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AC'97 problems

B

bowie

n00b
Joined
May 2, 2006
Messages
3
I've got this problem that I can't seem to fix and I'm wondering if anyone here can figure it out for me. Right now it's a Vista problem, but I had the same things happen with XP as well before I upgraded.

First off, I'm running Windows Vista Ultimate (x86) on a Biostar Tforce 6100 AM2 mobo that uses Realtek AC'97 drivers for its built-in sound. I've got a 2 speaker, 1 subwoofer setup by Harman Kardon (model HK695-01,13 according to the sticker on the subwoofer).

My problem is that when I connect everything and attempt to play music or sound of any kind, my two speakers act as though they are rear speakers and not front speakers. The drivers I have are straight from Realtek, current as of 10 minutes ago. I don't think they are the problem, because I am getting output. In both the Realtek configuration tool and the Windows speaker configuration tool, the two speakers respond to the rear speaker tests only and at proper volume. However, when I play a song (in any player) the sound is barely audible with my ear next to the speaker and the volume at full blast (both Windows volume controls and actual, on-speaker controls).

I've tried every way of plugging in the actual jacks and I've tried every option for speakers in the tools (2, 4, 6, 8 speakers) to no avail. The only partial fix I've found is an environment effect in the Realtek tool called "Room" that mostly sends the front speaker output to the rear speakers, but also adds horrible echo-y sounding effects that I really don't want to deal with at all. So I've come here hoping somebody knows how to fix this.
 
I would check that the jumpers on the motherboard for front panel audio don't have jumpers on blocks where they're not supposed to be (check your mobo manual). meaning make sure they're set up correctly for regular audio from the backplate/back of the mainboard. You could also try disabling and then re-enabling windows audio from services -- type services.msc in the run box and look for Windows Audio. Short of that if you need something cheap that's directly comparable and slightly better than realtek ALC-655 you could order the Chaintech AV-512 CMI 8738 card from newegg for about $9.00. It sounds better than what you have, but you could spend more (about $30.00) and get much better sound from an Audigy SE.
 
have you tried vista's default ac97 drivers? I tried realteks drivers and the default ones. my soundcard worked much better with the default driver. the realtek ones still seem very buggy
 
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