Solved Realtek onboard sound card with 5.1 surround speaker fill problem

[FaberTech]

I recently installed a new motherboard Asus Sabertooth 990FX. It has an on-board sound card "Realtek® ALC 892 8-Channel High Definition Audio CODEC". I'm using 5.1 surround speakers from creative. Speaker fill with windows update driver, or Realteks driver from Asus' website, has the same outcome.

The problem is that the back speakers, when playing music, sound like an mp3 playing at 24kbps or something of the sort. This is not the first time this has happened, and ever since windows vista, this problem has occurred in every on-board sound card i have dealt with. I have heard different reasons such as DirectSound3D Hal in Windows Vista being removed, on-board sound cards just sucking, drivers sucking, etc.

The only time the rear speakers sound right, is when i test the speakers with windows, with the software from Realtek, Or using some media player that i cant remember the name of anymore that had an option to fix this problem only for music played in that media player. But I just want all sound to play through them right. I don't watch movies on this computer and usually don't play any games, so i don't really care about the surround affect. I just want all the speakers putting out sound in stereo.

At this point I really don't care if i need a third party software to fix this issue and just for the record, no I do not have room in my system for an internal sound card, and I really don't want to deal with an external one either. I'd rather just never fix the issue and use only two front speakers for music and such.

I am using windows 7 64bit on this system.

 

[Night Hawk]

The first step once confirmed that the correct drivers and by the way sound app is installed is to set to the speaker settings for 5.1 or 4 speakers depending on preference. You may want to check on the Windows sound mixer settings as well since many often forget about that other mixer being there.

The first test once the settings are looked over is going into the Control Panel>Sound section there to run the test/configuration wizard which will verify each pair of speakers first front then back as you go along. That is found in the Playback tab when first clicking on the CP>Sound and seeing the popup window appear.
(refer to attached images for both Windwos sound mixer, Sound configuration wizard)

As you will see from the second image there for the configuration wizard I use a separate expansion card(preferred here) while you would still look through that wizard. With the Creative Audio Console/Volume Panel you generally expect a move evolved mixer.volume control panel while most onboard sound setups also provide some smaller form of mixer app you would need to look at as well.

Another trip up found with some 5.1 speaker sets is on the center speaker or other volume and balance controls where sometimes tweaking them is required when it seems sound will drop off from the rear speakers. If the bass is up a bit the quality of sound from the rear pair despite having a woofer below can suffer! Then you have to tweak the tremble if these controls are present to clean up the sound from the rear.

As for 3rd party audio mixers you can find a ton of those. Power Mixer however replaces the standard volume control/mixer included in Windows. Volume control for Windows - Power Mixer

 

[FaberTech]

Thanks for the step by step info NightHawk, I have already messed around with those settings a hundred times. I will upload a snapshot of my current configuration, and look into the third party software you provided a link for.

Another good way to describe the sound im getting from the rear is that it sounds as if not only low quality but cutting out at certain pitches. so you may be right about the bass thing. I will see if there is something i can play with.

 

[FaberTech]

my volume isn't all the way up because I use the system to manage the volume rather than the speaker knob. doesn't make any difference either way, it still makes weird sounds in the rear.

 

[FaberTech]

I am using Realtek Audio Driver V6.0.1.6251 for Windows vista 32bit&64bit/WIN7 32bit&64bit.

Doesn't seem to be anything i can do with power mixer that helps.

 

[Night Hawk]

The thing I was referring to is seen with the older Logitech speaker set here with the volume, front to rear fader, and tone bass to tremble type knob on the center mix I keep on the desk while others are spread out. The head phone jack is also right there as well.

When adjusting the bass to tremble the center mix and front seem to get the boost while the rear seems to fade off a bit. The woofer simply does what a woofer does when seeing an increase in bass there. The difference I notice not only effect any music playback but even live tv input by way of the tuner card.

Yet all those wav files for Windows sounds are loud and clear! regardless of how these are adjusted. The problem eminates from multichannel sound not mono tones for the obvious reasons however. Two channel stereo wav files or MP3s will expect to see the same problems however as your typical stereo, HD, or 5.1 input.

From what I run into this would suggest the speakers are the main problem since front and back all need a certain current only seen when volume and other things like your equalizer(disabled on card software here) or bass and tremble adjustments are off from the sound coming through.

Web media playback or a live tv signal will be crystal clear while those controls will need to be tweaked a bit for an audio cd or MP3 when going back to the 5.1 setting unless using head phones for late night listening. As for any gaming the game's own control panel will see a speaker setting option there ruling out the need to change from 5.1 to stereo or head phones. No worry about bass and tremble either!

The driver version there is what is found at the Asus support site being crosscompatible with the 32bit/64bit Vista and 7. You may want to see what the Realtek has there to see if a newer version of the same for that audio chip is available at their main site support pages.

I doubt even a newer set there will hold any solution however since this always seems to stem around the volume and other controls on the speakers themselves as well as the sound application at least as far as a separate expansion card. The other thing that could help would be using optical output if available over direct plug into the 1/8 rear jacks to see if the audio is then cleaned up using the other technology over analog.

 

[FaberTech]

Ill look into another driver that is 64bit. as for the speakers, i would use a monster cable if the speakers supported it.

 

[Night Hawk]

I took a look at the Realtek download page and all that shows is R2-67 ATI and the 3/30/12 latest R2-68 for both 32bit and 64bit download for Vista and 7. I fugured you would lkely have the latest from the Asus support site but wanted a look anyways.

 

[FaberTech]

yep still working on it, but no luck. Tried the driver from the Realtek sight, but it doesn't make any difference. Ill be amazed if this problem is ever solved.

