Windows 7: Onboard audio not working and audio drivers won't install

Hello everyone,

I'm having a problem using my motherboard’s onboard HD audio instead of my video card’s audio, so without further ado here is the situation;

I have an Asus maximus iii gene motherboard which has a SupremeFX X-Fi built-in sound card (this is a very nice card provided you can use it), on the board I have an ASUS EAH5870 V2 (basically an ATI 5870) which also has onboard audio useable through HDMI. When I first ran Windows 7 X64 the drivers for the video card and its audio were installed first, but then I noticed that my audio jacks (both on the back of motherboard and on the case) won’t work, which is a big problem for me. But at least I have audio through speakers on my monitor (through HDMI).

So to fix the problem I just tried to install drivers from Asus for the X-FI chip, but that failed since no HD audio hardware could be found by the installer. Google-ing the problem I came across hotfixes, which Asus also provides but they are not compatible with windows 7 X64… so I’m back at square one.



It’s worth mentioning I have gone through my device manager and under audio only the ATI HD audio device is visible and I cannot see the X-FI device anywhere.
So I would like help installing drivers for the X-FI chip and use the onboard surround sound and HD audio jack on the case.

Thanks in advance to anyone who takes the time to read this.

-----------------------------------------

Update of things I have tried

1) I opened my case and checked that all of the cables are connected properly for audio and double checked everything else.
2) In the BIOS I have a only options to enable sound as HD audio or AC97 (I have selected HD audio since that’s the connection my case came with)... other than that there are no options related to getting sound to audio jacks (in any case I have enables all the peripheral devices in my BIOS).
3) Driver genius was really nice after 28 driver updates I had a very crisp sound coming out of the monitor speakers (yeah!!!) but this is from the ATI audio on the graphics card.

Now something I forgot to communicated at the beginning was that I can't even get sound out of the 8 channel sound connections on the motherboard itself, which leads me to believe somehow that the onboard audio is being overwritten by something else. I have even tried the optical surround sound but no luck.

I'm now looking through forums and sites trying to find how I can manually install the audio hardware on my motherboard... and then eventually disable the ATI Audio using device manager. But then I run back to the problem that Asus provided drivers can't find the HD device. AHHH what a vicious loop this is!!!

hkhajavi, welcome to the forums.

First off let me say that despite the fancy sounding name that Asus likes to give some of its onboard audio solutions,in no way shape or form is what is on yours a X-Fi (which I hope you did not try installing any drivers from Creative for as they will not work). Looking at the specs and the download page for your motherboard,

http://www.asus.com/product.aspx?P_I...TqM&templete=2

yours has the Via audio chip on it (some of the previous versions of the SupremeFX X-Fi used a Soundmax/ADI based audio chip), of which Asus does have a Windows 7 driver for (both 32 and 64 bit). They also appear to have the updated X-Fi software (also known as X-Fi MB, which is where the X-Fi name comes from for the onboard audio; it gets to use some of the X-Fi software, but it is not a X-Fi sound card) available for it under the Utilities section in the downloads.

You may also need to run the updated Intel chipset Utility for the onboard audio to be detected. Once it is detected and the drivers are installed you will then need to open the Windows playback properties and make sure that the onboard audio is set as the default playback device and not the ATI HDMI device.

Hi Stormy13,

Thank you for the speedy reply, I really appreciate your time.

A) I have the most up-to-date deriver for everything... but specifically the Intel chipset drivers were updated using driver genius, and using windows device manager I get the message that drivers are up-to-date. Should I do more for this???
B) I have seen on a thread here that "sound blaster audigy advanced mb" can solve the problem... but this did not work for me. Even though I was able to install the software, under audio devices no new items could be found.
C) I have tried to install the audio driver from asus website "VIA Audio Driver V6.0.1.7430 for Windows XP/Vista/7 & Windows 64bit XP/Vista/7.(WHQL)" but when I run this I get the message "We can't find HD audio device!" and then you can only exit the installation.
D) What do you think if I try to install "SoundMAX Integrated Digital Audio 5.12.02.5280" driver from
Free SoundMAX Integrated Digital Audio Download this site???

