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How can I get ATI 4xxx HDMI audio to work under WinXP SP2?

post #1 of 9
12/20/08 at 10:33am
Thread Starter 
Ok, I give up...

What's the trick to making the HDMI audio support of the ATI 4550 actually work under Windows XP? I tried the drivers that were on the CD that came with my Gigabyte fanless 4550. I tried the ATI 8-12 drivers. I tried the Realtek 2.09 drivers. I get no audio from any of them.

I have a Pioneer Elite SC-05 receiver and its HDMI audio definitely works (with other HDMI devices).

With the ATI drivers (on the disc and 8-12) I see "ATI Function Driver for High Definition Audio - ATI AA01" listed under Sound, video and game controllers. However, under Sound and Audio Devices in the Control Panel it tells me I have "No audio Device".

With the Realtek 2.09 ATI driver I see "ATI HDMI Audio" listed under Sound, video and game controllers. Under Sound and Audio Devices in the Control Panel it tells me I have "Realtek HDA HDMI Out".

All my audio playing applications act like they're working fine (Foobar 2000, PowerDVD, etc), but I get no indicator lights on the Pioneer receiver, and I hear nothing.

Is there some step I'm missing, so configuration I need to change?

ARGH!!!
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post #2 of 9
12/20/08 at 2:30pm
Thread Starter 
A clean install later and the situation is exactly the same so far. The ATI driver still behaves exactly the same... "No Audio Device".

I haven't tried the Realtek driver yet, but can't imagine why it would be different.
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post #3 of 9
12/20/08 at 2:53pm
Thread Starter 
There's also this jewel in the manual for the card.
Quote:
The entire Radeon HD 4550/4350 series support HDMI output which can handle both audio and video signals. However, audio output from the onboard audio controller or the external sound card will be disabled when HDMI output is activated.
If no need for HDMI output function, set the onboard audio controller or the external sound card to be the default Sound Playback device to obtain audio output from your system. For more details, refer to page 15.

What?
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post #4 of 9
12/20/08 at 4:17pm
Thread Starter 
The plot thickens...

Apparently it doesn't see my Pioneer Elite SC-05 as a HDMI device (no idea why). I tried it with my older Pioneer Elite 84TXSi and I can get 2 channel PCM over HDMI (it see's it as an HDMI device) with both the Realtek and ATI drivers. Even using the 84TXSi I can't get 5.1 or 7.1 regardless of how I set the playback software or the speaker setup in the Sound and Audio Devices section of the Control Panel.

The bottom line is that clearly HDMI LPCM is not ready for prime time under XP. It's RMA time!
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post #5 of 9
12/21/08 at 5:09am
Thread Starter 
So it seems the problem is tied to the EDID issue in this thread. The bottom line is there's no fix for XP, and I'm not going to shovel good money after bad by buying a DVI Detective Plus. If / when I decide to spend ~$200 to get HDMI audio I'll either buy an new motherboard with an nVidia 9300/9400 IGP on it and a new Intel CPU or one of the HDMI sound cards. No more money for the red team.
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post #6 of 9
8/6/09 at 1:54pm
when you start your computer (I have an hp) just hit F1, go into settings. Where you see onboard audio device it is probably on auto. Change it to enabled. Now when you start your computer you will hear that familiar windows startup.
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post #7 of 9
8/6/09 at 4:31pm
Thread Starter 
Yeah, except that wasn't my problem. As I detailed it was a failure of ATI's drivers to understand and parse EDID data correctly.
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post #8 of 9
8/7/09 at 12:08am
Hi, I am a foreigner, so please try to understand my English.

I am using a ATI-4670 display card and all the sound are perfect(DTS' AC3' TRUE-HD...),the only difference is my OS is VISTA, I hate VISTA, but I have no choise, I try to make HDMI-AUDO works under WinXP, it can't, there is a protection for HDMI audio, I can't use passthrough mode to play DTS or AC3, it will SHA................, but under VISTA, everything is fine.
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post #9 of 9
8/7/09 at 4:56am
I had to completely uninstall everything Realtek from the system, and disable on-mobo audio in the BIOS. Then, I installed the 9.6 ATI audio drivers for XP, and that produced an 'ATI HDMI Rear Output' device in the audio devices. That one did work with my AVR (a Sony), but I could not configure it at all. The AVR then consistently showed 8-channel LPCM, but all sources I tried produced sound on the fronts only. AC3Filter playing HDTV recordings was the only thing producing 5.1 sound.

I finally threw in the towel on XP. It is not that ATI audio 'not ready for prime time' on XP. I think there will not be a prime time - they simply chose to drop support for XP, it looks like.

I went to Windows 7 RC. WHOA! I downloaded the 'ATI HDMI audio' drivers from Realtek, and I was instantly in fully configurable, fully functional 7.1 heaven. I could reenable my on-mobo sound - so I could use the PC headphone jack - with no conflicts. Everything simply works.
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