Issue with HTPC sound

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boxterduke

Gawd
Joined
Oct 20, 2006
Messages
541
Hey guys, I started having this issue with my HTPC this past weekend.
It has been working fine since I set it up a year ago.

The PC is a Dell
Windows XP SP3
P4 3gig
1.5 gig ram
Asus ATI AH3450 (AGP)
Sound is onboard
TV Sony KDL46W4100
Sound from TV is connected to the Sony home theater in a box through optical cable.

Connection of PC to TV is as follows.

DVI to HDMI (connected on HDMI 4)
Using the RCA audio connection on HDMI 4 to connect the sound.
So the sound goes from the mini jack of the PC to a mini-to-RCA cable to the RCA connection at the back of the TV that is on
HDMI4.

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Since last week, the issue is intermittent. No sound sometimes comes out. If I switch to cable TV or PS3 the sound is fine but I
go back to PC and no sound. The weird this is that sometimes the sound would come out when windows is logging in but then when no
sound after that. Also sometimes the sound would come out just fine. I would watch movies for a whole night and then once done,
turn off the PC and then the next day it would stop working or it would work and then if I restart the PC, it stops working. Very
intermittent.

I tested by using external speakers and they worked fine.
I plugged in the audio from the PC to the home theater in a box instead of the TV and that worked fine.
I tested the RCA plugs that are with HDMI4 alone using the satellite and the sound came as well.
I used component video cable with the RCA from the TV connecting to component in and the sound came fine, I switched right a way
to HDMI4 and RCA audio to HDMI4 and no sound.

It is only when connecting the PC to the TV on HDMI 4. I noticed that the video card might be trying to pass the sound though
HDMI. But since it is DVI to HDMI no sound is coming out. (I know that no sound comes out when DVI to HDMI). I also used the TV
speakers instead of the sound system and it did not work as well.

I uninstalled the video card drivers and CCC and when restarting the sound came out fine. So I started thinking that the video
card is trying to pass the sound using the HDMI audio driver and blocking the sound coming out from the onboard audio when it is
connected to HDMI4.

I reinstalled using custom options and I did not pick the option to install HDMI audio driver. But when restarting, it was
installed. I checked it by going to control panel and then sounds and looked at the devices tab and found that it is listed there
as possible devices to use for playback. I disabled it and restarted but the sound still does not come out.

Any ideas? Is there a way to force disable the sound from HDMI and just use the onboard sound? I want to use HDMI4 since it has
RCA connection that saves me from having to switch the inputs on the receiver.
I think I narrowed out what the issue is I just need to see if anyone had this issue before and what they did to remedy it. Or if
anyone knows how to force sound through the onboard audio and stop the video card from trying to pass the sound instead. I think
the digital signal from HDMI is winning over the analog from the on board sound.

Hope I made this clear, if you guys want me to clear it more let me know.
 
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Are you using one of those adapters that has a headphone jack on one side and two RCAs on the other? Plugs into the speaker spot of the mobo...
 
Yes, I'm using the mini to RCA cable.
I tested the cable, I used component for video and then the cable for audio and connected to component in at the back of the TV and I had audio, so the cable is fine.
 
Have you tried moving around the mini adapter while its plugged in and playing ? My current one drops or gets static if you move it around. Also, on my TV i had to set it to allow PC audio.

I had a very similar issue to yours and it was a certain window service was not starting. It would play windows sounds but nothing else. Open the control panel and go to sounds and if there is a error there then you have the same problem i did.
 
I tried moving the cable and it is not the cable. The cable is fine.
If I plug it directly into the receiver instead of the TV then the sound is fine.

what I'm thinking is that when plugging into HDMI4, it is telling the TV to take sound from the HDMI and disabling the attached RCA connectors.

I'm saying this because if I plug into the receiver then the sound is fine and if I use external speakers I get sound as well.

So the sound is coming from both the on board sound card and the audio from the video card and when plugging into HDMI4, only HDMI is trying to pass through that is why I'm not getting sound.
 
Hmm, your TV manual says that you should connect exactly how you have and it should work. Your computer doesn't even know you have HDMI connected to it because you have DVI to HDMI and DVI is only output not input. This means that it cant possibly be what you think it is. Your graphics card wont send out sound.

Update sound drivers? You cant think of anything that may have happened recently to have it just stop working? power outage, windows update.
 
The only thing that I happened is that the weekend before, I updated the video card drivers by going to the Asus website and downloading the drivers from there. The reason why I did not mention it here, is that it worked fine for almost a week after that with no sound issues.
I'm thinking of uninstalling them when I get home tonight and then do a driver cleaner and then install the drivers from the CD that came with the video card.
No windows update since I have that disabled and when I do windows update, I choose the ones I want and don't install any hardware drivers from the windows update website.
 
So I got home yesterday and uninstalled the ATI drivers and ran driver cleaner.
I restarted the PC (got sound on shutting down and booting up since the HDMI audio driver is gone now).
Once I logged in I reinstalled the drivers and after restarting, no sound. If I plug the rca into the receiver I get sound but into the TV no sound.
I uninstalled and ran driver cleaner and then installed the drivers that are on the CD that came with the video card.
When I restarted and logged in, I got sound. Since I had a feeling from before that the video card is trying to pass HDMI audio, I unplugged the RCA cables from the HDMI4 and still had sound. The audio is actually passing through the DVI-HDMI cable. So I guess the updated drivers that I downloaded, were not that good.

I use XBMC for my movies and the sound is intermittent in there, so I went to the audio option and picked the "ATI Rear Audio" as the device to use instead of "default audio device"

I'm still testing it, where I turn it off and then turn it on after a bit to see if I still have sound, or sometimes I wait for my sub to turn off and then I start a movie to see if that let the sub kick in. I tested also this morning before coming to work and I still had sound.

I'll keep testing without changing any settings and see if that is the end of it and will post back here if I encounter any issues.

Thanks again for the help

P.S I'm still confused as how is the sound passing through the DVI-HDMI cable.
 
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