Delay between speakers and headphones

[ixodid]

I have speakers plugged into the tower's rear jack and headphones plugged into the front jack. (Windows 7 x64 HP desktop)

The headphones have about a 1/4 second delay - this is also reflected in the tray's volume control level meters.

(I'm pretty sure I had them working in sync yesterday and I don't know of any changes I've made since then.)

Has anyone else had this issue and does anyone have a solution?

Thanks.

 

[fireberd]

That is a new one. I've never seen a problem like this posted before.

If it was OK yesterday and now bad, use the System Restore and restore the PC back to "yesterday" or and earlier date and see if that takes care of it. System Restore has an "undo" option if that does not take care of the problem.

If System Restore does not fix it, reinstall the HP supplied sound driver and see if that helps. In most cases the vendor supplied sound driver works best.

 

[ixodid]

use the System Restore

There was no restore point set. I thought Windows did that automatically.

In most cases the vendor supplied sound driver works best.

By vendor you mean, for instance, Realtek and not HP?

I downloaded the drivers from Realtek.

I uninstalled the current drivers and when I restarted Windows, the same drivers get reinstalled. So I tried a second time and that time I checked the checkbox that says "Delete the driver software for this device" and it still reinstalled the same drivers when I restarted Windows.

Do I have to uninstall the old drivers first, or can I install the newer version I downloaded from Realtek without uninstalling the old drivers first?

 

[Sardonicus]

Download the latest drivers and install them over the old driver.
Once you've restarted your computer, open up the Realtek HD Audio Manager, from the tray.
I'm not sure what's causing the delay, but there are a few things you can try.

Select Speaker Configuration.
If Virtual Surround is checked, uncheck it.
If you're using just 2 speakers, make sure that Surround speakers is not checked.

Select Sound Effects
Make sure that Environment is set to None.

 

[ixodid]

Well, this is interesting.

I attempted to install the new drivers. The install process was supposed to be a two-step process according to the installer program - that is, the program said it would uninstall the old drivers, reboot, install the new drivers, and reboot a second time.

When the system restarted the second time, I got a blank desktop (background color only) and a cursor - nothing else - no icons, no tray, no Start button, no keyboard input.

I did a hard shut-down and restarted - same result.

I restarted in Safe Mode and did a System Restore - now Windows is running okay (but the audio delay issue is still present).

Any idea what happened and what I should do next?

Thank you for your help - I do appreciate it.

 

[Sardonicus]

If the Realtek HD Audio Manager is in the tray,
you can proceed with the instructions I posted.

 

[fireberd]

I would first use HP supplied drivers, not ones from RealTek. Many PC (and motherboard) vendors have custom implementation of the RealTek hardware. To avoid any potential problems the vendor's drivers should be used.

I used to do a lot of support on the Dell forum and that was a major issue with Dell's. Only the Dell supplied driver worked correctly in most cases (and in many cases only the Dell supplied driver would even install).

 

[ixodid]

The drivers from the HP website show an older release date and older version number than the currently installed drivers.

The drivers I backed up from the machine before I did a clean install of Windows 7 have the same release date and version number as the ones on the HP site.

So, how did the newer drivers magically appear on my machine?

 

[fireberd]

Probably the RealTek drivers you installed that you thought aborted.

 

[ixodid]

Probably the RealTek drivers you installed that you thought aborted.

No, that's not it - I noted the date and version number before I downloaded the Realtek drivers.

Anyway, is it okay to install a slightly older driver (from the HP site)?

 

[Sardonicus]

I'd go with what Fireberd advises.
Yes, it's OK to install the older driver from HP.

I forget that not everyone builds their own PC, but instead may use a branded PC.
Unfortunately with branded PC's, you can experience problems, if you don't use the supplied driver(s).

 

[fireberd]

Yes. It will probably ask you if you really want to install an older driver (or something similar) but click yes.