Audio suddenly stops working

[Dreambreaker]

So my audio suddenly stops while playing Rainbow Six Siege. This has happen before while playing siege and is fixed by restarting siege and Uplay and only effects the game and nothing else. This time, everything that involves audio just stops working. Everything has been fine up until now.

I've tried doing system restores, uninstalling and installing the newest driver of the Realtek HD Audio Driver from Asus' website, made sure that the drivers were alright via Device Manager, removed any external drives, and checked for loose cables. Nothing worked so I tried using different headphones, but that did not fix it. Both headphones work when tested through my phone. BIOS has HD Audio enabled. I tried plugging my headphones into the rear jack and I got sound but there was a lot of "static" or "robotic sound" coming through them and the quality was horrible thus driving me to the conclusion that something went wrong with the front panel audio or my headphones are not being detected.

 

[fireberd]

I gather from your post that the game causes audio to stop. Are you trying to play some other audio application at the same time as the game? That could pose a conflict. If not and its just the game, look at the game setup, or even reinstalling the game.

 

[Dreambreaker]

Siege is one of those games where sound provides tons of information so I can't afford to play other sound applications at the same time. So I reinstalled that game and plugged my headphones into front audio panel and still got no sound at all. There was no sound even with YouTube videos, windows, other games, etc.

 

[fireberd]

Is the sound OK if you boot up the PC but do not run the game?

 

[Dreambreaker]

No, I do not hear that little chime at the login screen.

 

[fireberd]

So, there is no audio at all at startup?

Post a screenshot of the Sound Panel, Playback section.
Also a screenshot of the Device Manager, Sounds section.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/9733-screenshots-files-upload-post-seven-forums.html

 

[Dreambreaker]

Yes, there's no audio at all at startup.

 

[fireberd]

Aha! The digital output is set as default. Change that to "Speakers".

 

[Dreambreaker]

The set to default option is grayed out for the speakers.

 

[Layback Bear]

Speakers is grayed out because Windows is not seeing your speakers. (unplugged)

If your speakers are plugged in, where are they plugged in?

 

[Dreambreaker]

Headphones are plugged into the front audio panel and even if they are plugged in, the option is still grayed out.

 

[fireberd]

If you have speakers, make sure they are plugged in and powered on. If you do not have speakers, plug the headset into the rear GREEN speaker jack. Then "refresh" the sound by going to the Device Manager, RIGHT click on the Realtek entry and then LEFT click "Uninstall". DO NOT uninstall the drivers. Restart the PC and when Windows starts it will detect and reinstall the sound. Then check the Sound Panel to see if Speakers are set as default or can be set as default.

 

[Dreambreaker]

Ok, so the speakers have no been set as default, but there is still no sound in the front jack.

 

[fireberd]

There is sound now at the rear green speaker jack, right?

Next step would be to check the front panel headset/mic connection on the motherboard. The plug for the front panel is labeled "HD Audio" (preferred) but on some older cases it could be labeled "AC97". Generally, the sound connection is on the lower left of the motherboard.

 

[Dreambreaker]

Yes, there is sound coming out of the rear green speaker jack.

I unplugged the HD Audio cable and re-plugged it. Afterwards, the computer recognized the headphones unlike last time but no sound is coming through them.