Help with HD Audio problem

Forums › Home Theatre (including HTPC and EPG Collector) › Help with HD Audio problem - please!!!

dt225

2 posts

Wannabe Geek

#95347 31-Dec-2011 19:10

Hello all!

First time poster but no luck finding the answer on the forums.

Here's the problem. I have an hd-audio amplifier (sony). My motherboard (gigbayte h57m-usb3) has an hdmi out. This connects to my amplifier and then from my amplifier to my TV. Until recently, I had windows media center working and hd audio (courtesy of LAV and mpc-hc). For completeness, running windows 7 x86 on an i3-540.

I recently did a rebuild and I am stumped.

In control panel, under manage audio devices, my Sony AVAMP is selected (as it previously was). However, NOW the supported formats only lists dolby, dolby+ and DTS - ie all of the HD audio formats that were previously available are now no longer available. Under the properties tab for the AVAMP, the controller information is listed as High Definition Audio by Microsoft.

I am almost certain that this should be intel hd audio but I cannot change it. I am convinced this is what is causing the problem.

Things I have tried:
1. Installing latest realtek drivers.
2. Removing all high definition audio devices from device manager (within sound, video and game controllers). I have tried removed both the "High Definition Audio" and the "Realtek High Definition Audio".
3. Disabling/enabling different drivers.

The results are invariably one of the following:
- If I remove the high definition audio devices (for example, the non-realtek one) my Sony AVAMP disappears from my sound devices and I lose sound.
- If I try and install the latest realtek drivers, it uninstalls all sound drivers first, then reboots and then installs the new drivers. Annoyingly, however, upon reboot, windows detects the audio drivers and reinstalls the "High Definition Audio" again.

I have not physically changed ANY of my setup since my rebuild - ie I know the hdmi is plugged in correctly.

I have wasted days on this and am sure it is a simple fix to get the amplifier recognised by windows as having HD audio but I cannot figure it out.

Having spoken to a friend with a similar set-up to me, he does not have the standard microsoft High Definition Audio but instead has intel in his listings. I cannot find the appropriate way to get an intel HD audio driver installed and recognised in windows (and to stop the Microsoft one from taking over).

Has anyone got any thoughts? I KNOW the setup works which is what makes this so frustrating.

Many thanks in advance.

David

tikiroo

1 post

Wannabe Geek

#564139 3-Jan-2012 22:08

If you haven't sorted this out yet, try reinstalling the Intel HD Graphics drivers while your amp is attached via HDMI. I had the same problem - running a Gigabyte motherboard with i3-540 and Windows 7 64 using the on-chip graphics. I have a Denon Amp and no HD audio capability was shown. I had installed all the drivers before I bought my amp. After a lot of mucking around I tried the reinstalling the graphics drivers because they used the HDMI port as well, and that did the trick, all HD audio formats now listed in the DENON Avamp audio device.

You don't need the Realtek drivers if all audio is going through the HDMI connection.

Good luck!

dt225

2 posts

Wannabe Geek

#564178 4-Jan-2012 00:56

Thanks for your response - I finally solved it. It took 3 days and pure luck.

Here's what I did for when someone else runs into this problem.

Download intels hd audio file and uncompress the files onto your desktop. Don't go for the exe version - get the zip file so the files are all sitting there.

When you click on your amp in manage audio devices, it shows under controller information - High Definition Audio by Microsoft.

Click on properties and click to update drivers. Tell it that you have the files/disk and then point it at the hd inf file within the intel files you've uncompressed - there's a few inf files but if you keep trying, one will be the intel hd audio file. Use that. This will" override" microsoft's driver. Controller information now lists "Intel HD Audio" and the amp displays all of the hd audio formats (and plays them).

Awesome and a massive waste of time and energy to get there.

Thank you for your suggestions and ideas!

David