No audio: Gigabyte GA-X38-DQ6, Vista 64-bit

[c0d1f1ed]

Hi all,

I recently got a Gigabyte GA-X38-DQ6, and while I'm quite pleased with this board I haven't been able to get a single tone out of my speakers yet.

I'm running Vista Ultimate 64-bit (not a fresh install), and in the taskbar it tells met that "No Audio Output Device is installed". Looking in the Device Manager there is also no sign of anything for audio. I've updated the BIOS to the latest version, installed the Realtek driver for ALC889A chip, installed all chipset drivers. Nothing. In the BIOS the Azalea codec is also enabled.

I've noticed that during POST, no audio device is in the PCI Devices Listing, but I'm not sure if there should be one...

All ideas welcome,

Nicolas

 

[cozumel]

I've just built a system around the DS4 and had a similar problem. I've never had to do the following on other build but it was the only way it worked for me.

1. Install Vista Ultimate
2. Download all Vista updates
3. Unplug router and reboot
4. Install chipset and all relevant Gigabyte software
5. Reboot and (hopefully) voila!!

I re-installed Ultimate about three times before I could get the goddam realtek device fully working. Before that it showed it as operating correctly but would not detect speakers. Must have been a Gigabyte thing.

Good luck!!

 

[c0d1f1ed]

Thanks for the information. I'd rather not reinstall Windows though, since this is a development system with quite a bit of software on it and many personal configurations (it costs me two whole days to become productive again).

I tried Driver Cleaner 1.5, which was able to remove all Realtek drivers. But rebooting and reinstalling the latest driver did not help.

If anyone could confirm to me that the PCI Devices Listing during POST should or should not contain any audio device, I'd know for sure whether I have some broken hardware. Thanks a lot.

 

[cozumel]

Originally posted by: c0d1f1edIf anyone could confirm to me that the PCI Devices Listing during POST should or should not contain any audio device, I'd know for sure whether I have some broken hardware. Thanks a lot.

I do not have any audio listed on the PCI devices during POST. I just rebooted to check.


On page 98 of your x38 manual (which I've just downloaded) you have the following:

Before installing the audio driver, make sure the "Microsoft UAA Bus driver for High Defintion Audio" has been installed from the motherboard driver disk and your operating system has been updated with the latest Service Pack for Windows.

Now, if you are like me and didn't read this first then this would be the cause of the problem. It took me almost two days to get the sound working. The realtek icon was in the taskbar but in Vistas sound device contol panel it was showing no speakers connected.

Anyhow, if it helps, here is Gigabyte driver download from October or there is an updated driver released December 12th from Realtek R1.83 that maybe able to get things working. Both include Microsoft driver within installation.

Of course, I am being fully optimistic and assuming you have no hardware problems. But from my experience with Gigabyte mobos they have strange quirkiness but are good. This is my third Gigabyte mobo I am running. The other two are still working fine and never had problems.

 

[c0d1f1ed]

Originally posted by: cozumel
I do not have any audio listed on the PCI devices during POST. I just rebooted to check.

Thank you!

On page 98 of your x38 manual (which I've just downloaded) you have the following...

As far as I know the UAA driver is for XP only. Vista should already have it built in. That's why the Gigabyte driver page does not list a UAA driver for Vista.

It's dissapointing that the latest Windows is still not free of driver problems. I guess I'll have to bite the bullet and reinstall Vista...

 

[orionmgomg]

He, I just got one of these boards, loaded all the drivers, etc and I had no sound issues at all...

I have a GA-X38T-DQ6 (DDR3 version) as well and I was able to over clock the CPU and the memory with the original BIOS, but when I went to install the newest BIOS, I think F5a? I can no longer overclock the CPU - the memory is DDR3 1600 but it is being forced to run at 1280 and that is kinda pissing me off becaue I bought the board only to find out it was DDR3 - expensive, but I desided to buy 400$ worth of DDR3 just as well, why return the board, etc - and now its not even utelizing the full DDR3... Any good Gigabyte forums? Any info on where I can look to find Gigabyte Mobo OC guides? Any help appriciated...

 

[c0d1f1ed]

I installed Windows XP on a separate partition, but still could't get the sound working...

Does that mean the hardware is broken or does anyone still have a last idea left that I could try? Thanks for all the help.

 

[tenax]

have you checked to see if you have both a microsoft and realtek audio device?if you don't have a microsoft listed in there or they don't install in the proper order, might be your problem? (UAA before the realtek, may require reboots in between)
do a search or post over at the avs forums..that bunch there are a lot more up on audio than most computer forums, honestly. if you don't have the UUA installed, that still maybe your problem assuming it is with vista, but i don't run vista so i'm not going to say that's it for sure. i can only say that when i switched from a p965 to a p35 gigabyte board, i had to install the UUA properly first and reboot then install the realtek driver for it to work. as an htpc owner, the onboard sound was a disappointment in more than a few ways (yes, you can get dst decode, but with spdif it puts out only a 48 sample rate, not 44.1 and if you go to an earlier driver, you get all the sample rates back, no dts)

i ended up putting my bluegears enspire audio card back on the board and i'm happy as a clam again and reminds me one more time to.."stay away from realtek audio".

 

[cozumel]

When you re-installed Vista did you do everything as per post #2?

 

[emfiend]

A shot in the dark, but by any chance do you have a front panel audio header connected to the MB? Would having an Azalea codec on an AC3 header be causing some sort of conflict?

 

[c0d1f1ed]

Originally posted by: emfiend
A shot in the dark, but by any chance do you have a front panel audio header connected to the MB? Would having an Azalea codec on an AC3 header be causing some sort of conflict?

I had an AC3 front panel plugged in when I booted the board for the first time. But I unplugged it for the Windows XP installation and still didn't get a sign of functioning hardware.

Anyway, I'll probably just buy an X-Fi sound card...

 

[Chuck]

I had similar issues. I'm not 100% sure how I fixed it, but I think the audio device only shows up when you plug in the speaker (it has detection when you put the cable in), and then us the Realtek audio manager to tell it what the cable was you just plugged in. You then need to restart the audio app that you're using to test sound (as it will be using another audio device)

 

[GoaGas]

Hi,
Like Chuck "I had similar issues. I'm not 100% sure how I fixed it" the only difference was that I had DS4 version of the M/B & was trying to get my Razer sound card to work. I knew there may be a problem as OpenAL (?) wasn't supported by Vista, but Razer had a Beta64 driver. So I tried - What a nightmare! Razer in; Razer & Realtek in; Razer out - nothing!; Both out - It works!!! - configured through the "Speakers" in "Sounds & Audio" / "Hardware" control panel. Tried again adding the Razer & plugged the speakers to it & it works as long as default device was "Speakers". It meant that the Razer Control panel did not function. The 1st time it worked must have been with the Azelia codec on the M/B but bypassing the Realtek C Panel.
However it didn't last long - the next day I tried to configure my Colour Callibration equipment for Monitor, scanner, printer - NO Way!! It was back to my old foe - XP!

Ps: Why do people buy computer games when they always have Windows to battle with?