 955 Phenom BE with a Gigabyte motherboard. Yeah, it's old, but still works great for daily work. It has always been a solid reliable setup and until recently I have never had sound problems before. I've always ran Windows 7 and Ubuntu flavors, and sound has always worked on both partitions in the past.
Well, the computer sat unused for three years while I was overseas. Came back to the States and fired it up one day. Everything seemed okay, but I didn't check the sound. Next I took it apart and put the motherboard in my suitcase --fairly well protected-- and took it to Asia, where I bought a new case for it. All back together and everything seemed okay, but then I noticed no sound. Okay, did a fresh install of Windows 7 and Linux Mint 17. Hmm, still no sound. Messed around with Alsa setting and the usual Realtek settings in Windows 7. Nothing, no sound out of front or back audio jacks on the motherboard. But in both Windows and Mint I get the jumping green bars in the sound settings like everything is fine, both with regular analog and SPDIF, but only a faint hiss on speakers. The BIOS is updated too.
EXCEPT, I do have sound through the motherboard integrated AMD graphics HDMI port using a Dell monitor with a sound output. That's the only sound that works. However, I wanted to have two monitors, so I put the old 9800 GT video card back in, and then two monitors worked. But again, no sound.
Next, I read about a hack of using jumpers to jump from the S/PDIF sound out on the motherboard to the video card. Followed the instructions carefully and also used a DVI-HDMI adapter for the Dell monitor. Didn't work of course.
Next step. I ordered a cheap, simple 5 channel sound card off Ebay. Put that in, loaded the drivers (CMI 8738). Everything seemed okay, again green bars jumping around in both Windows and Mint, so sound card recognized and drivers loaded. But no sound. Turned off inboard sound too and tried that. Same, with both Windows and Linux. Green bars of active sound on new sound card, but nothing out. Basically identical problem to Realtek sound. I also tried a live boot of Mint, and it recognized and loaded the new sound card but again no sound.
So basically I have a decent desktop with two monitors and no sound. If I want sound I have to turn off the graphics card in BIOS, and plug into HDMI inboard graphics and use the Dell monitor with a speaker. So basically, I can only play COD with no sound because I have to use the graphics card, and do dual monitor daily work with zero sound as my motherboard does not support simultaneous DVI and HDMI out. For sound I can only use the one Dell monitor with no graphics card.
I think something is physically broken on my motherboard because both Windows and Linux have the same problems, which is unusual. In the past when something didn't work in Linux it usually worked in Windows. Anyone have any suggestions or ideas? Am I overlooking something? Will USB sound work, or is that another lost cause?
Thanks much for reading.
Specs: AMD Phemon 955 BE
GA-MA78GM-US2H Gigabyte motherboard
8 gigs of DDR2 ram
Nvidia 9800 GT video card
700 watt PSU
Window 7 and Linux Mint 17.3
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