Big help with sound needed!

[chimpy]

OK, my motherboard is a K8N Neo4 Platinum. I just built my computer last week, and it's been running pretty nicely, except for this majorly annoying and weird sound problem.

I'm using onboard sound. I installed the drivers from the disc that came my motherboard (the drivers are called something like Realtek AC97). My speakers are some Altec Lansing 2.1s.

In the speaker manual, it says to hook the speakers up to the GREEN jack at the back of my computer (on the motherboard). I tried, but I could not hear anything except white noise (faint nothingness, like when changing radio stations) when I turned the speakers up really loud.

..So I tried the BLACK jack. It worked! I could listen to all my songs in iTunes perfectly!

Now here's the problem - not ALL sounds play. I installed and loaded Half Life 2 and Far Cry. Neither of them had any sound at all (sound was enabled in the settings and everything). I tried GTA: SA, and sound works. Well, kind of - I can hear the pedestrians talking, other cars, car horns. I CANNOT hear the radio, and noise in cutscenes at all, or the sound of the vehicle I'm driving. Weird.

Also, I can;t hear any Windows sounds (I'm using Windows XP Home w/SP2). Like I can't hear the sound Nero plays when it's finished burning, the log off sound, anything like that either.

So - what is causing the lack of sound? Please, please help, I can;t play any games right now! If anyone has ANY solution that might work, please say. If you need any more info, just ask. *fingers crossed*

 

[imported_Kensai]

Check the speaker setup and the advanced settings for sound.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Sounds like you're getting the surround signal to your speakers and not the main audio.

Do you have your sound utility program set to 2.1 speakers?
Is anything muted?

Driver update?

 

[chimpy]

Kensai - I've checked all the settings in the control panel, everything seems fine.

YOyoYOhowsDAjello - Nope, nothings muted as far as I know.
What is my sound utility program? In control panel > sound & audio devices it's set up as 'desktop speakers', if that;s what you mean.
Where would I go for a driver update? I checked Windows Update and nothing was found.

What is the black port usually for? Because you're meant to use the green port, right? How come whenever I use the green port, I get nothing but white nise, when I turn it up really loud?

Thanks for the help so far btw,

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: chimpy
Kensai - I've checked all the settings in the control panel, everything seems fine.

YOyoYOhowsDAjello - Nope, nothings muted as far as I know.
What is my sound utility program? In control panel > sound & audio devices it's set up as 'desktop speakers', if that;s what you mean.
Where would I go for a driver update? I checked Windows Update and nothing was found.

What is the black port usually for? Because you're meant to use the green port, right? How come whenever I use the green port, I get nothing but white nise, when I turn it up really loud?

Thanks for the help so far btw,

Green is usually front out, Black rear/surround out.

Go to your motherboard's website and look for an update there.

Did you install your audio drivers? There should be a program in your start menu to control things. It might be in a folder in the name of your motherboard manufacturer.

Sounds like it's a setting issue to me... that or something is actually wrong with your integrated sound.

 

[chimpy]

OK, well I've looked in the control panel and I can;t find anything that might cause this, or make the green jack not work or anything.

I'm downloading this right now: http://www.msi.com.tw/program/support/d.../dvr/spt_dvr_detail.php?UID=637&kind=1 - the bottom one, in the faint hope it will fix it (though I've already installed the drivers that came with my motherboard, so I doubbt it will fix it).

There isn't anything to do with MSI or anything like that in the Start Menu, or anywhere in fact.

Hmmm, what are the chances of the sound working perfectly if I get an Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 Value 7.1 PCI Sound Card?

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

If you have a 2.1 speaker system, a Chaintech AV710 would be a good cheap card to get.

There isn't an integrated sound utility program in your Control Panel either?

 

[chimpy]

Oops, yes there is a sound utility program in my Control Panel. Sorry! It's a bit confusing though. With the speakers still in the black jack, it was set up like this: http://img335.imageshack.us/img335/2504/sound0ad.jpg

When I click on auto-test it would go through all the speakers, one by one, and my speakers played the test sound as if they were the back speakers. (I hope that made sense, tell me if it didn't)

I tried putting my speakers into the green jack, but it didn't do anything at all. It's as if that particular jack is dead or something.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: chimpy
Oops, yes there is a sound utility program in my Control Panel. Sorry! It's a bit confusing though. With the speakers still in the black jack, it was set up like this: http://img335.imageshack.us/img335/2504/sound0ad.jpg

When I click on auto-test it would go through all the speakers, one by one, and my speakers played the test sound as if they were the back speakers. (I hope that made sense, tell me if it didn't)

I tried putting my speakers into the green jack, but it didn't do anything at all. It's as if that particular jack is dead or something.

