Windows 7: No Sound from Speakers with Onboard Audio

I recently put together a new system with a fresh installation of Windows 7 64 bit. I cannot get sound to come from my speakers no matter what I have tried. I have trolled through all the forums I could find on the subject, and tried every possible solution, to no avail. I am hoping I simply missed something somewhere along the way, so I will list my specs, as well as everything I have tried thus far.

I am going to attempt to provide as much information as possible, but if I miss something you need to get the full picture, please let me know.

Specs first:

• MSI 870A-G54 motherboard (with onboard audio - Chipset integrated by Realtek® ALC892)
• AMD Athlon II X2 255 CPU - 3.1 Ghz Dual Core
• Corsair 8 Gb Ram - DDR3 1333 MHz
• Windows 7 64 bit (also tried to get this working on Vista 32 bit installation on same machine, with same results)
• XFX ATI Radeon HD 5550 Graphics Card
• Seagate 1 TB SATA 300 HDD
• Antec 500W PSU
• Creative 5.1 surround speakers - The jacks are the usual black, orange and green, for Center/Sub, Rear, and Left/Right

Now, here are the steps I have followed:

• Installed Win 7, and soon discovered sound was not configured properly. The system kept picking the optical output as the default device, even though there was no optical device connected, and it also showed that the speakers were not plugged in, even though they were, as in the pic below

• After digging through various forums, got advice to click on the Connector Settings (the icon that looks like a folder) in the Realtek Audio Manager, and selecting 'Disable Front Panel Jack Detection', as in the pic below

• This enabled the speakers, but even though the system showed them as working, there was still no sound coming from them. This is shown below

• I played with various settings in the 'Device Advanced Settings Tab', but none of them enabled the speakers to function, and sometimes actually disabled the speakers. The settings I have stuck with are shown below

• I did notice that in the Audio manager, the rear panel jacks appear to be faded out, as opposed to the front jack images. This strikes me as odd considering the settings, and perhaps is related to the speakers not actually playing sound, even though they are supposedly getting a signal. The faded rear input images are shown below

I tried running a virtual version of XP, as well as a separate installation of Windows Vista, 32 bit. I could not get any sound from the speakers in any configuration. I have also tried installing the drivers from the link on these forums, as an alternate, but they did not resolve the issue.

I am at my wit's end on this one. I know these speakers work, and have tested them on other systems successfully. Is this onboard audio simply dead, or am I missing something else? If anyone can offer a new solution to try, I am all ears.



Lane

One thing that comes to mind, is that the levels may need to be adjusted.

Go to the Windows Sound manager and select Speakers > Properties > Levels
Look for the "Front" and other necessary levels.......make sure they're not at zero.

Thanks for the suggestion, p5bdkw, but I have already done that. I even tried setting the levels for up for things like 'Rear Green In', etc. And to be clear, I tried various settings of these levels, both at zero and 100, to no avail.

Lane
You probably already checked, but are your connections correct?

I have confirmed the color coding according to the motherboard manual, and they are, indeed, correct. Just to be sure, though, I tried each plug in each rear panel jack. Still no sound. I can tell there is some kind of signal going to the speakers, though, because I can hear that characteristic 'buzz' when plugging and unplugging the input jacks.

Hi lane and welcome to the Forum. I am absolutely sure you have already checked this - but.
In BIOS, under Integrated Peripherals. HD Audio Controller. Is it enabled?
Regards
JohnnyA

Thanks for the welcome, Johnnya.

Yes, I have made sure it was enabled in the BIOS.

In addition, I have flashed the BIOS with the latest version available from the manufacturers website. Keep the suggestions coming, by all means.

Have you tried adjusting the sound quality to the lowest sound quality which is CD quality? Try adjusting it to CD quality and see if it does anything.

That was something I hadn't tried, so thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately, it had no effect on the lack of sound emanating from my speakers.

Was your sound working before?? And was it working before you updated the BIOS?? I think, there's a possibility this is a problem with your hardware. So my advise would to to open your system unit and clean your motherboard if its dusty cause dust can render hardware functions or have a technician inspect your motherboard for any physical damages or problems.