Vista : problem with high definition audio driver

[Marty Prod]

hello

i just installed Vista Premium on my computer's cousin, and the audio is NOT working.the audio chipset is a "high definition audio", and i searched drivers for it and i didn't find it (it's a 32 bits vista version). the computer is an HP 5000W, with a pentium 4 D processor and where is nothing on the HP support website about it.
when searching in the audio tab of Windows Vista, it saying that the Spdif input is working but there is no audio output or input , so i can't use it to play anything audio...

any idea to what to do ?
thanks.

[Olivier]

Hi,

What kind of HDaudio chipset do you have ?

A realtek ? :

Realtek ALC888- Realtek ALC885- Realtek ALC883- Realtek ALC882- Realtek ALC880- Realtek ALC861- Realtek ALC660

all have Vista drivers.

For others HD audio chipset i don't know. You need the name to find the driver.

Just give more info avout your HDaudio chipset

[Marty Prod]

Salut Olivier,

how can i know the chipset name used by the computer ??? i went in the hardware management tab , and it's only saying : high definion audio, and the drivers are signed by microsoft.
i searched on the HP website, and didn't find the information.
any idea ?

thanks.

[andyj]

Maybe when Vista installed it reset the sound card, or general windows volume...or default spdif port(or driver), or IRQ. Go to Start>Control Panel>Sound..(check volume..advanced..is mute selected?), then while in control panel go to Performance and Maint>System>device manager and open it and see if you see any warnings..yellow exclaimation marks.....the go back out to Performance and Maint and go into administrative tools and look at application error log and system error log..
Then I would look at the sound cards software if it has any..look at set up..and settings..Did you unplug the wire going to the speakers or accidentally turn off the power to the speakers....If that does not work go to microsoft.com and search with the name of your sound card with vista...If it is an actual driver problem HP will be quick to fix it..Might try removing driver under Device Manager then removing sound card then reinstall the sound card and let windows find new hardware and install driver..also..you could go to the actual sound card mfg's website and look for a driver..there can not be much wrong..some thing just probably needs reset..also look for IRQ conflicts in your system..maybe something moved an IRQ..

[andyj]

Another thought..You may need to update your bios..or did your computer come with sound built into the motherboard and when you installed the sound card the sound card took precedence and disabled the motherboard sound ..but now the sound card is disabled and the motherboard sound is working again.. and you now need to re-enable the sound card..and disable the motherboard sound..or re-enable the correct output port on spdif [the motherboard itself may have a spdif output that was disabled and is now enabled].... Do you need to reconfigure and reset your audio/music software?..you might also check this in your bios.. I believe it is press f10 or f8 during start up to enter bios...check with computer mfg website to see if you have the right bios for this upgrade... you need to know what version of the bios you have and its date to see if you are current..update all your software and hardware drivers(video card,,usb,,ect) on the machine to vista specs....

[Pat Azzarello]

I'm replying as a Microsoft employee, and will try to offer some suggestions.

Some background:
HD Audio is a new standard used in Vista. It's actually has a really cool feature set, and once the software folks start adopting it you'll get really low latency (Cakewalk Sonar 6.2 is doing it and seeing sub 5 ms latency) . HD Audio actually came out of a conference I regularly attend (Project BarBQ) hosted by the famous Fat Man (game composer extraordinaire .

One of the key complaints from Windows users people is that they have to find drivers on the for their hardware when they install a new system, add to an existing, and sometimes even upgrade (although that seems to be less of an issue).

What we did in Vista was create a "HD Audio class" driver that should work without any additional effort. To work properly, the configuration of the audio hardware needs to be set somewhere. In XP, this was done as part of the driver installation process, but it was riddled with problems (you often had to find a driver that was specific to your machine). In Vista this information remains on the mainboard (in the BIOS) so that you won't need it. Many of the issues we see right now are because our mainboards built before Vista was available for testing didn't didn't define these settings in the BIOS correctly. In many cases you can update the BIOS (which can be a scary thing - follow the instructions carefully and if in doubt, ask for clarifcation).

Suggestions:
1. Check the computer or mainboard manufacturer's site to see if:
a. They have a BIOS update for the audio chipset configuration
b. They have a separate driver for Vista (or maybe XP if they don't have a Vista driver)

2. Try Windows update (http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com). If the hardware manufacturer (i.e., Realtek) has updated the driver you may be able to get it there.

3. Go to your computer manufacturer's site and download the latest (Vista if available) driver. You probably won't find the right one searching for Realtek unless you're really careful. This is because the audio hardware makers customize their drivers for the computer (or mainboard) manufacturer's. For example, a mainboard may be used in multiple models, some of which don't have front panel mic or headphone jacks, some that do, etc.

If this doesn't work, please post the hardware information (computer make/model, audio device and motherboard model) and I'll see if I can dig something up.

[Marty Prod]

hello everybody

thanks for all the replies, i'm on the way to find the correct information. the HP website is pretty bad done, so i didn't found the information immediatly or quickly. i'm on the phone with my cousin to know the exact model used by him.
thank you very much.

[Gamera]

Pat

So this is designed to work with motherboard audio hardware? What about "pro" computer audio interface hardware?

Thanks
- G

[Pat Azzarello]

Pat

So this is designed to work with motherboard audio hardware? What about "pro" computer audio interface hardware?

Thanks
- G

HD Audio is about a good consumer experience - almost exclusively on the mainboard. It is not about a professional recording experience. This has less to do with fidelity than it does with feature set things like multichannel output, etc. are critical for those.

Pro interfaces that want to utilize the Vista low latency solution need to create device drivers that support WaveRT (which the HD Audio class driver supports as well).

[guybrush threepwood]

I read somewhere that ASIO and WDM drivers are used by Vista directly. Does it mean that any Pro soundcard is gonna work under vista even though no WaveRT drivers are available for them?

EDIT
I read it here
http://forums.creative.com/creativel...essage.id=1694