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SPDIF works on Windows Boot-up then turns off

1355 Views 8 Replies 5 Participants Last post by nalawod, Jul 23, 2009

roastmules

Discussion Starter · Jul 21, 2009

I've just completed my HTPC everything works perfect except for SPDIF to receiver.

Some Specs:

mobo: ASUS M3N78-VM

Sound: On board sound is VIA 1701B 8 Channel with SPDIF out

Blu-Ray: ASUS Blu-ray drive

Video: ATI 4350

Windows Vista (all the latest drivers and BIOS updates I could find)

Receiver: Integra DTR-??02 (No HDMI but has optical SPDIF input)

Okay, so I have my HDMI plugged into my TV and my optical-out running to my receiver. On initial build and driver install SPDIF worked perfectly through my receiver, video/audio, had all of it looked and sounded great. The next day the computer had put itself to sleep (as I configured it to do) when I turned on the receiver and woke up the computer I noticed the PCM input light on the receiver was off. I went into vista sound settings to run an audio test on the SPDIF port and got no sound. I went into the VIA audio setup and confirmed the default was set to SPDIF. I went back into windows sound setting and tested the ATI HDMI sound (which runs through the TV) and there was sound. So, I rebooted windows and at start-up the PCM light on the receiver came on and I heard the Windows vista chime, I fired up a song and I got sound from all speakers. When the song was finished I checked some other setting (but changed nothing) then the PCM light suddenly went off on the receiver, I replayed the same song and got NO sound. I checked the cable and there was no light. Again I reboot windows, the PCM light comes on the receiver, I hear the Windows chimes, the PCM light stays on for 30 Seconds or so then shuts off (receiver works in every other capacity) it just no longer detects a PCM from the computer. It seems that upon boot-up of Windows, the OS sends out a PCM which my receiver recognizes but if I don't play any sound emitting file immediately then Windows stops sending the PCM signal to my receiver. Does anyone have any idea what is causing this, has anyone even seen anything like it? I can't find any thread that comes close!

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mrchung

· #2 · Jul 21, 2009

I am not too familar with the VIA control panels but this does sound to me like a configuration/driver issue.

Are you using the VIA drivers?

This sound device appears to have DTS Connect. Sometimes sound card vendors will make you select the "speakers" as the output if DTS connect is turned on but will still output from the SPDIF port. Try turning DTS Connect off if it is on.

-Rian

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nalawod

· #3 · Jul 21, 2009

A couple of things to check- I had similar problems:

Make sure that your default sound device is your VIA SPDIF port and not the ATI device. If you don't need sound over HDMI I suggest disabling the ATI sound device just to avoid conflicts - at least keep it disabled until you resolve this issue.

Another thing that I had troubles with was my default sound quality setting. T'm thinking this is the most likely of your problems because Vista will set to this default setting until you run an application that sets it differently. In your playback properties of your SPDIF device, theres a default 'quality' setting. I had mine set too high and my receiver couldn't negotiate with it. Just as a test, set it to a very low quality setting and see if your problem goes away. If it does, you can slowly adjust this up to higher quality until you reach the max.

Unfortunately, I don't have my Vista HTPC in front of me right now so can't provide exact details until tonight. I'll check back to see if you found what I'm talking about.

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herr_howard

· #4 · Jul 21, 2009

For me, Vista defaults to Dolby ProLogic II sound on my receiver at startup, even though I have a digital output which is set to S/PDIF output. In Vista Media Center, it would stay this way until I uncehcked the automatic sound leveling option in the setup panels. Once I unchecked that, I would always get Dolby Digital from shows encoded as such. I always got DTS or DD out of my DVDs.

This sounds like a potential driver issue. Have you upgraded your drivers lately? If so, have you tried rolling back to the previous drivers through Device Manager yet? That also might be worth a try.