Sounds like you're doing the right stuff...

Maybe something got messed up during the driver installation.

You could try switching the settings to 8 channel to see if that helps your output from the green jack (or whatever output is now front according to the program).

Just a dumb thing to check - you're sure you're plugged into the green jack when testing that and not like the blue jack or something, right (sometimes they don't make the colors as vibrant as they could)

Maybe try uninstalling and reinstalling the sound drivers and utility program.

You could also try e-mailing MSI to see if they have any knowledge of the problem.

 

[chimpy]

I tried switching to 8 channel, it STILL didn't work!

Yeah, I'm sure I plugged them into the green jack, I used a torch and everything!

I've installed the drivers, but it requires a restart. I'm downloading something right now, so I will restart tomorrow.

If I did get a soundcard such as the Chaintech, would the speakers definately work then? Because I was thinking of getting a soundcard anyway, so I certainly wouldn;t mind buying one if it meant I could play games with sound!

Thanks again for the help btw, I really appreciate it

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

I'd hate to guarantee that it would solve your problem and have it not work, but it seems like you're doing everything you should and your speakers work, so I'd suspect a new soundcard would solve the problem.

 

[chimpy]

OK, so I will get a soundcard. And if that doesn't work I don't know what I'll do! How would I go about installing the sound card though? Would I just turn my PC off, put the sound card into a PCI slot, plug speakers into green jack on sound card and switch on the comouter? Or would I have to disable the onboard sound or something first?

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

I think best method would be to uninstall the sound drivers/utility program before anything else.

Oh, and also download and save the new drivers for your new soundcard at this time.
(Ones that come on cds tend to be out of date)

Turn the computer off and install the new card.

Turn on the computer and go into BIOS before windows loads. Disable your onboard sound.

Then restart normally and go into windows. It should detect that there's a new device in your comptuer.
When it wants to install, point it to the drivers that you downloaded before you shut your computer off.

After a restart, everything should be cool.

 

[chimpy]

OK thank you very much for all the advice. I will get an Audigy 2 Value when I get back from my holidays (can't find the Chaintech). Thanks!

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: chimpy
OK thank you very much for all the advice. I will get an Audigy 2 Value when I get back from my holidays (can't find the Chaintech). Thanks!

newegg?

 

[chimpy]

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Originally posted by: chimpy
OK thank you very much for all the advice. I will get an Audigy 2 Value when I get back from my holidays (can't find the Chaintech). Thanks!

newegg?

No can do, I live in England.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: chimpy

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Originally posted by: chimpy
OK thank you very much for all the advice. I will get an Audigy 2 Value when I get back from my holidays (can't find the Chaintech). Thanks!

newegg?

No can do, I live in England.

oops, forgot.

 

[chimpy]

It's ok. So is it possible for one particular jack to be dead? (the green one in my case)

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: chimpy
It's ok. So is it possible for one particular jack to be dead? (the green one in my case)

Possible.

If you can, you might want to try the soundcard in a different computer and see if anything changes.

 

[x0rsw1tch]

Before uninstalliung drivers, make sure your control panel is set to 2 or 2.1 speakers since that is that you have... If your not using SPDIF digital inputs (ie: coax/optical) and using your generic headphone type jack, then it should go into the green jack.. Uncheck the option for digital audio and set your speaker setup to 2.1

You can do this in the sounds and audio devices in the control panel... Make sure to match the settings with the sound options for the realtek drivers. using a 5.1/6.1/7.1 setup for a 2.1 speaker system is causing this issue.

 

[Waterskier1]

Yeah, what x0rsw said. You have 6 CH Speaker selected in the jpg (see right above the picture). Click on the drop down arrow and see if you can select Stereo, or 2 Ch or 2.1 Ch. If your speakers are like my nephews, you only take the Right and Left channels from the computer, and the circuitry in the Speakers has a filter of some sort to send the bass to the subwolfer and the right and left to the appropriate speakers. I'm almost sure your problem is a settings issue.

 

[chimpy]

Yeah I thought it might have been a settings problem too, but I'd poked around EVERYWHERE, and couldn't find a solution. Oh well, I've got a nice Audigy2 Value now, works perfectly! Thanks for the help though.