Sound problem, bought PC from craigs

[Shawn Dunmire]

Hi guys,

Bought a gaming PC on craigslist. The seller was upfront about the sound issue but hadn't a clue on what the issue was. Basically, none of the sound ports on the case/IO panel work. The headphone jack, mic jack, for the case, as well as the IO panel jacks for 3.5 don't work. (I have not verified if USB audio or HDMI audio works but I assume they would due to normal functionality of those ports with other things. It's an inwin 901 case, with a mimi ITX board.

Question 1: There seems to be more room in the case horizontally for a longer mobo, was thinking I could maybe fit a micro ATX board (in hopes of getting 4 ram slots). Do you guys have any info on this?

Question 2: What the hecks up with the sound? the only PCIE slot is being taken up by my 7970, I'd hate to use an external sound card. I could just buy a monitor that uses HDMI instead of DVI, then output the monitors sound to speakers and call it a day. BUT I would still like to know, for my minds sake, what is the matter.

Thank you so much for reading and helping with my problem.

Strider

 

[justaguywithagun]

does the integrated soundcard show up in windows device manager? does it show up in the bios?

and you should really, really, reformat and do a fresh install of windows for any used PC. you're inheriting any/all software problems that the previous owner had (which they might not have even noticed)

 

[justaguywithagun]

and regarding the case, it apparently only supports mITX. whether or not anything else will fit, youll have to play around with...but i really doubt anything other than mITX will fit

edit: nope, wont fit anything other than mitx

 

[Shawn Dunmire]

does the integrated soundcard show up in windows device manager? does it show up in the bios?

and you should really, really, reformat and do a fresh install of windows for any used PC. you're inheriting any/all software problems that the previous owner had (which they might not have even noticed)

Under "sound, video and game controllers" in the Device Manager, "AMD High Definition Audio Device" is listed.

Also, he didn't give me any of the software disks. No drivers, nothing. So if I were to fully wipe this thing, what do I do? collect all the stuff I need on a usb drive prior?

 

[justaguywithagun]

does the integrated soundcard show up in windows device manager? does it show up in the bios?

and you should really, really, reformat and do a fresh install of windows for any used PC. you're inheriting any/all software problems that the previous owner had (which they might not have even noticed)

Under "sound, video and game controllers" in the Device Manager, "AMD High Definition Audio Device" is listed.

i would bet money thats the hdmi audio from the 7970. disable it while youre in there. then reboot and go into bios, tell me if integrated audio is disabled.

whatre the system specs?

 

[Shawn Dunmire]

does the integrated soundcard show up in windows device manager? does it show up in the bios?

and you should really, really, reformat and do a fresh install of windows for any used PC. you're inheriting any/all software problems that the previous owner had (which they might not have even noticed)

Under "sound, video and game controllers" in the Device Manager, "AMD High Definition Audio Device" is listed.

i would bet money thats the hdmi audio from the 7970. disable it while youre in there. then reboot and go into bios, tell me if integrated audio is disabled.

whatre the system specs?

Intel i5 3470
ASUS P8H77-I
8GB DDR3 1600MHz
AMD Radeon HD 7970
Windows 7 Professional (which I don't have disk for seeing it was his OS he downloaded and couldn't find the disk after he moved)

 

[justaguywithagun]

yeah the AMD hi-def needs to be disabled, for one.
if thats all that shows up in device manager and theres nothing stating that theres a diver problem in the device manager then hopefully its just disabled in the bios. if the audio is enabled in the bios, boot to windows and go back into device manager. scan for hardware changes. if nothing turns up, chances are the IC audio is toast.

always the chance that a windows reformat could maybe fix it, but thats apparently not an option at this point

 

[Shawn Dunmire]

yeah the AMD hi-def needs to be disabled, for one.
if thats all that shows up in device manager and theres nothing stating that theres a diver problem in the device manager then hopefully its just disabled in the bios. if the audio is enabled in the bios, boot to windows and go back into device manager. scan for hardware changes. if nothing turns up, chances are the IC audio is toast.

always the chance that a windows reformat could maybe fix it, but thats apparently not an option at this point

So I went into the BIOS and couldn't locate an area that would tell me about audio disabled or enabled...
Since I don't have the windows disk there is no way for me to reformat?

 

[USAFRet]

For any used PC, a full wipe and reinstall is highly recommended. You never know what the previous owner(s) had in there, or how it was installed, or from what install media and license.

For your protection as well as theirs.

 

[USAFRet]

So I went into the BIOS and couldn't locate an area that would tell me about audio disabled or enabled...
Since I don't have the windows disk there is no way for me to reformat?

Do you have the license key? What OS is it?

 

[Shawn Dunmire]

Windows 7 Professional. No key. I literally only got the tower cables and monitor from him. No disks, no anything else. It's a great computer and I got it for a great price though. What are my solutions given my circumstance regarding starting fresh?

Also, any direction as to the sound issue? And me not finding any section in the bios?

 

[justaguywithagun]

Windows 7 Professional. No key. I literally only got the tower cables and monitor from him. No disks, no anything else. It's a great computer and I got it for a great price though. What are my solutions given my circumstance regarding starting fresh?

