Audio problem in W7 (no sound)

For a period of time NVidia was the rave by gamers mainly due to various blogs making their own comparisons to favor some new model. As far as prices it will depend on where you buy as well as from who plus what you select. For a real eye opener have a look at a Radeon HD 5970 4gb model card and then note the price for that particular high ender! Newegg.com - SAPPHIRE 100280-4GBB Radeon HD 5970 (Hemlock) 4GB 512 (256 x 2)-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card w/ Eyefinity

I'm sure you never paid out anywhere that much for any card! So you simply shop for models in the price range you can afford as well as look for the best deals found for any particular card!

For this build I ended up with an MSI Radeon 5750 1gb model that does the job. Someone else running ATI may have gone for a 5970. Most gamers will start off paying a little more for a high end performance card. The best thing to do first is look at both ATI and NVidia to see which suits your own needs the best.

ATI did regain an edge since AMD bought out ATI a few years ago. ATI used to drop support on older model series too fast at times but now see AMD provide a previous catalysts versions page at the support site. Lately however higher end models have been priced lower once out for a few months in order to stimulate sales.

As for plugging things into the wrong jack you may get away with it a few times but it's never a good practice. The idea of shutting down is a preventative measure since no live power is being applied where you could cause damage.

As far as speakers and head phones the solution here was simple by having a head phone jack on the center mix speaker where the power button, volume, and balance are seen. Many cases see audion jacks you plug in at the front or top of the case itself rather the need to keep plugging and unplugging speakers constantly.

As for the optical audio options you typically patch from the card into a stereo or surround sound receiver rather then seeing a set of speakers plugged into the sound card or onboard directly. Instead you patch out to a home entertainment center and use those speakers. The input there also allows playback from an external device(player) through the pc using the pc speakers when the external device lacks any.

Note all that is options available when the jacks are present. That allows you to set things up differently.

If a new card has the HDMI output and the tv has the same type of input you wouldn't need to split that up but run one slightly longer single cable over from the pc. I run a 5750 1tb model presently but paid far less when ordered online. Note that ran about $135US onsale for less at the time.

The only cord that ever patches to a separate card on the inside of the case comes over from the optical drive(cd or dvd). That often was a required item years back on many old systems before things changed. That's usually no longer needed.

The front jacks for line in or head phones always go direct to the board itself by looking over the diagram in the board's user manual there. But that would a problem at this time as you know. Bad front speaker jack on the card? Ouch! That's not good either but you got that used from a friend as you mentioned earlier.

As for the optical options that would be for running an optical type audion cable over to a digital stereo receiver with an optical input. That's a different type of format from what you now see with your present speaker set being analog.

Eventually you may want to look into a speaker set that provides a head phone jack rather then the constant unplugging and replugging of either all the time. That would save on the wear and tear of the audio jacks as well as the present inconvenience of reaching around the back of the case constantly.

If a new card has the HDMI output and the tv has the same type of input you wouldn't need to split that up but run one slightly longer single cable over from the pc.

But I am telling you I have already a DVI to HDMI cable..
If I will buy a new card with an HDMI output, can't I buy an HDMI to DVI converter so you I could connect the cable I have now, instead of buying a new one..?

Bad front speaker jack on the card? Ouch! That's not good either but you got that used from a friend as you mentioned earlier.

Why ouch?
I dont know if they are bad.. but if they are connected to the onboard chip so they wont work..
That's why I am asking if I can connect the front jacks to the sound card.
And I never mentioned I got it used, I said it is new and unused.

Eventually you may want to look into a speaker set that provides a head phone jack rather then the constant unplugging and replugging of either all the time. That would save on the wear and tear of the audio jacks as well as the present inconvenience of reaching around the back of the case constantly.

I dont think I will buy a new set of speakers just for the head phone jack.
Are there any other options I have?

Thank you.

Edit:
With this:
http://cgi.ebay.com/USB-2-0-Mic-Spea...efaultDomain_0
Could I plug and unplug while the pc is on?

When going from HDMI to DVI back to HDMI you would likely see a degree of signal loss plus possible IF interference as well as a lowering of the received signal quality at the other end. That doesn't mean it wouldn't work but is not the ideal. Depending on how well the shielding would be on both the "break" could be susceptable to picking up outside inteferences to some extent. (break = where two cables meet)

The connector not plug seen on the front audio jacks depends largely on the style of the case as well as how the case manufacturer wired it to plug onto the appropiate connector on the board. You would have to be able to rewire that to a two 1/8" or 3.5mm miniplug, feed through the back somehow like through a non used PCI slot cover and plug it into a jack directly.

For not seeing the front speaker jack working on a brand new case that's even worse and would normally be sent back as a factory defect for exchange or refund. That's what I trying to note there.

As for the usb sound device there you wouldn't expect any problems except a configuration issue when used. For that added on with the pci card you would need to set that as default in the Control Panel>Suond>Playback tab when going to use your headset if you didn't hear sound right off. The same applies to headsets with mics for chat. Otherwise the sound will still continue to be heard from the speaker set being the present default.

Once done you would then reset the default playback to the speakers once again. That is the one obstacle for seeing a second device work as it should. You wouldn't expect to have any problems simply plugging it in or unplugging it when booted in Windows.

