Another 5.1 Surround sound issue for Win7

Mariusbinx said:

I'm decent with computers, but don't know much about sound cards, so I'll be using some screen caps.

I just bought some new speakers, the Logitech Z506s (front left/right, center, rear left/right, subwoofer). They are connected to laptop via a single cable, jacked into my single audio out.

Stuff that works:
- All the speakers produce sound, the speakers themselves convert audio singles to 5.1 (though with limited quality, not true 5.1)

That's it.
The problem is I am unable to set 5.1 Surround via Win7's sound config, or even test speakers. I know the audio is not playing true 5.1 as I've downloaded 5.1 test mp3s. I would like this to function as true 5.1 as the laptop is fairly new, and I had no reason to think the soundcard/motherboard/whatever else controls this, would be incapable.

I am using a Sony Vaio VPCF115FM laptop, which uses Realtek and Nvidia.
This is NOT an upgrade from XP or Vista to Win7, according to the device manager all audio drivers ARE up-to-date, my laptop was preinstalled with all the drivers it currently uses, my laptop does NOT have the Realtek audio manager (and not because I uninstalled it). I also do NOT have the sound fill or speaker full option in enhancements.

I have been googling this for hours and have been unable to find any correction or fix for this, most people are at least able to test their speakers in the sound config, most people don't seem to be using Realtek and NVIDIA.

I would like any help at all, and thank you in advance.


Some screenshots incase anything I said was wrong/maybe they'd be helpful:





Some screenshots incase anything I said was wrong

Screenshots helped. I noticed you have 5 copies of the Nvidia driver, and the realtek. I dont think that can possibly be right. I would uninstall all of them and reboot letting win 7 pick a driver to install. The extra driver may be using up resources (IRQ's) that cant be used by the other copies.

I am not sure if you should be using the realtek, or the nvidia

Let us know if you need help


Ken j

[QUOTE=zigzag3143;1147609]

Mariusbinx said:

Screenshots helped. I noticed you have 5 copies of the Nvidia driver, and the realtek. I dont think that can possibly be right. I would uninstall all of them and reboot letting win 7 pick a driver to install. The extra driver may be using up resources (IRQ's) that cant be used by the other copies.

I am not sure if you should be using the realtek, or the nvidia

Let us know if you need help


Ken j

I believe the NVIDIA HD audio drivers are for HDMI connections only, and are not part of the main system... that is, I don't believe they change the functioning of internal or attached speakers/headphones.

Each of the four instances of the NVIDIA HD Audio drivers has a slightly different location when looking at its properties. Such as Location 0 (Internal High Definition Audio Bus), Location 1 (internal High....), and so on.

Note:
The 5th audio drive, Realtek HD Audio has the same location as one of the NVIDIA drivers, Location 0. I'm not sure if this matters at all...

[QUOTE=Mariusbinx;1147621]

zigzag3143 said:

I believe the NVIDIA HD audio drivers are for HDMI connections only, and are not part of the main system... that is, I don't believe they change the functioning of internal or attached speakers/headphones.

Each of the four instances of the NVIDIA HD Audio drivers has a slightly different location when looking at its properties. Such as Location 0 (Internal High Definition Audio Bus), Location 1 (internal High....), and so on.

Note:
The 5th audio drive, Realtek HD Audio has the same location as one of the NVIDIA drivers, Location 0. I'm not sure if this matters at all...

Rather than uninstall, I disabled all but the realtek driver, rebooted, and found no change in behavior, functionality, or menu options.

Hate to say it but you cannot get 5.1 from a single analogue connection, the only way that is possible is through a digital (optical or coax) connection; analogue requires all 3 cables (green, orange and black) to be used. Just for reference here is the back of the subwoofer for that speaker set,



and assuming you are only using the green jack/cable as that is only the one jack on the laptop, the best you're going to get stereo from it. The only way you are going to get 5.1/surround from that laptop is to get speakers that use an optical connection, as the headphone/speaker jack can also be used as an optical connection (yes I read the manual for the laptop).

stormy13 said:

Hate to say it but you cannot get 5.1 from a single analogue connection, the only way that is possible is through a digital (optical or coax) connection; analogue requires all 3 cables (green, orange and black) to be used. Just for reference here is the back of the subwoofer for that speaker set,



and assuming you are only using the green jack/cable as that is only the one jack on the laptop, the best you're going to get stereo from it. The only way you are going to get 5.1/surround from that laptop is to get speakers that use an optical connection, as the headphone/speaker jack can also be used as an optical connection (yes I read the manual for the laptop).

Thank you, that sucks but the speakers are still pretty darn good for the price .

I might invest in getting an external sound card/board if I ever feel I absolutely need the 5.1 audio (better quality + 5.1...win).

However, I am still with the original issue of why isn't my sound card/driver showing options other than just stereo, even if I cannot use 5.1 at the moment.

There is an easy solution to this problem I found after days of searching - Zalman ZM-RSSC USB 2.0 5.1-Channel External Sound Box - Add 5.1 Surround Sound To Any Notebook or PC! Zalman ZM-RSSC

Cheap at $6, investing in one today