HDMI - not plugged in - my solution

[mjays]

i thought i should post how i solved the problem of not getting sound via the hdmi cable despite getting a picture after upgrading from vista 32bit to windows 7 32bit.

i have a sony vgn-ar51m with a nvidia 8400m gt graphics card. like a lot of people i had no sound via hdmi to tv and i couldn't set default as it was greyed out.

i trawled around the internet for 2 days reading every thread available on it. i tried most of the solutions that worked for others, installing updated nvidia drivers, the latest sigma tel hd audio codecs, checking the bios, realtek drivers, uninstalling and re-installing everything a hundred times or more. it was doing my head in.

then last night just before i was about to go to bed and give up for good, i found some old sigma tel hd audio codecs made for a dell. i created a system restore point because my laptop is a sony and thought what the hell. but by jove, the older dell codecs worked. everything looks a little different though, i have an extra headphones section and i now need to switch manually between pc speakers and using the headphones/3.5mm jack output, but that's a small price to pay.

these are the ones i installed SigmaTel High Definition Audio CODEC - Free software downloads and software reviews - CNET Download.com

i hope it works for someone else.

 

[IggyAZ]

Welcome and glad to hear you found your solution.
It is always nice to hear ffrom users like yourself finding the answer and possible helping other.
Keep us posted.

 

[BuSyMan]

I LOVE YOU! Your workaround did wonders! It finally works!

Edit: Actually, just uninstalling the IDT/SigmaTel drivers and letting Windows detect the hardware and install its own Microsoft drivers seems to be the solution.

 

[soofsayer]

Yes it works

Hi,

Many hours trying to get hdmi to send sound to my tv after w7 32bit upgrade. This worked for me on my ar51m vaio:

1 Downloaded the old drivers from the first post link.
2 Removed hardware - audio - all of it.
3 Found new hardware - audio - used the old drivers from download.
4 Reboot
5 Checked audio devices, now showing headphones as 4th device (this is a good sign)
6 Disabled laptop speakers. Connected HDMI to TV.
7 Reboot
8 I then downloaded the latest K-lite mega codec pack with Media Player Classic, plus the latest update.
9 Ran MPC. In View - Options - Playback - Output - selected from Audio Renderer dropdown box - 6. Digital Audio (HDMI).

Played th film, audio is back on, wheW!!!!!!!!!!

If you have problems doing this I would suggest testing:

1 Properties on the HDMI audio device should bring up a window with tabs. Under advanced should be a TEST button. This should play through your tv if all connected up and the above has been followed. If there is no TEST button available under the properties for the HDMI device, the sound drivers are not working correctly so do step 1 again. If there is no sound and no graphic on the sound mixer windows to show audio output, drivers are wrong.

2 If you get the test sound but no film sound when playing the movie, I suggest you download the MPC as I described and make the options change. This should also then show the application next to the HDMI device in the Mixer window when opened.

Good luck. Was a proper pain to get it sorted. Thanks poster for the old drivers link, this help a lot.l!!!!

 

[mjays]

my pleasure. glad that i could help all of the above, directly or indirectly.

it's nice to get your laptop working and use it for something useful instead of just sitting at it for hours (days even) trying to fix it.