Another Realtek Problem

[candec]

I recently bought a refurbished Sony Vaio SVF1521Q1EB laptop with windows 7 professional. The spec says the Audio Adapter is Intel Panther Point HDMI @ Intel Panther Point PCH - High Definition Audio Controller [C-1]. It also says for Audio Adapter Realtek ALC 233 @ Intel Panther Point PCH - High Definition Audio Controller [C-1]. Presumably that's the same thing? The control panel does not show the HD Audio manager nor the hidden tray icons. The only settings I can change are from the Manage Audio Devices section. The sound is perfect when played through headphones, but very muffled and inaudible through the internal speakers. I've removed the drivers and installed the most up to date ones, 6.0.1.7541 but this makes little or no difference. I have also tried re-installing the original drivers, but again no difference. I also used Revo Uninstaller to remove the previous drivers before installing the latest version. Is there anything else I can try?

 

[fireberd]

The HDMI audio is for HDMI connection only, not for internal audio. However, the Realtek is. On some PC's the PC Vendor has disabled the HD Audio Manager or limits functions. (on my Lenovo laptop there is no System Mixer option and no way to get it).

I suspect when it was "refurbished" they didn't check or fix whatever is wrong with the internal speaker sound. You may be stuck with that, unless you can return it for a refund or replacement. If you can't return it, look around for info on the internal parts of this PC. Many PC's have "daughter boards" that have the I/O connectors on them and some even have the audio chip on a daughter board and if that is the case you may want to consider replacing it. If its not on a small daughter board, the only way to fix it would be to replace the motherboard.

 

[RainoT]

you can always go with a simple usb- audio adapter
you get em from 10$ up, easy to use (no drivers needed, nothing to install so)

some of the only devices i know where plug and play comes true

 

[candec]

Thank you for your replies. There isn't an option to return the laptop so I'm resigning myself to using USB devices.

 

[erpster4]

candec, the built-in laptop speakers in the Sony Vaio SVF1521Q1EB laptop are of inferior quality and the sounds come out relatively soft.
believe me I know. My younger bro has a Sony VAIO laptop (model VPCEB44FX/B - black color, late 2010) that uses Realtek HD audio drivers and the HD Audio Manager control panel never shows up. In fact the Realtek HD Audio Manager app never works on Sony brand computers, regardless of any version (old and/or new) of the Realtek audio drivers installed on there. Although my bro's Sony laptop does come with Dolby Home Theater V3 audio enhancement for Realtek ALC269 audio, enabling it made very little or no difference for the sound.

 

[candec]

candec, the built-in laptop speakers in the Sony Vaio SVF1521Q1EB laptop are of inferior quality and the sounds come out relatively soft.
believe me I know. My younger bro has a Sony VAIO laptop (model VPCEB44FX/B - black color, late 2010) that uses Realtek HD audio drivers and the HD Audio Manager control panel never shows up. In fact the Realtek HD Audio Manager app never works on Sony brand computers, regardless of any version (old and/or new) of the Realtek audio drivers installed on there. Although my bro's Sony laptop does come with Dolby Home Theater V3 audio enhancement for Realtek ALC269 audio, enabling it made very little or no difference for the sound.

I should have thought more carefully before buying. I can see now why Sony is no longer in this market. It just seemed bizarre that a company of Sony's standing released something as poor as this. I spent ages trying different drivers, but with no joy. I did try Audio enhancers, but they didn't work either. In frustration I bought a cheap Bluetooth speaker and although the device has been identified it won't connect!

 

[anwaypasible]

hard to say if it is the laptop's bluetooth at fault or the bluetooth speaker huh.
if you've got any electrical repair people locally, you could always take the laptop to them & ask them to install new speakers.

all they gotta do is undo the speakers, check the impedance (resistance) then measure the output voltage coming from the soundcard to ensure the new speakers wont blow from too much voltage.
but
if the soundcard is stupid sensitive, the electricity coming back from the speakers (when the cone isn't neutral, but rather in or out & moves back to neutral) it sends a little bit of electricity back into the amplifier - that is the only problem i see doing it (plus finding some speakers that sound good might be hard too).

but technically, the repair person should be able to learn if the speakers are sending back enough electricity to kill the amplifier all the way to the DAC, or simply the amplifier - and either way they should be able to fix that too.

