# [SOLVED] Sound works in some programs, not others



## tokyotech

I'm using onboard Realtek ALC888 audio. I can hear audio perfectly in games and windows media player, but I hear no Windows system sounds (startup greeting tone, dings, etc...) or internet browser sounds (Youtube). I have all the master volume bars maxed and unmuted and enabled 5.1 in Windows advanced options. The realtek audio manager forces me to choose the 8 speaker setting instead of 6 or else I hear no sound at all.


Gigabyte ga-p35-ds3l mobo
Wolfdale 3.0Ghz
Evga 8800GT 600Mhz
Seagate 7200.11 500GB
G.Skill 800Mhz 2GB RAM
Win XP Pro
Acer 22' LCD
Logitech X-540 5.1 Speakers
NZXT Apollo case


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## johnhook

*Re: Sound works in some programs, not others*

tokyotech,

Go into Control Panel, Sounds and Audio Devices, Click on the "Sounds" tab at the top, then scroll through the list and make sure that you have sound files associated with system events. Pick an event from the list with a sound file assigned and click the ">" (play) button. Do you hear this sound?

Click on the "Audio" tab at the top of the same window and make sure that your Realtek device is your Default Device. Go into the "Hardware" tab at the top, find your Realtek audio device in the list, click on Properties, open up the "Audio Devices" in the tree click on your Realtek device, click the Properties button and make sure "Use Audio Features on this Device" is the ONLY thing checked. If "Do not map thru this device" is checked, uncheck it.

Hopefully this should fix your problem, if not - reply back.

- John


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## tokyotech

*Re: Sound works in some programs, not others*

I have followed all the steps in your second paragraph. Everything is as you have described.

As for your first paragraph, I do not hear anything when hitting the play button next to any sound. If I click browse, I see that I do indeed have all the WAV files in the right folder. It is not only the System sounds not working, but also Youtube not working.


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## johnhook

*Re: Sound works in some programs, not others*

tokyotech,

You mentioned that you have Dolby 5.1 enabled. Does your soundcard output to digital speakers? It's possible that the Windows sounds aren't going through your 5.1 speaker system.

Is your motherboard V1.0 or V2.0?

http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Support/Motherboard/Driver_List.aspx?Keyword=GA-P35&modeltype=&CPUType=

Another possibility is incorrect or buggy Realtek Audio drivers. Where did you get the Realtek drivers from? Did they come with your motherboard or PC? Did you download them from a website? Were these drivers built-in to Windows XP when you installed?

I would completely uninstall the existing Realtek drivers and programs (control panel, add/remove programs, device manager, audio devices, select Realtek and Uninstall). 

Then download and install the following driver(s)

Intel Chipset Drivers for your Motherboard:

http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Support/Motherboard/Driver_DownloadFile.aspx?FileType=Driver&FileID=3110

R1.87 Audio Driver:

http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Support/Motherboard/Driver_DownloadFile.aspx?FileType=Driver&FileID=837

Motherboard BIOS:

http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Support/Motherboard/BIOS_DownloadFile.aspx?FileType=BIOS&FileID=13205


http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Support/Motherboard/Driver_Model.aspx?ProductID=2599

The general support page for your motherboard is at:

http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Support/Motherboard/Driver_List.aspx?Keyword=GA-P35&modeltype=&CPUType=

If you need additional assistance with this, please reply.

- John


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## tokyotech

*Re: Sound works in some programs, not others*

There is no indication of whether my mobo is v1.0 or v2.0. I bought my mobo from here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128059&Tpk=GA-P35-DS3L

I have tried both the audio drivers from the CD which came with the mobo and updated drivers from the website. I chose to go with the v2.0 ones, but I saw no improvements. I will try to install the updated BIOS later, but I heard that is it extremely dangerous to update the BIOS. If updating fails, the whole motherboard is rendered useless.

What do you mean by "soundcard output to digital speakers"? I believe that all speakers are analog. And I do not have a soundcard. I am using onboard audio.


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## johnhook

*Re: Sound works in some programs, not others*

tokyotech,

Flash upgrading your motherboard's BIOS will NOT mess up your installed software or operating system. In some cases, after flash upgrading the BIOS, windows will re-detect some devices - but this won't mess things up for you.

As far as the Digital output - I know that there are speakers out there that connect digitally to the sound hardware (usually by a SPDIF RCA connector on the motherboard or sound card). I'm just thinking that if this is the case, the output could be sent to the wrong output port.

What's confusing to me is that Windows Media Player and games - but not the Windows Event sounds. Question - what type of media are you playing on Windows Media Player? CDs? MP3 Files? Wave Files? Knowing this might help me figure out what's going wrong.

You may have already done this, but bring up your volume control (Control Panel, "Sounds and Audio Device", click on the "Audio" tab at the top, then click the "Volume" button under "default Device". Make sure all volumes are turned up and nothing is muted.

Try playing system sounds now. If this doesn't work, click on the "Hardware" tab at the top and click the "Troubleshoot" button. Run through this wizard and see if this helps.

