Win 7 RTM, Realtek HD, no stereo

I'm having an unusual issue here. I'm running an RTM version of Win 7, I have an MSI K9N SLI Platinum motherboard with integrated ALC883 Realtek audio, and I'm running the latest Realtek drivers: version 2.30. I have 2.1 stereo speakers coming out of the back ports and Grado headphones coming out of the front ports, but all I'm getting is mono sound, no stereo from either as far as I can tell. The headphones are a bit easier to test for this and I've tested front and back ports and can't seem to hear stereo coming from either. In other threads folks have mentioned ensuring that "stereo fill" is checked in playback properties under sound in the control panel, but, though I do see some checkbox options, I'm not seeing anything that says "stereo fill". Anyone else have this issue or know what my issue may be?

Thanks in advance.

a bit of an update on my issue if anyone cares

Well I went to MSI's website and found out that I don't have integrated ALC883... instead it's ALC888 (not that that should matter much). I also downgraded to the drivers on their website which are Realtek 2.28. I'm now hearing fairly decent stereo from the rear, but from the front ports I'm still experiencing like mono audio rather than stereo. Very bizarre... ohwell. I suppose I can live with this until a proper fix comes out.

Zidane24 said:

Of course we care...its just that there are so many issues everyday and sometimes the guys who normally answer miss a question. Sadly I have no such solution in your case because you have tried what I would have reccomended

Oh that statement about caring was mostly made tongue in cheek. Thanks for replying though. I'll let folks know if a later driver update fixes my issue.

Zidane24 said:

If I/we didn't care than I/we wouldn't respond in the first case...seeing as how you are going to be offensive I am 10-7

Uh... what? I think you misunderstood the tone of my reply.

Wanted to bump this back up in case anyone's come up with a solution or had a common issue. Front headphone jack. Sound, but no stereo. Lastest Realtek drivers.

I have same problem, only right channel is sent to both speakers, when I set balance to left channel, there is complete silence

And you don't see the RT icon neither in the taskbar, right?

For some reason, the realtek driver or Windows 7 RTM are not compatible anymore with RTM got released.
The problem is not with the driver, however, but with User Accounts Management security settings.
Install the latest driver from Realtek, which you find on the www.realtek.com. The version of the driver currently is 235.
Then, disable UAC through Control Panel -> System -> Change User Account Management, and reboot.

You'll notice now that the Realtek driver taskbar icon (the brown luidspeaker) shows up in your taskbar. Good news.
Click on the taskbar icon, and the RT driver windows shows up. In this window, you can change the driver operating from Stereo to 5.1.

Clearly, some things are wrong with audio in RTM. Because you cannot open the audio play devices dialog through the windows luidspeaker icon and right clicking the option from the menu.

So, maybe this is a preliminary work around.

Sven,