 

[candec]

I've given up on the internal speakers and instead concentrated on the external Bluetooth speaker I bought from PC World. I didn't want to spend too much and I got a Goji GBTB14/GBTW14/GBTN14 round speaker for £9.99. I had a load of bother trying to connect with Bluetooth. The windows 7 professional Sony laptop identified the speaker but it wouldn't connect. After updating and removing drivers I've finally got it to work and the speaker is very impressive for the small outlay. The adapter on the laptop is a Broadcom BCM43142 and the driver is version 6.5.1.6770. The laptop also has a Microsoft Bluetooth Enumerator with driver version 6.1.7601.17889 and in the sound video and game controllers, a Bluetooth Hands-Free Audio driver for Broadcom version 6.5.1.6750. The control panel headset type settings for the Goji speaker are My hands free device can display contact and/or call information. The Bluetooth services for the device are all ticked (Audio Sink, Remote Control, Serial Port (SPP).

As regards the internal Realtek Speakers I now have the latest driver version 6.0.1.7797 and the sound is still awful. It seems a spectacular error for the Audio Manager to have been disabled.

 

[anwaypasible]

that suggests one day you might give up on always remembering to grab the bluetooth speaker.
and if that happens, the suggestion is still on the table.

obviously if the headphone out sounds good, then the amplifier for the soundcard is good & thus the chances of the speakers being bad are much higher.

by chance, did you ever remove the plastic from in front of the speakers to see if there's any dust or crud in there preventing the speakers from sounding good?
might be worth a look some day.

 

[candec]

No, I haven't looked inside the laptop. I think the problem is more than dust/crud. I could indeed seek the repair alternative, but the comment by erpster4, which I've read from other Sony owners, makes me think this is a generic problem.

 

[anwaypasible]

maybe your taste is higher than what you led people to believe (not that high taste is a bad thing).
if you are comparing old laptop speakers to the many newer tiny cube speakers, then yeah - those new cube speakers generally sound like a big improvement.

they are louder & that guarantees there's more details possible (not to be confused with really there), because the more the cone moves - the more of a grip it has on the air, thus the more details possible in the air.
(but if the speaker moves a lot & simply isn't a good speaker, then it won't sound like an improvement)
that is why people always turn up the volume when their favorite song comes on.

but don't confuse what i said with laptop speakers that can't play as loud or louder than a cube speaker.
that is a speaker efficiency thing & if you assume it isn't possible, you'd be that much more surprised when it happens.
(i'm also not saying there are any speakers available for sale that are highly efficient enough to do that, i'm only saying it is possible to be built - not that there are any for sale, but there might be some where as i haven't looked)

 

[candec]

No, it is not at all a taste issue. I'm not a music connoisseur or a perfectionist I just like to actually hear radio commentary/news bulletins without having the volume set to 100% and even then not being able to hear properly because A. the sound is very soft and B. it is very muffled. .

 

[anwaypasible]

yeah, soft & muffled is the one where it's hard to not be dust or crud.
speakers tend to be soft or muffled, usually not both (soft = bright | muffled = muddy).

the only way for speakers to pass quality assurance & then turn soft & muffled afterwards is if the amount of voltage & slew going to the speakers from the amplifier has changed a lot.
but the amplifier probably runs on the standard voltage without a need for a transformer (to change the voltage up or down).
then that takes care of how loud it is.
the quality of whatever piece they could ever use to replace a broken piece could make it muffled, but not very.

i find it hard to believe you went out of your way to buy a bluetooth speaker because you didn't like the flavor of the laptop speakers, yet you say it isn't a taste issue at all.

 

[candec]

It was only £10 so not a big outlay. How much would a repair place charge to investigate the internal speakers? They were quoting £50 to change a keyboard on my old laptop and I did the job myself in 5 minutes. In regard to being muffled it is even worse than that. It is bearing on inaudible! I can listen to sound played back on the Bluetooth speaker with the setting at about 40% and hear every word. With the internal speaker I can hear every other word with the volume set at 100%.

 

[anwaypasible]

repair prices can be rather high. but it might be worth it to get it looked at because if there isn't any dust or crud in there, it could be a sign of an electrical problem that is killing your laptop - and what good is a dead laptop?
might cost more later rather than catching it early.

if they repaired the laptop & simply looked to see if it posted to the bios, then they didn't check the audio - they didn't give themselves any reason to use a scope or test the circuit after the repair because they were being lazy & negligent.

if the voltage from the amplifier is low causing the speakers to be low output, the amplifier could be sucking up more power than what the motherboard is originally designed to do, and that sucking of the power is going to break other pieces too.

it could also be a drip of solder somewhere on the motherboard barely shorting something together - and that could also break the motherboard early.

when things aren't the way they are supposed to be, there's a good chance it's going to make things worse (not to be confused with improvements).

no sense shrugging your shoulders & then be surprised that the laptop is dead simply because you didn't check for dust or crud to know if there was a potential electrical problem the repair person overlooked.

 

[candec]

There is a laptop repair shop about a 2 minute walk from me. I may go there with it for their opinion. If there is a solution I would be likely to pursue it depending on what they said.