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somail

· #5 · Jul 21, 2009

Have you done a search on this problem? I am pretty sure this is a well known issue with the 1701B chipset. The forum seems down right now, but I would look for info in the audio area here: http://www.tkarena.com/forums/via-arena/

To be honest, I have one of these boards sitting in the closet right now because I was never able to get the SPDIF to work. But I thought that was limited to windows 7 betas. You may want to try the latest driver located on the asus site. I wouldn't trust windows update.

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roastmules

Discussion Starter · #6 · Jul 22, 2009

Thanks for all the reply's but as I stated before when I built this system I did so with a fresh install of Windows Vista Ultimate and all the latest drivers from ASUS, ATI and VIA. The first day I had it working perfectly, I set my digital input on my receiver to direct and had all sound (DD, DTS, Prologic II) coming from the SPDIF. In windows vista sound setting SPDIF was default device and also in the VIA board. Now it only seems to work at start-up then shuts off and goes through HDMI. Here is my suspicions. When I installed the ATI Catalyst driver I was receiving a pop-up about SPDIF being connected and that was the default device I should be using. It had a yes and no answer selection and a check box for stop showing this message. I wondering if ATI has a default selection for sound as well? Since I checked the "Don't show me this message" box I don't receive it anymore so I can't change the selection or find where the setting is located in the Catalyst control panel.

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nalawod

· #7 · Jul 22, 2009

As I alluded to in my post above, I do think the system is confusing which sound driver to use. Just give it a try- go into the playback devices and temporarily disable the ATI driver. That will prevent the system ever trying to use it. I do this all the time -- because I'm also gaming with a bluetooth headset, I have to manually disable/enable / set default driver frequently because Vista doesn't seem to properly associate the right one with what I'm doing at the time. If doing this doesn't fix the problem, at least you've ruled it out as the cause.

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roastmules

Discussion Starter · #8 · Jul 23, 2009

Thanks Nalawod it seems to hold now. Okay, so I've got it working again last night. Off nalawod's advise I disabled the ATI sound in both Windows Vista sound manager and device manager I then unitstalled the VIA audio driver I had downloaded from ASUS website which had a post date of 26 June. I then went to VIA's website and downloaded their driver which was dated sometime in April. I was relucantant to use VIA driver and consdiered reinstalling the ASUS VIA driver until I noticed the driver number. The driver from ASUS was 6.0.1.XXXX and the one from VIA's web site was 6.5.XXX.XXX. So I went with VIA driver and it worked perfectly. I had DTS, DD, Proligic II. Did a couple of reboots, turned off the receiver multiple times and everytime I got SPDIF sound. Watched my first full length Blu-Ray (Watchmen) and WOW what a difference. Again thatnks for all the tips, now I just have to tackle a true 1:1 pixel mapping.

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nalawod

· #9 · Jul 23, 2009

Quote:
Originally Posted by roastmules /forum/post/16873385

Thanks Nalawod it seems to hold now. Okay, so I've got it working again last night. Off nalawod's advise I disabled the ATI sound in both Windows Vista sound manager and device manager I then unitstalled the VIA audio driver I had downloaded from ASUS website which had a post date of 26 June. I then went to VIA's website and downloaded their driver which was dated sometime in April. I was relucantant to use VIA driver and consdiered reinstalling the ASUS VIA driver until I noticed the driver number. The driver from ASUS was 6.0.1.XXXX and the one from VIA's web site was 6.5.XXX.XXX. So I went with VIA driver and it worked perfectly. I had DTS, DD, Proligic II. Did a couple of reboots, turned off the receiver multiple times and everytime I got SPDIF sound. Watched my first full length Blu-Ray (Watchmen) and WOW what a difference. Again thatnks for all the tips, now I just have to tackle a true 1:1 pixel mapping.

If you think the sound driver issue was confusing, just wait til you get into the HDTV picture. My god there's a ton of options and I've never gotten mine quite right because my older Toshiba DLP set doesn't have any colorspace (PC) settings so I have to expand on my PC. And that doesnt' even have anything to do with 1:1 which I can never, ever do with my set. Can't wait until the Toshiba blows up and I can replace it!

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