New Graphics Card Nvidia Geforce GTX 460 has disabled my sound.

[Synica]

I recently reinstalled windows and replaced my old NVIDEA Geforce 9600GT which finally died with a new Geforce GTX 460. However, when I installed the drivers, it completely disabled my motherboard's onboard Realtek Azalia soundcard, and for the last few days I've had no sound at all. Nothing I've done has fixed the problem, and every time I try to uninstall the drivers for everything relating to my video card, the HDMI audio devices reinstall themselves from no discernible source every single time I boot up like a virus.

I'm about ready to take this pathetic video card back to the shop and demand a refund and get a video card that is not going to screw with my computer like this.

I don't use the single HDMI port on my video card, I use both of my monitors on the DVI ports. I really need some help with figuring out how to get the sound working again through the old audio (output/mic) jacks on the back of the PC to get my speakers and headset working once more.

 

[Morph666]

Nothing I've done has fixed the problem

Before we can properly help you, please tell us what you've tried which hasn't worked.

 

[fireberd]

SOME video cards will install themselves as the "default" playback device. When this happens the sound from your sound card is gone. Usually, this is easily fixed by resetting your "speakers" as the default audio playback device. To see if this is your problem, go to the Control Panel/Hardware and Sound and finally the Sound Panel. In the Playback section, click on the Speaker icon then click on "Set as Default".

 

[Synica]

Okay, well the first thing I tried was simply installing the latest drivers of my soundcard from my motherboard's driver website, that hasn't worked. The next thing I tried doing was uninstalling the graphics card drivers entirely and then reinstalling without the HD audio driver option and then using my motherboard's soundchip drivers. Then I tried going into the bios and seeing if I could somehow enable the onboard audio sound card, but mine only has the options of 'auto' and 'disabled', and auto doesn't work. The error message 'No Audio Output Device is installed' is there constantly (and this answer's Fireberd's response) there IS no speaker option. There is no options at all whatsoever, the listing for playback and recording devices are completely and utterly empty.

Next I tried reinstalling the HD audio drivers from the NVIDEA CD that came with the graphics card and then 4 'High Definition Audio Device' entries come up in the Sound, Video and Game Controllers menu of Device Manager with 4 corresponding 'Digital Audio (HDMI)' devices in the Sound Playback Devices listing, which say they are 'not plugged in'.

After that, I've skipped over the other suggestions I've seen since they were either so hairbrained it left me wondering whether or not they were actually legitimate ways of dealing with this or seemed so dangerous to system stability that I wouldn't touch them with a ten meter pole.

As it is, I have no further clue what to try. Oh and if I haven't stated it already, I do not use the single HDMI port on my video card, neither of my monitors support HDMI and even if they did, none of them have audio jacks or inbuilt speakers.

 

[TVeblen]

It sounds like the onboard audio is being disabled at the BIOS level.

What can happen is that if onboard audio is set to "Auto" in BIOS, this will cause it to turn off the onboard audio whenever it detects that another audio card has been plugged in. If the GTX 460 is detected as an audio card, presumably because of its SPDIF functionality, then as soon as the BIOS sees the video card, it thinks there's an audio card present, and it may disable the onboard sound on the motherboard.

If you're having this problem, it's unlikely you'll be able to fix it through adjusting your Windows settings or drivers - the onboard audio would be disabled long before the Windows boot loader even starts.

You may want to check the Gigabyte website to see if they have an updated BIOS that addresses a fix for this issue. The new version may let you "force" the onboard audio to be enabled.

Of course, flashing a BIOS is serious business. You want to be sure the updated BIOS has the fix you need before considering this course of action.

 

[Synica]

I've taken a look several times before and it looks like Gigabyte has never specifically updated the I/O system for my particular model of motherboard so flashing it is unfortunately not really possible. =\

 

[Dwarf]

Before you do anything, just check the Realtek Audio Manager to see if it has defaulted to Digital Output.

 

[Synica]

That doesn't work. For whatever reason, the video card is deleting and disabling the Realtek audio manager between when I install it and it prompts me for a reboot and when I startup again.

 

[Sardonicus]

Azalia Codec should be set to Auto in Bios.
Realtek should be installed from here Realtek
Speaker....Realtek High Definition Audio should be selected.

You don't want to disable the Azalia Codec in the Bios, if using onboard audio.
Check your speaker wire connections.

 

[Synica]

I've tried all that already, p5bdkw. Something (I assume something to do with this ass of a video card) is disabling the activation of the Realtek audio manager which has been properly installed, therefore there is no Realtek High Definition Audio in the playback devices listing.

As it is, this is quickly starting to look like a case where I simply need to get a refund for this video card. There's no point in having a high end video card if it disables sound entirely because games won't even boot up.

 

[TVeblen]

Keep in mind that it may be your (older) motherboard, or more specifically, the motherboard's BIOS that may not be up to the task, not the video card.

You might want to try contacting Gigabyte (ugh) and explaining your issue (onboard sound chip being disabled by HDMI capable video card in BIOS) and see if they have a fix or workaround you could use. It will take some perseverance to get to a real tech who can actually help.