Typically when looking at the front or top harness depending on the type and style of the case you will have the slip on type connector for the power and hard drive activity leds as well as those for power and reset. each pair of wires come together on one slip-on type plug for the matching pins on the small block.

Depending on make and model board a second similar block may be seen as well where the slip-ons for the audio(head phones, mic, line in) are the same type in most cases. The second block if present may see low walls around the several pins being slightly different in appearance.

You would then need to clip the ends off and strip the insulation back a bit in order to slip the bare wires into the crimp type mini plug usually found at an electronics supply store. That would of course hamper the use of them on a new build if you later upgrade that rather then buying an entirely new case and starting from scratch all over. From there you would find an opening to slip the plug through in the rear of the case in order to plug into the jack directly. Can be done but awkwardly!

As for being new that wasn't referring to the case but the sound card you have now.

When looking at the playback devices the option to simply right click on the correct item and see that set as the default playback device is done there for seeing the headset or speakers set. Refer to the image below. You would see the item for a separate set of headphone present as well as the speakers once detected by Windows.

When not using the headphones you would have to make a return trip into the CP>Sound>Playback to reset the speakers as the default back and forth between head phones to speakers and then back there to reset the head phones each time since your speaker set lacks a separate jack there for them.

For patching sound through the tv once again you would need the 1/8" or 3.5mm stereo mini plug at one end and the two red and white RCA phono type plugs at the other. They have those 6ft. long you can reach over using only one cord. That is totally separate from the composite video input being yellow. If your video card has HDMI out for both video and audio that would be another option since that would combine both on one main cable for that purpose provided the tv has the combination video/audio HDMI type input available.

What were you using to patch in the video already? And how far is the tv away from your system? to get an idea of what you would need as far as length.

You can always continue patching with that and simply run tha separate audio cable for sound over from the card.

Thats too risky for me to do :S

If done carefully it's more of an inconvenience then anything requiring a steady hand if any soldering is performed.

I dont have an HDMI output in my video card, if I had this whole thing was easier.

Again.. I use DVI to HDMI.
And my pc is very close to the tv, I think 2 meters or even less.

If the present card has DVO(Dgital Video Out) and the tv is HDMI then you would simply use a converter cable long enough to reach for patching the video over. Then you go through the detection of the second tv as monitor configuration from there unless being used as the main display.

At least you are not trying to reach out too far there. A longer cable allows for slack however in case you have to move something while still plugged in or simply don't want it pulled up tight. The 6ft. stereo miniplug to RCA phono cord I linked earlier should be about the right length for you there for patching the sound.

Thats exactly what I think I should do.
But I dont know how to do that the tv speakers will play whats on my pc AND will show me the image from the DVI to HDMI cable at the same time.

This is where s-video or HDMI at both ends for both video and sound would allow you to select one input source with the tv remote! It seems you are trying to patch over but using two different input sources which would be an immediate problem. S-video with sound out from the video card if it had that would patch into the three RCA phono inputs on the tv for yellow=video, white=left, and red=right channel. But you lack s-video output from your pc to start with.

The usb sound and head set are going to be seen as a second set of speakers there since the sound card is inbetween the headset and case through the usb. If you had usb headphones you would see usb headphones as the second playback device listed.

The screens there are simply for the Windows volume control>level mixer not the place for setting which will be the default playback. With two sound cards one will always need to be set as the default. You simply go into the Control Panel>Sound>Playback to reset one or the other while using one at a time.

For using the usb headset for Skype or live chat on WL Messenger I'll hear the sound out the speakers until setting the headset as the default while in use. But that is where you need to go to see if by chance you can configure full sound for everything from both at the same time not the volume level mixer already seeing everything enabled. Give that a try.

If the present card has DVO(Dgital Video Out) and the tv is HDMI then you would simply use a converter cable long enough to reach for patching the video over. Then you go through the detection of the second tv as monitor configuration from there unless being used as the main display.

I know... I told you.. I use a DVI to HDMI cord to patch my pc to the tv, and it works, I patched the pc to the tv like 4 months ago, thats not the problem.

This is where s-video or HDMI at both ends for both video and sound would allow you to select one input source with the tv remote! It seems you are trying to patch over but using two different input sources which would be an immediate problem. S-video with sound out from the video card if it had that would patch into the three RCA phono inputs on the tv for yellow=video, white=left, and red=right channel. But you lack s-video output from your pc to start with.

I have s-video, but I dont want to use it.. the video quality is bad.. I would stick with my DVI to HDMI cord.
And I dont know how it's possible to connect the phono RCA and DVI to HDMI together so it will produce sound and video.. someone told me to do that.. but I dont think it's possible.. so I asked here if I can do it.

For using the usb headset for Skype or live chat on WL Messenger I'll hear the sound out the speakers until setting the headset as the default while in use. But that is where you need to go to see if by chance you can configure full sound for everything from both at the same time not the volume level mixer already seeing everything enabled. Give that a try.

OK, I will.


I have a not really related question..
I thought about buying a wireless set of head phones..
Is it any good?
What are the major cons of it?
I think it better for being wireless, because I always need to "take care" of the wires of my head phones.. not to pull too hard by accident or something like that, and I think it can solve a bit of my sound patching problem..
I can watch a movie with head phones (they will be connected to the pc).
Which model would you suggest? (if you know about wireless head phones).

Thank you.