Cheers

Hello,
I am having the IDENTICAL problem as described by hkhajavi, including trying all the steps and methods described.
Granted my configuration is different, but symptoms are identical.

Has a solution to this problem been found?

Thanks,
Just about ready to chuck this PC into a compactor!!

Hi sikstiks,

Since the time I made this post, I have contacted the Asus tech support and I have received advice along the lines of using AC97 connection on the MB and in the BIOS and trying to install the drivers provided by Asus. This doesn't work as I have tried it before... I am convinced that the problem lies with the drivers and not the MB.

After some extensive research I found hope in "VIA HyperionPro V524A" driver pack which is supposed to work on the VIA T2XXX architechture, along with "VIA Audio V6017430" driver. I have not yet had the chance to test these drivers yet... But you can find free downloads using google.

I am currently getting sound to my headjacks using external soundcard...
But at the end of the day really SHAME on Asus!!!

I hope you find a solution that works for you

Regards

H

Thanks H,
Seems like an external sound card is going to be my only option. But just so you know... It's gotta be a windows 7\driver issue... I am showing your exact symptoms on an intel board.

Mine was working great... Until a hardware change... Windows 7 did it's job and installed new drivers... Then poof! Sound gone... And nowhere to be found... Not on the system, device manager... Nowhere.
I rolled back all my changes, including hardware.... And it simply gone. Onboard sound vanished.

Thanks for the response.

Cheers

Hey Sikstiks,

Can you still see the device using a third party device managers... like CPUID or windows 7 manager???
Because I can, and as long as thats possible you can try installs and the drivers should stick.
So not all hope is lost, at least not yet

Good luck

H

I had been using Everest,
It sees my video cards audio... But not my integrated audio. But alas... Tried every driver from my mobo's support site...
It says they install.... But still...
Windows 7 says nadda.... Nothing in device manager... Nothing in any of the audio settings. Just gone.

Rolled back to vista this morning... Just on the off chance its a windows 7 driver conflict, but its still showing the same symptoms.
Bios shows integrated audio enabled... There's no jumper on the mobo to disable\enable it..
But these are all things your initial post all pointed to as well.

Blarg!

Hello,

I am a new member. I share similar problems and symptoms with regard to "HD audio device soundmax-a driver problem" as outlined by hkhajavi and sikstiks. I have an on board ASUS Maximus II Formula's SupremeFX X-Fi Audio Card with a normal desktop front speaker set up. The sound system was working fine only last week I got no sound come out from the system. I tried uninstall reinstalled the soundMax software and drivers from DVD that came with the MOBO: could not fix the problem then I went to the ASUSTeK Computer Inc. - Motherboards - ASUS Maximus II Formula site downloaded and load the drivers , restart windows...AND Nothing happen. Problem remain.

In the computer management-Sound,video and game controller- SoundMax Integrated Digital HD AudioThere's the "yellow triangle" with the "!" warning sign

earlier in the computer management-Sound,video and game controller also showed the followings:
Microsoft Trusted Audio Drivers.
drivers for Microsoft Streaming Tee/Sink-to-sink Converter (Reinstalling the driver might fix the problem)
Microsoft Streaming Manager Proxy
Microsoft Streaming clock proxy
Microsoft Streaming Service Proxy
Microsoft Streaming Quality Manager proxy...
so now I am back to square 1... I am thinking reintalling Windows 7.... but there must be away without resort to this.

id

I'm working on something for you
Might work.
Mike




Find your Soundmax unzipped folder.

Double click/open the SoundMax file.

First picture. Open the Driver folder.

Second picture the one on right. Open Windows 7 folder.

Third- bottom picture. Yellow outlined emblem. Double click/Open.

That will open the install wizard for Windows 7 driver.
Follow the set up instructions.
That should install the drivers only.

The rest of the software should be installed seperately but I'm not sure if before the drivers or after. Probably install as normal so the main software is in place then do drivers as above. That is what I had to do with my NVidia HD audio drivers.

When it finishes check Device Manager to see if it worked.

Let me know the results.