 

[Synica]

Oh dear... That's a task suitable for Ben Hurr... Alright, thanks TVeblen I'll see what I can do with that.

 

[jsrattey]

onboard audio get disabled after installation of gtx 460

Oh dear... That's a task suitable for Ben Hurr... Alright, thanks TVeblen I'll see what I can do with that.

Hey hi

I am the another victim on nvidia gtx460,

I am facing the same problem with the Onboard audio.

How did u figured it out.

Pls Help help !
SOS

 

[Synica]

Well jsrattey, I tried talking to Gigabyte and they weren't any help. I ended up having to bite the bullet and get a temporary measure to fix the problem. I bought a cheap $25 sound card as a work around for the time being. Eventually since my motherboard is so old, I'll have to replace that too, but that's for another time.

Sorry dude, I think you're going to have to bite the bullet and buy a soundcard like me. =\

 

[champ2010]

I've tried all that already, p5bdkw. Something (I assume something to do with this ass of a video card) is disabling the activation of the Realtek audio manager which has been properly installed, therefore there is no Realtek High Definition Audio in the playback devices listing.

As it is, this is quickly starting to look like a case where I simply need to get a refund for this video card. There's no point in having a high end video card if it disables sound entirely because games won't even boot up.

You can try this and check if the issue is there.

1. Uninstall all the NVIDIA graphics driver from Control Panel like Graphics, Physx, Update.

2. Restart the Computer after uninstalling. This will take back the sound to the default audio device that you have i.e. Realtek.

3. Install the driver and while installing select Custom and you will get a list of components that is being installed. Deselect HD Audio under components and press next. This should not install the audio driver and thus the setting should get overridden from default to HDMI. It should be still on realtek.

 

[stormy13]

champ2010, great suggestions except that there is nothing you can do in Windows and with drivers if it is happening at the bios level as TVeblen already explained,

It sounds like the onboard audio is being disabled at the BIOS level.

What can happen is that if onboard audio is set to "Auto" in BIOS, this will cause it to turn off the onboard audio whenever it detects that another audio card has been plugged in. If the GTX 460 is detected as an audio card, presumably because of its SPDIF functionality, then as soon as the BIOS sees the video card, it thinks there's an audio card present, and it may disable the onboard sound on the motherboard.

If you're having this problem, it's unlikely you'll be able to fix it through adjusting your Windows settings or drivers - the onboard audio would be disabled long before the Windows boot loader even starts.

In the case of the bios on this particular motherboard, according to the manual there is two settings for the onboard audio, Auto and Disabled, and guess what happens when the bios detects a sound card of any kind? Auto disabled with no way to force enable it.

 

[champ2010]

champ2010, great suggestions except that there is nothing you can do in Windows and with drivers if it is happening at the bios level as TVeblen already explained,

It sounds like the onboard audio is being disabled at the BIOS level.

What can happen is that if onboard audio is set to "Auto" in BIOS, this will cause it to turn off the onboard audio whenever it detects that another audio card has been plugged in. If the GTX 460 is detected as an audio card, presumably because of its SPDIF functionality, then as soon as the BIOS sees the video card, it thinks there's an audio card present, and it may disable the onboard sound on the motherboard.

If you're having this problem, it's unlikely you'll be able to fix it through adjusting your Windows settings or drivers - the onboard audio would be disabled long before the Windows boot loader even starts.

In the case of the bios on this particular motherboard, according to the manual there is two settings for the onboard audio, Auto and Disabled, and guess what happens when the bios detects a sound card of any kind? Auto disabled with no way to force enable it.

Thanks Stormy13,

Shouldn't the BIOS take the default Audio device present at the moment after uninstalling the NVIDIA drivers. HD Audio driver is the one that normally overrides/changes the settings in BIOS.

 

[stormy13]

There is nothing in Windows that can affect those settings in the bios, as Windows and/or drivers have nothing to do with bios settings ither than to load what the bios says is there. Uninstalling a driver will never enable a bios setting.

In situations like this there are only a few options,

1. The motherboard manufacturer releases a bios update making it possible to enable the onboard audio regardless of whether another sound card is installed or not.

2. Find a video card that doesn't have built in audio which is next to impossible anymore, unless you want an older card that won't perform up to what's available now.

2. Do what Synica did and add an actual sound card if you don't want to use the video card's built in audio (which can only be used when using a HDMI connection).

 

[Khornel]

Hey! Sorry to bump this but I found a solution to this exact problem that doesn't cost anything or rely on BIOS updates that will never happen.
Simply use a GeForce driver from 2009:
download from Guru3D.com

It's not the best solution but it works and it made me able to play some games I would've otherwise not been able to. For it to work I first installed the 2009 driver on top of the newest one, I then "updated" the display driver in the device manager to the Microsoft default driver for my GeForce to enable sound and then "updated" back to 2009 driver in the device manager to enable proper hardware acceleration. I then had sound AND visuals!

How can this even be a thing? Who designed this cr*p?