5.1 sound not working in Windows 7 (64bit)
August 4th, 2016
So, I’ve tried 5.1 on Win7 and looks like it’s not working correctly. Only 2 front speakers (green jack on the back) are producing sound when playing music in Winamp or a video on Youtube (speaker fill is enabled in Realtek HD Audio Manager). Subwoofer is also working, but it’s producing a really weak sound (yes, I’ve configured volume and it’s not set to the MAX, of course). When I test speakers in Realtek HD Audio Manager, they all seem to work perfectly fine.
Any advice on this or idea what to do/try?
- Motherboard: MSI Z87-GD65 GAMING Ed.
Software: Realtek HD Audio Manager downloaded form MSI’s site:
http://www.msi.com/product/mb/Z87-GD65-GAMING.html#download
Any help is appreciated.
Any advice on this or idea what to do/try?
Yeah, Try the official Realtek drivers:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/realtek_high_definition_audio_for_vistawin_7win_8.html
Uninstall the current ones from control pa>program and features before you install this one!
Googling “5.1 chan test file”, I found a few things including this Vid. Hope it helps.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_Ur_2TjG5A
There are some comment though that Youtube does not do 5.1 chan well..
Here is some stuff that can be downloaded..
http://www.diatonis.com/surround_sound_music.html
There are some comment though that Youtube does not do 5.1 chan well..
It doesn’t need to!
The Realtek control pa has an option that enables virtual surround (upsamples 2ch to 5.1) or in plain terms, Create a fake 5.1 from stereo sources! The OP has already mentioned that he enabled it (“speaker fill” option) Can’t really blame you for not knowing what he meant, I didn’t either (I Google’d it before I replied to be honest)
Try the official Realtek drivers
I’m going to try that. No luck so far with MSI’s version of Realtek’s manager…
Googling "5.1 chan test file", I found a few things including this Vid. Hope it helps.
I’ve played the video you provided and every speaker works just fine…
Thank you both for replying. Maybe MSI’s software has some flaws (bugs), so I’ll try whether the official one will work or not.
EDIT: I’ve just tried the driver you suggested and nothing’s changed… I just can’t seem to produce “fake” 5.1…
how did you confirm your source is infact 5:1??
I checked a number of those You tube vids and they were all in 2 chan So forget them if you are testing discreet 5.1! A confusing waste of space!
Use Mediainfo on a file to confirm the audio..
http://mediaarea.net/en/MediaInfo
Wouldn’t mind one of these level meters to check the sub woofer though..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypYItGLrTXw
Try this older driver:
http://www.filehippo.com/download_realtek_high_definition_audio_vista/12010/
http://www.filehippo.com/download_realtek_high_definition_audio_vista_64/12011/
Choose according to your OS. First link is for 32 bit, Second for 64.
If this doesn’t do the trick, Then I’d say it’s a configuration issue on Realtek’s control pa.
You’ve already enabled the “Speaker Fill” option, But maybe there are additional settings that affects it too! I could check it for you if you want (Via Teamviewer)
how did you confirm your source is infact 5:1??
Well, on my older PC, Winamp was producing 5.1 sound (with Speaker Fill option enabled in Realtek HD Audio Manager), but now for some reason it doesn’t… Same goes for Youtube videos and everything else. Now 5.1 only works when I’m in-game (I’ve only tried League of Legends so far, but I will try some other games too when I get some time to install them)
I checked a number of those You tube vids and they were all in 2 chan So forget them if you are testing discreet 5.1! A confusing waste of space!
Wouldn't mind one of these level meters to check the sub woofer though..
I’ve played the video and subwoofer does absolutely nothing. Only 2 front speakers are playing this.
I'd say it's a configuration issue on Realtek's control pa.
Here is the snapshot of my Realtek HD Audio Manager:
http://i.minus.com/iVmWlmR9MeYAV.JPG
I don’t know if this is relevant or not, but when I plug in the connectors on the back (black, yellow and green jack) only black and yellow give me a pop up in a Realtek HD A. M. Ironically, only 2 front speakers are working all the time (green jack)…
Just to confirm that all speakers are working correctly when tested in this manager.
I’m mostly concerned about speaker fill not working properly like before (in winamp etc.)
when was the last time you updated Directx? That has a lot to do with system sounds. Just a late thought
Well, It seems you have configured it correctly, But you should check if the volume levels are set accordingly for all speakers, Maybe the other ones are on mute! Also, Another thing you could try (If it worked fine before and it only started recently) is to use system restore.
when was the last time you updated Directx? That has a lot to do with system sounds. Just a late thought
Since this is a new system, I’ve installed the newest version of DirectX from MS’ official site a couple of days ago.
Well, It seems you have configured it correctly, But you should check if the volume levels are set accordingly for all speakers, Maybe the other ones are on mute! Also, Another thing you could try (If it worked fine before and it only started recently) is to use system restore.
As mentioned, this is a new rig, so no SR points… (It’s been working on the old machine… and still does actually) Tried compared settings, but I can’t seem to find any differences…
Once again, thanks to everyone for trying to help me solve this issue.
EDIT: I’ve installed all drivers from here, but should I try this “Sound Blaster Cinema” under “Utilities”:
http://www.msi.com/product/mb/Z87-GD65-GAMING.html#download
EDIT2:
I think that “Speaker Fill” option is not working properly. That’s the only acceptable conclusion to this. I’ve tried playing some games, testing different audio files and I think there is a driver problem. At the moment it doesn’t matter whether you have “Speaker Fill” option on or off, because there is absolutely no difference…
I don’t normally do 5.1 sound but tried a couple of headphones to see what would happen..
Yes, agreed that ‘Speaker Fill’ appears to be useless…Quite a few people have mentioned that on Google.
I was automatically getting speaker fill though…..Turns out that was happening from my player (AIMP3)
which has the ‘Playback’>’Transform options’> ‘Allow chan mixing’ option ticked by default…
Unticking it removed all rear speaker sound (whether speaker fill was on or off).
Found this Winamp pluggin that is supposed to do the trick..Of course you could also try what you suggested which may do sound from all sources. ? http://www.winamp.com/plugin/vl-sound-for-vista-7-v1-0-0-17/183408
Found this Winamp pluggin that is supposed to do the trick..
http://www.winamp.com/plugin/vl-sound-for-vista-7-v1-0-0-17/183408
Thank you for that. It certainly is better now – music is played on all speakers. I’d say that’s rather satisfying considering that there is a long-term problem with 64bit Realtek drivers.
On the other hand, I had tried uninstalling Realtek HD Audio drivers and I let Windows install audio drivers. 5.1 was working as intended with enabled “Speaker Fill” option without problems. This confirms that driver is at fault. Hope it gets fixed…