 

[Night Hawk]

It always boils down to something odd like some stupid adjustment of settings rather then any driver issue. Eventually I will need to replace the old 5.1 speaker set here and may end up still running into the drop off of rear right speaker in fact volume/clarity to some extent until some tweaking with the front to rear, tone, etc.knobs.

For digital output the only concern of course would be for analog sound file, MP3s, etc. where the conversion losses something along the way. Unfortunately there's usually nothing that can be done for any of that either unless someone digitally remasters something.

 

[FaberTech]

Being how this problem has helped me in the past with other things, i'm going to install every version of Realtek's drivers until something changes. we will see.

 

[Night Hawk]

Hey good luck with it!

When looking at the Creative drivers/apps still saved from 2009 even I found out the drivers on now are still the 7 beta set Creative released in time for the first public release of 7! Still running good however despite the way the sound goes out through the speakers!

All you can do there is see if any other driver version has any real effect or it's more of an app/hardware solution needed.

 

[FaberTech]

FIX

I fixed the problem! After doing a bunch of research, I found that I just needed to assign the rear jack to be a front jack. It was a little hard at first because the registry entries and values where different for the other person than I. could be because they where using vista. I created a reg binary key as follows. May be different for all you others looking at this, but in any case, the idea is the same.

First i found close to the end of this forum the idea to do this

Realtek HD - Rear speaker distortion FIX ( VISTA / WINDOWS 7 ) - Rage3D Discussion Area

Then after not knowing if i had the right pins because of what others where saying, i checked out this forum.

http://www.sevenforums.com/sound-au...hanging-jack-output-reassignments-fix-12.html

I looked at comment #115 to figure out what pin # I needed. Pin02 was my rear jack. I applied a binary value of the front jack Pin01 which was 04 00 00 00, rebooted, and presto! i got what i wanted. From what I can tell, the binary value is always the same, but the pin # may be different for different systems.

>HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\Mine was {4D36E96C-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}>mine was 0008>Settings>mine was Drv6132_DevType_0892_SS10438436

I found it by looking for Sound, video and game controllers under the {4D36E96C-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318} part. I found out mine was 0008 because of the driver description. Ill show pics.

Despite what the forums say, that is the only reg value you need to insert. unless you are dealing with 7.1 surround. then you would need to do the same for that port. I have no idea what pin that would be, but im sure you would figure it out

P.S. I did this with the latest drivers. and make sure you have 5.1 with speaker fill still enabled or you may not get center/sub working properly. FYI, if you run the test after doing this it will play the front and rear at the same time when testing the front and play nothing when testing the rear speakers.

Realtek High Definition Audio Codec for Windows 7 (64-bit) Download - SoftSea

 

[FaberTech]

sorry for all the typos i just edited. (d)

 

[Night Hawk]

That was quite a find just the same. Good for you!

Here I would need to find another solution like a good set of speakers with a center mix having volume and a head phone jack as well as the woofer under the desktop plus front and rear speakers but not too large in size.

That was the problem when looking the newer sets of Logitech speakers to replace these and the speakers on the newer sets towered over these.

The Creative sets lacked the same layout as far as seeing the center mix small enough to fit on the top of the desk and still have the on/off, volume, balance type controls plus jack for the cordless head set. Many either lack a headphone jack or have it placed elsewhere as an 1/8" analog output.

 

[GAMEHUNTER]

Please Help

I fixed the problem! After doing a bunch of research, I found that I just needed to assign the rear jack to be a front jack................

Sorry for my bad english.

Please help me.
I tried your fix method but not successfully

No problem in Windows XP but now use Windows 7 Professional (x64)
My PC : (Asus Z97V) Notebook
My Speaker System : Jazz 800w 4+1 Speaker

 

[Night Hawk]

I'm not coming up with any information on "Asus Z97V" at the Asus support site. It sounds like you may have downloaded the wrong update. The support site does offer an automatic model detection option or by serial number on their support page seen at ASUSTeK Computer Inc. -Support- Drivers and Download

 

[GAMEHUNTER]

I'm not coming up with any information on "Asus Z97V" at the Asus support site. It sounds like you may have downloaded the wrong update. The support site does offer an automatic model detection option or by serial number on their support page seen at ASUSTeK Computer Inc. -Support- Drivers and Download

I tried all driver version and update

Problem is wrong jack select in Realtek software. Blue = Black (Rear jack)

 

[Night Hawk]

From the first image you posted the one marked "side" would likely be the substitute for rear since you are looking at a portable not a desktop system. Many laptops have a pair of speakers built into the display casing being seen as the front while the external set you plug in would be seen as the speakers on the sides.

As far as the color of the dot representing the side you don't go by the color necessarily while in the speakers settings with any sound app. You go by what is heard from the speakers themselves to get familiar with how the app configures things as long as the mixer is working normally.

The attached image here shows how it looks when changing speaker settings for a separate sound card where no audio jacks are even represented. When plugging speakers here into the installed sound card I simply have to go by the physical plugs and which audio jack each goes into.

The 3rd image you posted shows the front speakers way out in front and sees the "side" speakers on each side of the laptop the way the app illustrates there. This is why the setting is being seen as "side" not "rear" in the settings screen there.

 

[Draknium]

Hey,
Had the same problem, updated my mobo (GA-EX58-UD5) to latest realtek sound driver but still didnt have the speaker fill option. The Room environment worked but sounded terrible before adjusting each speaker I found another option.
Audio Devices-Speaker properties-Dolby tab-check dolby prologic & natural bass, can select one or the other but both sounded better to me

Hope this works for someone else aswell =)