5.1 Surround Sound in Vista

goldy

[H]ard|Gawd
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Jun 3, 2006
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Im having a issue in Vista with my Z-5500 speaker setup. I did some research and I guess this a common problem. The problem is that not all of my speakers output sound. The two rear speakers, center and sub work fine. The problem is that I get no output from the two front speakers, nothing at all. I used the Sound Manager test option (in vista sound options) and all speakers output sound besides the two front.

I have checked over all my connections and know for a fact that is not the problem. The Z-5500 has a test feature to test the speakers built into the control. When I hit test I get audio from all speakers including the two front speakers that do not output and sound during the Windows Sound Manager test. I tried MP3 playback and get no sound from the two front speakers....

I am using a onboard sound card, Realtek Ac'97 that came with my motherboard (DFI Ultra-D). Now as far as settings go, I have 5.1 setup in the Windows Sound Manager and 6 channel setting is the Realtek Sound Manager. On the Logitech Control Panel I have the direct input as 6 Channel as well. I have the latest Vista driver loaded as well, any suggestions or fixes?
 
if someone could tell me too i'd like to know. i can't get the rear channel to output even though the sound test works fine with it.
 
Im having a issue in Vista with my Z-5500 speaker setup. I did some research and I guess this a common problem. The problem is that not all of my speakers output sound. The two rear speakers, center and sub work fine. The problem is that I get no output from the two front speakers, nothing at all. I used the Sound Manager test option (in vista sound options) and all speakers output sound besides the two front.

I have checked over all my connections and know for a fact that is not the problem. The Z-5500 has a test feature to test the speakers built into the control. When I hit test I get audio from all speakers including the two front speakers that do not output and sound during the Windows Sound Manager test. I tried MP3 playback and get no sound from the two front speakers....

I am using a onboard sound card, Realtek Ac'97 that came with my motherboard (DFI Ultra-D). Now as far as settings go, I have 5.1 setup in the Windows Sound Manager and 6 channel setting is the Realtek Sound Manager. On the Logitech Control Panel I have the direct input as 6 Channel as well. I have the latest Vista driver loaded as well, any suggestions or fixes?

well I cannot even get windows to say I have 5.1 sound, though I am using the nforce audio not the realtek(thats also on our board)......(I have no plans on switching the realtek, I am not sure it works in linux) so I have no plans on switching...... so I am gonna wait for better drivers.... myself if that happens :s

btw I have the same board and speakers as you, you could always use the sound mixer on the speakers, also check for loose connections maybe.
 
It's probably a driver issue or possible hidden setting somewhere if it was working fine under XP. I'm getting full 5.1 surround sound in games with my Audigy 2 ZS. These cards are cheap enough now if you can't get your problem fixed.
 
if someone could tell me too i'd like to know. i can't get the rear channel to output even though the sound test works fine with it.

I had the same issue upon installing vista. Front two works, center and rear 2 did not.

Upon installing the vista driver for my onboard audio for the gigabyte ds3 board, rev3.3, there is an area where you can do a sound test. If you can get the test to play all speakers, then all you have to do is click the "fill sound" checkbox on the bottom. I'm not sure if that's the correct quote as I'm on my work computer, but fill is the keyword to look for. After you click that, all your audio channels will output, not just your L/R.

As for OP not having the L/R speakers, double check that it's plugged into the correct (usually lime green) socket. Try a different set of speakers. It might be a hardware issue too.
 
I had the same issue upon installing vista. Front two works, center and rear 2 did not.

Upon installing the vista driver for my onboard audio for the gigabyte ds3 board, rev3.3, there is an area where you can do a sound test. If you can get the test to play all speakers, then all you have to do is click the "fill sound" checkbox on the bottom. I'm not sure if that's the correct quote as I'm on my work computer, but fill is the keyword to look for. After you click that, all your audio channels will output, not just your L/R.

As for OP not having the L/R speakers, double check that it's plugged into the correct (usually lime green) socket. Try a different set of speakers. It might be a hardware issue too.

thanks. pain in the ass to find though..lol but its fixed now.
 
I had the same issue upon installing vista. Front two works, center and rear 2 did not.

Upon installing the vista driver for my onboard audio for the gigabyte ds3 board, rev3.3, there is an area where you can do a sound test. If you can get the test to play all speakers, then all you have to do is click the "fill sound" checkbox on the bottom. I'm not sure if that's the correct quote as I'm on my work computer, but fill is the keyword to look for. After you click that, all your audio channels will output, not just your L/R.

As for OP not having the L/R speakers, double check that it's plugged into the correct (usually lime green) socket. Try a different set of speakers. It might be a hardware issue too.

I just noticed this but the sounds for the L/R speakers come out of the rear L/R. Meaning my front audio is being routed to my back speakers. All my connections are good green to green, orange to orange, black to black... I triple checked for the third time now. This is really pissing me off.... I have gone through the speaker options and everything seems setup correctly. Once again I have the sound manager for the drivers set the 6 channel, and in windows sound options set to 5.1, I even have "fill sound" checked under the options...

Edit: I switched the green plug into the black port and the black plug into the green port, and I get sound through my front R/L but none through the rear R/L
 
Windows Vista:
Vista users will also need to go to:

Control Panel > Hardware and Sound> Sound> Speakers > Properties > Enhancements
and checkmark "Speaker Fill"
 
I know this is an old topic, but my setup doesn't have that feature. There is no enhancements tab.

I would really appreciate any help. Thanks


EDIT:
Nevermind, changing the Vista settings to 8.1 and messing with things a bit fixed it.
 
I'm having the same issue using a Realtek sound card as well. I can get music and games to play out of all three, but not the speaker tests. I tried the speaker fill option, but nothing changed. I might just go back to using my Audigy 2 ZS and get ALchemy.
 
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