The most mysterious 5.1 issue in W7...

I know the title to this thread is a lot to live up to, but hear me out.

I ran XP for years with onboard sound--no problems. I have an ASUS board with built in RealTech HD, 5.1 configured with Logitech speakers. When I upgraded to Windows 7 Ultimate 64 (by upgrade, I mean complete fresh installation), everything works great, except the 5.1. I get two channel stereo, and that's it.

So, I bought a new SB X-Fi Titanium card, thinking that would solve the problem. It did not--I still have the exact same issue. I tried upgrading the drivers, downloading new ones from Creative, auto installing through windows, downloading the crazy tweaked support package 2.0 by danilel_k--all with the exact same results. I disabled the on board sound before I installed the SB card.

The strange part is, when I test the speakers in Creative Console or Windows, I get sound from left and right speaker. But out of Center, subwoofer, and rear channels, I get nothing--even though I can see the levels moving on Windows' volume mixer.


A buddy of mine suggested a fresh install (again) with the card already installed...but I'm skeptical of this solution, to say the least. Any ideas?

I'm having the same problem as you, I've tried everything possible but to no avail, I some how think its something to do with windows 7 itself, I tried a new sound card.....nothing, tried my friends sound card....... nothing....and im sure I've tried every driver possible for my on board sound card.........nothing! but if you check the speaker fill option then room in the audio manager you get it, only problem is that it is forced so your not getting true 5.1 and sound quality isnt too great.

good luck anyway hope you figure it out (then you can let me know!) lol
as it stands I'm having no joy

Lee

I know, I've tried that too. But this sound quality is unacceptable. I need to edit feature film sound mixes, and I need to do it in 5.1.

Not to mention, Modern Warfare 2 is out today, and I can't listen to it properly! I guess I'll have to use headphones until someone smarter than I am comes up with a fix for this.

Try either Googling for the Daniel K X-Fi Windows 7 drivers or go to sound properties and set to DVD quality 48000Hz.

chev65 said:

Try either Googling for the Daniel K X-Fi Windows 7 drivers or go to sound properties and set to DVD quality 48000Hz.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the post, chev. But unfortunately, I've already done both of those things...

Hey guys, I had the same issue when I first upgraded to Win7. My motherboard is ASUS as well with 5.1 support (Logitech speakers); I tried new RealTek drivers, tried with Creative and nothing... then I though "codecs" and reinstalled each one I already had with no luck. Non of this had anything to do with the issue.

It's been quite sometime since I fixed the problem (and I'm not sure if this applies to you), but I think this are the steps I followed:

1. Access Control Panel > Sound (under the Playback tab):




2. Make sure the "Spearkers" option is selected then click on configure.

3. Now, select "5.1 Surround" (or the option applicable to your hardware) and run the "Test" to verify that all speakers do work.




4. Click on "Next" all the way to the end (remember to select all settings applicable while you do it).

5. Once your out of the wizard, set your speakers as the default playback device.

6. Go to the task bar and right-click the speaker and select "Volumen control options".




7. Once there, fill all check-marks like this:




Hope this helps!

Thanks Jukoi--but I never get past your step 3. When I'm in the configure menu for 5.1, sound only comes out of the left and right speakers.

Hmm... what drivers are you using right now?

The emu10k1 (Sound Blaster 5.1) Problem is Solved

[FONT=&quot]My angst over this emu10k1 BS was amplified (Sorry) because I use Sound Blaster Live 5.1, not for games , but for audiophile functions that are virtually impossible to execute without a functioning sound card that works “Flawlessly” With Nero 9’s Wave Editor. That means the card has to provide full control of the input signal (Record What U Hear for instance)
I was about to give up (after a lot of hunting and pecking and trips to Staples to try other cards when I found these guys @
http://www.radarsync.com/drivers/d168835-creative_sound_blaster[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]http://www.radarsync.com/drivers/d159727-creative_emu10k1_audio_processor_(wdm)[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Hunt and peck yourself here if you need a emu10k1 processor to work with windows 7[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]I also updated my ATI Radeon 9550 / X1050 Series Secondary Video Card there

Cheers
t[/FONT]

Jukoi said:

Hmm... what drivers are you using right now?

