motherboard - Can't get audio, can't isolate cause

08
2014-07

jwarner112

I'm running a computer with the following specs:

OS    Windows 7, Ubuntu 14.04
HDD0  256GB SAMSUNG 840 EVO      
HDD1  300GB SEAGATE
HDD2  2TB   WEST DIG BLUE
HDD3  750GB DELL ENTERPRISE
HDD4  750GB DELL ENTERPRISE
RAM0  4GB   G.SKILL RIPJAW DDR3 1033
RAM1  4GB   G.SKILL RIPJAW DDR3 1033
PSU   550W  THERMALTAKE SMART SP-550PCBUS
GFX   1GB   NVIDIA 550TI
CPU   3GHZ  AMD ATHLON II X4 640
MOBO  R2.2  GIGABYTE GA-870A-UD3

I just had a minor upgrade. A friend upgraded to new hardware and I took his motherboard, because it supported DDR3 RAM (yeah, this actually WAS a gaming machine before I upgraded from 4GB DDR2 @ 401MHz. How did I ever live?)

In any case, my previous motherboard was a Gigabyte GA-MA785G-UD3H and everything worked perfectly, even if a bit slow.

But after installing this new motherboard, I'm having trouble with the audio. At first, I installed the OSes and everything worked except sound; Neither OS could even detect the device. After some searching I realized that the previous owner had disabled it on a bios-level, because he uses sound cards, something I've never done/felt the need for before. It's worth nothing that he had actually never used this onboard audio, and would not be able to tell me if this is a long-standing issue.

So I enabled it, and it worked. At least, partially. Both OSes now detected the device, but I still get no sound. To boot, on Windows 7, I have this annoying-as-fuck Realtek audio manager that pops up whenever the input changes (e.g Putting on headphones). And this is where it gets weirdly glitchy.

To my eye, the audio behaves well enough, until it is actually called upon. At this point, it becomes buggy as hell. The audio manager says I've plugged in a different device and asks what it is (it never remembers), but this doesn't matter because I have not changed the audio input.

From the first time that panel opens, all hell breaks loose. That same config manager window pops up frequently and randomly. Many times in one minute. It's apparently haywire and I don't know how to stop it, except to finally disable the device in Dev manager.

Another observed behavior is a little more helpful to my untrained eye; In Ubuntu 14.04, the audio manager has a similar sporadic and shuffling behavior once called upon. Only the GUI is more telling. It very rapidly enables and disables headphone input, so that the previous two options (digital out, analog out) becomes three (digital out, analog out, headphones out). When headphones are actually put in, it freezes back to two options, but it's never the right one. Using headphones actually disables the headphones option.

I've tried upgrading the bios and drivers as well as re-connecting a few wires inside (AC'97 jack <--> HD Audio jack) but they've done nothing to help the situation. I have no audio and if I dare to try, my computer becomes paralyzed with its own pop-up dialogs.

If there's a soft-level fix, I really want to achieve it. I don't want to have to buy an audio card. Even as a strict hobbyist, I guess if I had to buy a card I would. It's just so damn inconvenient to need one this time, taking up a PCI or PCI-E slot.

Has anyone ever dealt with this? Is there a fix that doesn't end in my buying a sound card?

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ino

The motherboard integrated soundcards usually have much more noise, noticeable at higher gains, due to proximity to other components and not being shielded. This noise can be very unpleasant, and if you have good speakers/headphones, it's even more noticeable.

If you care about the sound quality and/if you have good quality speakers/headphones, you should get a good soundcard, perhaps an external one if you plan on recording something aswell (easier to connect, no interference).

On another note: did anyone ever notice in some computers you can hear a static noise when moving the mouse with max volume?

EDIT: If you really want to see how your soundcard performs comparing to others in the market, download the audio benchmarking tool at audio.rightmark.org and compare your results with some commercial and professional sound cards out there in their site. You'll probably need a cable to connecto the speaker and microphone jacks. (though I think this might be a little bit too much if you're not into audiophile/professional stuff)

jtimberman

I'm using the motherboard's sound in my HTPC, with optical output to my receiver; it does 7.1, DTS, AC3, and other three letter acronyms. I also game on the system, and have no noticeable performance impact from not having a "dedicated sound processor" or whatever the marketing folks are saying these days.

I find that sound perception is subjective, and there's more variables in the equation than many other system components. Various hardware can affect how something sounds, and not everyone can even tell there's differences. Some people (like me) cannot detect certain kinds of white noise or interference.

The speakers and/or headphones you use can have more impact on your sound experience than whether you use onboard sound or a standalone sound card. If you're hooked up to a receiver (like I am), that will affect sound output. Some receivers will do additional processing (for good or bad) on the signal they receive.

I didn't install a sound card in my system to save on money - I have a $500 receiver after all - I did so because its an additional component with another set of drivers, and possible area for conflict. The onboard sound chip provides what I need at no additional cost, and the quality is good enough for me.

baudtack

I use an older Sound Blaster 5.1 card in my desktop. I use it mostly because, by virtue of being a Sound Blaster, it will work with nearly any OS I throw at it with out me having to screw around with it for hours.

Steve Rowe

As of Windows Vista, Microsoft started requiring a minimum quality level out of motherboard audio. Any machine with the Windows Vista (or Windows 7) logo has a minimum sound quality level requirement. The idea that motherboard audio is really noisy and that you need another sound card to compensate for this should be a thing of the past.

The biggest uses for external audio would be more inputs, different connectors (e.g. balanced connectors), and prosumer quality levels. For listening to audio, you shouldn't need anything but the HDAudio controller on your motherboard.

Jared

Dedicated sound cards are also useful if you want to record/play from multiple sources. For example I run most of my sound through my integrated sound card for things like email and IM sounds, synthetic speach etc where quality doesn't matter. I run my media player through an external sound card that is hooked up to my stario for the extra quality.

staticsan

Using sound in your PC in any way that is non-standard or non-mainstream or just different from what your motherboard can provide is the reason to add a card. For example, digital in is still fairly rare. Or an odd sample rate. Or multiple simultaneous recording.

Stefan Thyberg

I have found a very specific problem on my laptop that makes an external soundcard very useful. The sound card on this laptop (a zepto 6324) is situated in the lower right corner of the PC and that is also where the headphone and mic plugs are. The sound card is not shielded at all from mobile phone interference. Can you see the problem yet?

Even though the mobile phone has to be quite close to trigger this, if you have the laptop on your LAP and you carry your mobile phone in your right front pocket, this will cause constant interference from the mobile phone whenever it does anything, including looking for a network. This makes it impossible to keep your phone in your pocket while watching movies on trains, buses, etc. and is one, albeit very specific, area where an extra soundcard would be useful.

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motherboard - Can't get audio, can't isolate cause