If this doesn't fix the Windows Event sounds not playing issue, I would download the audio driver from:

http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Support/Motherboard/Driver_DownloadFile.aspx?FileType=Driver&FileID=3110

Save this file to your Desktop. Then uninstall your audio drivers/software as follows:

Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs, scroll down and find anything related to Realtek Audio and uninstall these programs (if there are any Realtek audio related programs in the list). Then right click on My Computer (desktop), click on Properties, Click on the "Hardware" tab at the top, then on the Device Manager button. Click the "+" next to the "Sound, Video and game controllers" entry. Locate any/all Realtek related sound devices, right-click on them one at a time, click Properties, Click the "Drivers" tab at the top, then click "Uninstall". Do this for ALL devices related to Realtek or ALC888 audio, etc. After you've removed all of the Realtek programs and audio devices, reboot your PC.

When you PC restarts, it's going to detect new hardware. Ignore this - i.e. DO NOT let it automatically install these devices. Instead, launch that file you downloaded to your desktop and walk through the installation of the Realtek drivers/software. You may have to do another re-boot after the installation is completed.

After all of this - let me know if you're able to play those Windows Event sounds. This is the most recent Realtek Audio driver/software for your motherboard.

Hope this works (crossing my fingers)!

- John


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## tokyotech

*Re: Sound works in some programs, not others*

After reinstalling everything, I get the same result. 

However, I made an important discovery! Sound works perfectly from the front headphone jack. The back jacks cannot play Youtube / Windows sounds. But, I cannot use the front jacks for my 5.1 surround sound, because it requires 3 plugs. How do I get the front's capabilities in the back?


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## johnhook

*Re: Sound works in some programs, not others*

tokyotech,

Those jacks in the back can be re-assigned based on the channel audio configurations you select in the Audio Manager program (red speaker in your system tray). There's also an issue with the Microsoft UAA Bus Driver - which should have been bundled in the Vista driver on Gigabyte's site that I pointed you to. I think it's just a matter of tweaking settings in that Audio Manager to get the rear jacks outputting the audio as the should.

Here's a link to a PDF for your motherboard:

http://china.giga-byte.com/FileList/Manual/motherboard_manual_ga-p35-(d)s3l_e.pdf

It's a large file - so be patient as it downloads. Once it has downloaded, jump to Page 69 in Acrobat and you'll get more details about configuring those rear audio output jacks.

Let me know how this works out.

- John


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## tokyotech

*Re: Sound works in some programs, not others*

The UAA Bus Driver that I downloaded from the Gigabyte website restarted my computer immediately without any indication of anything installing. The bus driver that came with my mobo CD installed fine (I could see it in add/remove software in control panel), but obviously, it didn't play Windows/Youtube sounds.

I have the mobo manual. The only useful thing I can get out of it is that I have to choose "5.1" from Realtek's audio manager program. But the weird thing is that I have to choose "8 speakers" for _anything_ to work. With the "6 speakers" setting (which is what I have), _no_ sound will play.

The manual also gives an option of using AC'97 audio rather than HD. The only control I have is connecting the front chassis headphone jack to the mobo via a wire labeled "AC'97". I currently have it connected with the wire laveled "HD". Will that solve anything or will it only affect the front headphone jack?


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## johnhook

*Re: Sound works in some programs, not others*

tokyotech,

If you're running Vista - which I assume that you are based on your profile, the the UAA HD Bus driver should have already been bundled into Vista. Please confirm that you're running VISTA.

I don't believe there's anything wrong with the imbedded audio hardware on your motherboard - but rather something is likely not configured correctly with a jumper or audio conector on your motherboard -or- something with your surround-sound settings is preventing the 5.1 surround-sound audio output you desire from being mapped to the appropriate jacks on the back of your PC. This motherboards Audio is a bit tricky because the jacks are re-mappable depending on the settings.

You can try the AC97' audio option in your MB manual and see if this fixes the problem of the rear jacks not working on some applications. Let me know if this works.

Also, go to:

http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Support/Motherboard/FAQ_Model.aspx?ProductID=2629

this will give you detailed FAQs and many other support options for your particular board.

- John


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## tokyotech

*Re: Sound works in some programs, not others*

I have fixed the problem. It was a setting in Realtek's audio manager program. I had it set to 8 speakers because the 6 speakers setting would not play any sound at all. I tried fiddling around with the 6 speakers setting again today and had to specify what each jack should play (front, rear, or center). Now all sounds can be played. This software is really not user friendly.

I had Vista before, but now I'm on XP pro.

Thanks for the help.


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## johnhook

*Re: Sound works in some programs, not others*

tokyotech,

Glad to hear that you were able to resolve this. I suspected that it had something to do with the Realtek software settings. That motherboard has some very nice imbedded audio features in terms of the flexibility of all of the output jacks for various surround-sound configurations - unfortunately, having hardware that flexible can often lead to confusion when you have so many options.

- John


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## MartinMK

*Re: Sound works in some programs, not others*

Hi, I have exactly the same problem. But I don't know how tokyotech fixed it. I'm not that good at stuff like this, so I'd be happy if someone would almost hold my hand through it :tongue:


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## JimE

*Re: Sound works in some programs, not others*



MartinMK said:


> Hi, I have exactly the same problem. But I don't know how tokyotech fixed it. I'm not that good at stuff like this, so I'd be happy if someone would almost hold my hand through it :tongue:


Please start a new topic and not post a new problem into an existing topic started by someone else.

Make sure the speakers are connected properly, then perform the speaker test to ensure each audio channel is being sent to the correct speaker. That was all that was done above.


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