No sound from anything but R and L

cshenderson

Distinguished
Dec 15, 2006
5
0
18,510
One day I had no surround

At this time I was using integrated sound

Troubleshooting:
1. Looked at and played with every concievable windows sound control.
2. Made sure I had the lateest drivers, checked for hardware or driver conflicts
3. Made sure my speakers/amp/etc were working, (cross plugged in speaker sets to check).
4. Added soundblaser Live! value card to my system (afer disabling onboard in BIOS)... left and right but no center/rear LR. Went all over the soundblaster utils and windows controls.
5. Removed Soundblaster, install Ensoniq. Same business.
6. Re-Installed XP (not from scratch). Same business

I am syymied. never "heard" of this problem before, I assume this is a windows registry issue but don't know where to start.

I have always built computers and have never had issues (that I couldnt fix) with sound. Since this is my "main" workstation with all my IT admin crap loaded on it, I would rather not start from a fresh installation if I can help it...I just want to frag an occasional HL2 monster once in a while and hear the wonderful ambiance)

running AM2
VIA chipset - ECS mobo
ATI-PCIx card (not at my computer right now and don't remember)
XP Pro SP2 with all the updates
 

kstrat2001

Distinguished
Sep 28, 2006
71
0
18,630
sometimes the drivers conflict with windows' sound control panel.

1. go to the control panel and select Audio and Sound Devices.

2. Under the Audio tab look for "Sound Playback" and click on the "Advanced" button.

3. Make sure that you have 5.1 Speakers selected in the drop down menu.

I'm not sure if this is the same under all operating systems but that's how it is in XP.

Hope this helps...
 

kstrat2001

Distinguished
Sep 28, 2006
71
0
18,630
The first thing I do when 5.1 doesn't work completely is use the diagnostic utility to check the channels. It should be the one where noise comes through each speaker one at a time. This should be under the creative speaker settings. It kinda sucks that things don't override with windows. I mean why should you have to select 5.1 in more than one place to get it to work? I feel your pain.

Also, in a game you are trying to play be sure that the audio options for 5.1 surround are enabled. Or if you play a cd or something see if you can get it in surround with CMSS or some other way.

Jeez. anyone from creative know why a million things have to go right to get some surround sound? It's kinda aggrivating when you think about it.
 

cshenderson

Distinguished
Dec 15, 2006
5
0
18,510
yup, already tried the diagnostic utility...it "shows" the speaker(s) when placed in different modes...i.e. 2 channel, 4 channel, 5.1
but, as stated, the utility (or anything else) connot create sound out of the other channels. Since this "problem" suddenly appeared when I changed motherboards a long time ago, I guess some registry setting is banged up somewhere.
And yes, I had (at one time) uninstalled ALL sound drivers...removed any sound card, disabled the mobo sound...then started from scratch...still no joy on the back channels with Creative, or Ensoniq audio cards.

And yes, when I use the dual boot to boot up into Windows 98 (yes I still have it to support some really old industrial control programs) the damn surround works...So I know something(software) is banged up but I really don't want to kill XP just to get the sound working.
 

kstrat2001

Distinguished
Sep 28, 2006
71
0
18,630
A motherboard change is pretty major. Windows usually doesn't handle it too well. I would be surprised if you told me that this was the only problem you've had since.

I know it sucks sometimes to have to rinse and repeat but it seems to be the only way things are going to work out on some setups.

At least if you did decide to do a full fresh XP install you can start fresh. I like to re-install windows every 6-12 months. I've kept things organized so that it really isn't that hard when the time comes and I usually learn something new each time as well. Then again I used to install XP for a living before I graduated and now installing it once is cake to me. For some it is still their job to maintain and update windows networks. What a pain it must be to come home and start re-installing on your own setup. :x