Also, any direction as to the sound issue? And me not finding any section in the bios?

a quick google will show you that there are a few programs that can read your windows key from the registry, ive never tried any of them so youre on your own with that.

im not familiar with the bios of your motherboard, but you should find some reference to audio if you scour the bios for information. typically under a section for integrated * or general *

 

[USAFRet]

Windows 7 Professional. No key. I literally only got the tower cables and monitor from him. No disks, no anything else. It's a great computer and I got it for a great price though. What are my solutions given my circumstance regarding starting fresh?

Also, any direction as to the sound issue? And me not finding any section in the bios?

The key is discoverable via MagicalJellyBean or Belarc Advisor.

Windows 7 ISO can be had here:
http://www.w7forums.com/threads/official-windows-7-sp1-iso-image-downloads.12325/

Assuming it is in fact a valid license key, burn that ISO to DVD, install, and activate with that license.

 

[justaguywithagun]

http://us.hardware.info/reviews/3318/4/mini-itx-motherboards-review---part-3-intel-socket-1155-asus-p8h77-i
this review shows that in the EFI bios of your motherboard that the audio controls of the bios are under the advanced tab. other than that youll just have to dig around for it yourself.

 

[Shawn Dunmire]

http://us.hardware.info/reviews/3318/4/mini-itx-motherboards-review---part-3-intel-socket-1155-asus-p8h77-i
this review shows that in the EFI bios of your motherboard that the audio controls of the bios are under the advanced tab. other than that youll just have to dig around for it yourself.

I found the audio section with the help of your link. I enabled both realtek audio sources, and the HD audio was still disabled from before. Logged back into windows, still says no audio devices installed in sounds. Think this might be missing drivers?

 

[USAFRet]

http://us.hardware.info/reviews/3318/4/mini-itx-motherboards-review---part-3-intel-socket-1155-asus-p8h77-i
this review shows that in the EFI bios of your motherboard that the audio controls of the bios are under the advanced tab. other than that youll just have to dig around for it yourself.

I found the audio section with the help of your link. I enabled both realtek audio sources, and the HD audio was still disabled from before. Logged back into windows, still says no audio devices installed in sounds. Think this might be missing drivers?

Yes, missing drivers might well be the problem.

 

[Shawn Dunmire]

http://us.hardware.info/reviews/3318/4/mini-itx-motherboards-review---part-3-intel-socket-1155-asus-p8h77-i
this review shows that in the EFI bios of your motherboard that the audio controls of the bios are under the advanced tab. other than that youll just have to dig around for it yourself.

I found the audio section with the help of your link. I enabled both realtek audio sources, and the HD audio was still disabled from before. Logged back into windows, still says no audio devices installed in sounds. Think this might be missing drivers?

I have navigated to the ASUS site, and found 1 audio driver labeled, "VIA Audio Driver V6.0.1.10100 for Windows XP 64bit & Win7 64bit---(WHQL)."

is this correct you think? also, if it is, should I just download it? or do I have to delete something before hand? I'm not very knowledgeable as to correct driver installation protocol.

Yes, missing drivers might well be the problem.

 

[Shawn Dunmire]

Update: Installed driver and it failed, stating "No HD audio source found"

 

[justaguywithagun]

Update: Installed driver and it failed, stating "No HD audio source found"

did you disable the AMD hi-def audio

 

[Shawn Dunmire]

I did.
as well as enabled one audio thing in bios that was disabled. regarding realtek.

 

[justaguywithagun]

is there a driver package installed already for the audio? if there is, uninstall it. reboot windows and see if it picks up any audio hardware related to the mobo. what exactly is showing up in device manager for audio controllers?


the driver package seems like its the right one, although i cant find -any- info about the audio chip used.

 

[Shawn Dunmire]

There was a driver package. I did as you said and uninstalled. I rebooted, and my computer automatically found the drivers I installed from asus mentioned previously. I was excited, though when it finished installing, I saw that it was just for AMD HD audio again. When disabling the AMD HD audio, and trying to reinstall the driver again, it gave me the same error. "No HD audio source found".

I think that port on the motherboard just isn't working anymore. Do you agree? Going forward I have a few options:

1) Simply purchase a monitor / tv with built in speakers that uses HDMI input and bypass the whole auxiliary port problem.
2) Purchase speakers that use USB input/ouput?
3) Buy a new motherboard.

Since I want a bigger screen than the 23" Dell IPS that came with this computer, in my opinion, should go with option 1 or 2. If the TV had good enough speakers I'd be happy. Or option 2, if TV speakers suck (usually the case) and get a set of USB style speakers. That being said, it's weird to me that the CASE headphone and mic 3.5mm's aren't working either, not just the IO panel ones.

 

[USAFRet]

You still need to go back to square 1 and reinstall the OS. Start fresh.

 

[Shawn Dunmire]

Okay, thank you. I will be back. You guys are the best.

 

[Shawn Dunmire]

You still need to go back to square 1 and reinstall the OS. Start fresh.

Okay so, I am frustrated. I plugged in my USB flash drive to start downloading drivers from the ASUS website. and of course, the drive isn't showing up in my computer section. Though, the computer does see it in drive management. *shrug*

I placed a dvd-rw in the computer, i have one disk made of the ISO for windows 7.

Can you take a look at this and tell me what drivers I should download to the dvd that I'll need after reinstalling windows 7

http://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/P8H77I/HelpDesk_Download/