Only front speakers work 5.1 audio

[Bain80]

Hello.

I recently purchased a new computer with windows 7. On my old computer the speakers worked fine but on my new computer only the front speakers work. Here are some relevant details.

All drivers are current
Motherboard: Gigabyte z68ap-d3
Motherboard audio: Intel HD Audio via Realtek ALC889
Speakers: Logitech z-5300

When configuring: It auto-detects the input and allows selection for all 3 inputs (front, rear, center/sub)
When doing audio checks in realtek manager: windows detects volume in speaker output in playback devices

Nothing is muted in volume control

Basically. Everything LOOKS like it should. Just no sound coming out of the speakers. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Feel free to ask questions and I will answer.

 

[TrainableMan]

W7 drivers are often different than XP drivers. When I had XP on here I could leave my headphones plugged into the front and still get output from the rear but under W7 if I plug anything into the front then the rear is automatically disabled. This means I have to unplug my headphones every time or I have to get a splitter and hook my headphones and my speakers into the rear output jack.

W7 is not responsible for the drivers supplied for your hardware and it sounds quite possible the situation that happened to me has also happened to you. try unplugging the front jack and see if the rear works then.

 

[Bain80]

All of the troubleshooting I did myself was while my headphones were not plugged in.

 

[TrainableMan]

No I don't mean to unplug them from the MOBO. I mean is anything plugged into the front jacks at all?

Maybe I misunderstood you. I read it that you have speakers plugged in the front and the back and you get no sound from the back.

 

[Bain80]

When configuring: It auto-detects the input and allows selection for all 3 inputs (front, rear, center/sub)

I am assuming this is what you were referring to. I was trying to say front speakers, rear speakers, and sub/center. When I plug in each one, the mobo detects that I plugged it in and asks what type of input it is. Also when I test each one I see the mobo IS putting out sound by looking at the device in the playback tab, just nothing comes out of the speakers.

 

[TrainableMan]

Still confused. Play some music and answer and try this ... Do you actually have speakers/headphones plugged into the front side of your computer, yes or no? Do you get sound from those? Now unplug them. Do you get sound out of the speakers plugged into the back, now?

 

[Bain80]

The headphones work fine. I don't use them often, they are not plugged in when I try any fixes. Remember the title says is the front speakers work fine, its just the rear speakers and sub/center speakers that don't work.

Also I didn't mention it earlier but I do have it set up for 5.1 and not stereo, I test each speaker and only the front two speakers work. I can switch the front speaker plug into any of the 3 inputs on the motherboard and the front speakers work for any of the inputs. The other 2 inputs (rear, sub/center) do not work no matter which input I choose.

 

[TrainableMan]

I don't know, hopefully somebody else has some ideas.

I was looking over the MOBO manual Audio Section (page 90-93) but I'm sure you did that too.

I must be missing something because I don't see a black rear speaker/subwoofer jack on that MOBO

 

[bassfisher6522]

What is the software that your sound driver uses? On my mobo, onboard, my driver is VIA 1800. When I install that driver it also comes with a software package to ajust, mix and so on. It's with in that app you have to turn on/off what happens when the headphones are plugged in the front panel.

 

[TrainableMan]

Bass, the whole headphone thing was my confusion. What isn't working for him is the output to his rear speakers and subwoofer for 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound. From what I can find this is normally a black jack for the rear and an orange jack for the subwoofer but I do not see a black nor an orange jack on that MOBO though from what I read/watched on MOBO review it does support them, so maybe it is attached differently (extra MOBO cabling? I don't know.)

Now Bass, if you are trying to help me ... It's weird because I have seen better controls like pick the type of room and these jacks are plugged in, etc but normally what I see are generic. Anyway it's not a "biggy" to me and I don't want to get off the OPs issue but, thank you.

 

[Digerati]

On more than one system with 5.1 speakers, I have had to enable 7.1 in the sound control panel, to get the rear speakers to play. You might check that out.

 

[bassfisher6522]

Gotcha....no problem bud.

 

[Bain80]

I tried setting to 7.1 and no luck either. The software that comes with the motherboard is the Realtek HD audio manager.

While there is no black input in the back. Each of the 3 inputs can be used for anything. Each time you plug an input into any of them you get a prompt to identify what you plugged in. The list includes 1) Front speakers 2) Side speakers 3) Rear speakers 4) Center/sub 5) Microphone 6) Headphones.

When I plug the front speaker into *any* of the 3 jacks I get the prompt, I select front speakers, and they work. When I plug either of the other 2 inputs into *any* of the jacks the prompt comes up and I select the correct input and I get nothing from them.... It is so confusing.

I appreciate any help, this is frustrating me.

 

[TrainableMan]

* To configure 7.1-channel audio, you have to use an HD front panel audio module and enable the multi-channel audio feature through the audio driver.

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