First, the specs. I am running Vista on a:

Lian Li Case
P5K Deluxe WiFi-AP
Q6600
Sapphire HD 2900XT
OCZ DDR2 800 2GB
WD5000AAKS 500GB
WD1500AAFF 150GB
2 x SATA LiteOn 20x DVD burners
Logitech Z-5500 Speakers

I finished the build on Thursday, software on installs on Saturday, and spent nearly all Sunday trying to figure this one out. I have upgraded the motherboard chipset, the sound drivers, the video card drivers, but still am unable to get any sound out of either the optical SPDIF out, or multichannel out. I think the video card is is showing up as a HD audio device (the whole HDMI with a dongle deal), could this be the problem? Also, I have been unable to update the BIOS with either ASUSUpdate or EZ Flash 2 (I get a message that says the files dont match?) Anyway, has anyone experienced the same or some of the same issues? Can anyone provide some insight as to something I have have overlooked? I also put in a ticket with Asus to see what their "experts" say. I want to hear from MY experts here at Tom's...

Dufus

What's your default playback device set to?

I've never had an issue with asus update as long as you update from file.

Right now the default is the "HD Audio Device" which again, I am asuming is the video card. I may be looking in all the wrong places, but I don't see onboard sound as an option anywhere I have looked so far.

As far as updating, I do try update from file, and have tried to do so with all incremental updates to the BIOS. Every time I try I get the same error message "file does not match existing file size."

This is driving me crazy! ! Help me, asusman!

I don't mean to be a smartass or jerk but I don't see how the video card could be acting as an "audio device". It shouldn't have anything to do with your problem......atleast not that I am aware of.

I am relatively uninformed when it comes to audio stuff. Are you talking about the audio ports on the motherboard/"onboard audio"? Do you have a peripheral sound card on your MOBO? Did your MOBO come with a CD that had audio drivers on it?

My Computer>Control Panel>Sounds, Speech, and Audio Devices>Sounds and Audio Devices. Once you are there click on the "Audio" tab at the top. How many options are listed under the "Sound Playback" line? If there are two, select the other one and reboot to see if that works. Either way let me know what options are there and such and I'll try my best to help out.

At least with the Gigabyte P35 DQ6 the HD audio is the on-board audio it doesn't have anything to do with the Video card. HD audio is set by default in the DQ6. Check the BIOS for the audio options and make sure HD is default.

You bet, the HD2900XT has its own HDMI sound subsystem. It's the first VGA card to offer compliant HDMI audio.

WOW! I didn't know that......that's pretty cool. I guess you DO learn something new everyday LOL.

Unfortunately I don't like HDMI, so i'm avoiding it for as long as possible hoping someone will remove the DRM BS that is implemented with it. As for your audio, do any of your devices not have drivers installed, or any yellow question marks or red x's? I have a P5AD2-E Premium with Windows 2003 Server, and I do know that there was some kind of bug with 2003 server and the HD Audio. I got mine to work, but only after fiddling with it for several days. Check out the ASUS website for HD audio problems and see if you can find a solution there.

The reason is because of the graphics card. Like someone said the 2900xt has audio. I did read somewhere that this is easy to sort out. I just dont remember where. I would either look in the manual or read reviews of the 2900xt and they might explain what you have to do. Or you could wait for an owner of a 2900xt to tell you what to do.

I'm pretty sure it has nothing to do with drivers. I think its something you have to connect to the card.

As for bios update make sure in the bios that it is set to allow for bios updates. Cant remember what it comes under. In fact for some reason I cant remember anything about anything today.

Just remember, my nickname is dufus for a reason...

I wish it was something terribly difficult and complex, but is was just me overlooking a BIOS setting, and not checking the Vista setting close enough. The board has built in 7.1 audio, and I am not using an add in card right now. Due to the icon that Vista was using for the HD device, I believed it to be the Video Card (they defaulted to a picture of an LCD tv) so I didn't look at the driver settings close enough (they were all microsoft.) When I finally realized that fact, it dawned on me to check the BIOS once again and I saw that I did not enable the onboard HD sound capability. Once enabled, beautiful, clean, optical clear sound!

Yup, I am DUFUS alright!!! Now if anyone can assist with the BIOS issue before I realize what my bonehead manouver was myself...

I think I mentioned something about checking the BIOS in my original post.

Download the latest drivers for Vista from Asus
http://support.asus.com/download/d [...] K%20Deluxe

On the right side of the page --> Look up your motherboard
Socket 775
P5k Deluxe/WiFi-AP

Hope this helps