Click to expand...

Currently, I'm using Creative's 6.0.1.1347 driver.

I'm telling you, this just keeps getting weirder. A moment ago I went into the configuration again to test speakers...and all of them were working, except for rear left! So I opened the volume control options and checked speakers, and now it's not working again! And if I set it back the way it was, it still doesn't work anymore!

The other thing is, even though no sound comes out of any speakers but L and R, I can still see the levels going up for ALL speakers! WTF?!

Okay, I have found a temporary solution. I uninstalled the driver and then restarted windows, and let windows automatically install a driver. When I did this, it worked perfectly! But when I restarted the computer...it wasn't working again!

I think it's creative's software that is starting up and screwing with things. I repeated the process, only this time I'm going to try disabling all creative software from starting up. I'll post how it works in the morning. Now it's late, and I'm tired of fighting this thing.

I'm not sure if this could be the solution to your problem, but have you tried changing the sound settings on your BIOS to AC'97?

Okay, so I've isolated it to the 15-JUL-09 driver. You have to use windows to update the driver to get it, and once it's installed, the 5.1 works. But it says "you must restart your computer for it to take effect". That's all well and good, but as long as you don't restart your computer, it works. As soon as you restart, you're back to no 5.1!

Isn't it fun when a driver install goes bad?

From the sounds of things you have tried just about everything. One quick question, have you cleaned everything you can find relating to Creative in all of this? If not the chances of getting it to work goes down drastically. Don''t usually recommend driver cleaning programs but in this case grab this,

Guru3D - Driver Sweeper (no installer) download from Guru3D.com

Uninstall anything from Creative in Programs and Features, then uninstall the card (and drivers) if still showing in Device Manager. Then boot to Safe Mode and run the above to get rid of any remnants. Then reboot as normal and cancel (if you can) the install wizard if it pops up. Then try just installing the daniel_k set. If it won't install then try installing just the driver manually through Device Manager,

http://www.sevenforums.com/sound-audio/21804-creative-sound-cards.html#post303346

if that works you should then be able to run the installer to get the rest of the apps (or the ones you want) installed.

Thanks, Stormy--I'll try that after this latest attempt fails! I've uninstalled all Creative software...so we'll see how it works.

If the above doesn't work, I'd try to unistall everything as stormy says, but run ccleaner after you do. Clear the registry as well. I would also disable the System Restore (system protection) then let Windows get the driver and reboot.

The thing is, if Win is able to find a suitable driver and the card performs right, I'd go with that since it may be the most compatible option.

Jukoi said:

If the above doesn't work, I'd try to unistall everything as stormy says, but run ccleaner after you do. Clear the registry as well. I would also disable the System Restore (system protection) then let Windows get the driver and reboot.

The thing is, if Win is able to find a suitable driver and the card performs right, I'd go with that since it may be the most compatible option.

Click to expand...

Done that. Still, I have to reinstall the driver every time I restart windows. Other than that minor annoyance, it works great!

hanksta2 said:

Jukoi said:

If the above doesn't work, I'd try to unistall everything as stormy says, but run ccleaner after you do. Clear the registry as well. I would also disable the System Restore (system protection) then let Windows get the driver and reboot.

The thing is, if Win is able to find a suitable driver and the card performs right, I'd go with that since it may be the most compatible option.

Click to expand...

Done that. Still, I have to reinstall the driver every time I restart windows. Other than that minor annoyance, it works great!

Click to expand...

The way operating systems work in levels might help this, when you restart the computer has a preset script (rcon) to run befor you get to interface... Well depending on run levels, but windows always goes into 5, which is GUI unless your running servers with just text (run level 2). I'm willing to bet if you find the files that are set to run for your audio and edit them befor restart it'll work fine (or hack the driver install). As for how.... Sorry I use KX drivers for SBL (emu10k1) and that works perfect for me... As for that guy who posted about the emu10k1 "BS" it's because it's discontinued and all you can do is Daniel K or KX.

[EDIT]

After reading my own post a third time I realized, you could do a manual install of the .sys and inf files for just the drivers (not the creative panel) and just use Win 7 panels to set up your audio. That might work! =) Give it a try?