Asus P9X79 Pro, really annoying audio problem

[sebazvideo]

I just finished my build with this motherboard and I'm having a problem that is getting on my nerves, which apparently many other people do with Realtek chips.

At random intervals that can be sometimes 20 minutes apart but sometimes 1 minute, a balloon in the tray pops up up saying that I just plugged a device, and the audio control panel pops up asking which type it is, with headphones selected by default, even though no headphones have been plugged in. I click OK to that, and a few seconds later I get the balloon again saying that a device has been unplugged.

The PC case is the same I used for two years in my last build, a Cooler Master ATCS 840, and I was using a Gigabyte motherboard for an AMD 1090T CPU, and never had this problem. The audio chipset was also Realtek, and the audio control panel was essentially the same but an older version that had a different skin. The new one looks like this (don't pay attention to the Asus thing in the back, they look like they're the same but the Asus suite just happened to be in the background when I took the screenshot):

I opened the case and tried to get to the front audio panel but it seems impossible, even after I took out the optical drive below it. It's inside an enclosure that doesn't have accessible screws as far as I can see. But if it worked fine for two years and I didn't pull on the cables, I don't see why all of a sudden it would start causing shorts or anything. I did unplug the connector to the motherboard, checked that all the pins were straight and plugged it back in.

So I thought I had a bad motherboard, but there seems to be tons of people with this problem across several motherboards, unless all those people also have a faulty motherboard. Nothing else seems to be failing, so I wonder if it's the audio chip on the motherboard or just buggy drivers. The first Win 7 installation I did I installed the latest drivers from Asus, but then I found out that Home Premium doesn't access more than 16 GB of RAM, so I had to go buy 7 Pro, reformat and install again from scratch. This time I chose the driver version that was before last, but it hasn't changed anything.

I could call Newegg and request a replacement, but after all the hours I spent putting the rig together, plus all the hours spent installing Windows, drivers, updates and programs, when I have only three hours a day of free time during the week, is not too appealing to me to say the least.

One workaround that has worked for most people is to select AC97 instead of HD Audio, but since I spent $230 in this motherboard I'm not going to tolerate any faulty component even if it's one I use every once in a while. But, I don't want to get a replacement, waste days taking apart this build, putting it together again with the new MB and then find out that I still have the same issue.

Has anybody else have this problem, and knows how to solve it?

Thanks,

Sebastian

 

[bankster55]

there is an option in one of the advanced tabs to turn off notification

right click Realtek taskbar icon
sound manager
>Upper left advanced settings icon
>Lower right wrench icon (connector settings)

I would give a screenie but that hideous black backround makes things difficult

You may also have to disable all sound controllers in dev man except Realtek:
XBox
Bluetooth
Intel Southbridge HD Audio (no name)
Nvidia
AMD etc.

and make sure in Win 7 sound the rear outputs are default

 

[sebazvideo]

there is an option in one of the advanced tabs to turn off notification

Thanks, I did that, but even if the panel doesn't come up, the balloon still does, unless I choose not to display the tray icon, but I prefer to have it there for easy access.

But my point is, in the older Realtek control panel in my Gigabyte motherboard, notifications were enabled and it never showed up unless I really plugged in headphones.

So I keep wondering if I have a bad motherboard or the driver is just buggy.

 

[bankster55]

why dont you just post a screenshot of your sound controllers in Dev Man with the flyout open

 

[sebazvideo]

why dont you just post a screenshot of your sound controllers in Dev Man with the flyout open

What's Dev Man?

 

[bankster55]

Device manager in cntrl panel

 

[dinker99]

I do not have this problem and my drivers are the ones downloaded from the Asus site: Realtek_Audio_V51006499_V6016499_XPVistaWin7

 

[rgallant]

to add to what bankster55 has said this is good knowledge/read
http://www.evga.com/forums/tm.aspx?m=586183
-re-hdmi devices on GPU's
-see post #26 to disable .
-also sound devices need/should to be set up in windows. right click sound icon in taskbar -playback devices-config.

 

[sebazvideo]

to add to what bankster55 has said this is good knowledge/read
http://www.evga.com/forums/tm.aspx?m=586183
-re-hdmi devices on GPU's
-see post #26 to disable .

I don't understand the point of this. Why would I want to disable HDMI audio from the card? I did that back when I had a Radeon 4850 that had no HDMI outputs but for some reason it showed an HDMI audio playback device. But my current card has an HDMI port, and while I'm not using it now, I might have to use it at some point. And post #26 says to disable all HD audio devices, also why would I want to do that?

This Nvidia card was in my previous build with the Gigabyte MB and the AMD CPU, and that balloon never came up unless I really did plug in or unplug my headphones. So the HDMI audio driver has nothing to do with it. Either this motherboard is defective or the driver is defective. What I'm trying to find out is if this is a defective motherboard so I can call newegg for a replacement, or a software problem. Even if it's a huge pain in the ass to take it all apart and then redo all the work from the past four days, I won't keep something I paid good money for if it's defective.

Now, this thought just came to me, is there any chance that the optical output might have anything to do with it? This motherboard doesn't have coaxial digital, so I had to order a 25 feet toslink cable from Monoprice to connect to my receiver, and it works just fine, but I wonder if that is causing any problems.

Update: the toslink cable is not the problem, I unplugged it and the balloon keeps popping up.

 

[sebazvideo]

Here's the capture from the device manager with the audio section open:

 

[bankster55]

Yeah, thats what I thought, too much confusion there
Take out the HDSPark card and right click/disable everything but the Realtek and see what happens
Is the Realtek set as default in Win 7 cntrl/panel/sound like @rgallant said?

You might also google Win 7 no balloon tips registry mods
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/11442-notifications-enable-disable-message-balloons.html
There are 4 or 5 of them including taskbar
http://www.groovypost.com/howto/windows-8-7-disable-notification-balloons-taskbar/

 

[sebazvideo]

Thanks Bankster, but taking out the HD Spark is not an option. Even if this didn't come up without it, I would need to put it back, so that wouldn't help me. Besides, this card was on my previous build, where this problem never happened with the same exact front panel connector.

At the most I can try swapping the two monitoring cards, the HD Spark and the Matrox, and see if that works.

The Realtek is indeed set as default in the Windows playback control panel.

As for no balloons, I wouldn't do that, since sometimes balloons can be helpful. Like I said, I don't want workarounds, either this works the way it should like in my previous build, or I will have to request a replacement, even if it takes me days to get back to having a full working system.

Now, if I unplug the HD Audio connector from the motherboard and this doesn't happen again, then logically it would be a clear indication that the problem is somewhere in the cables, right? Even if they were working fine up to the last minute I had then connected to my older motherboard?

 

[mrpiggy]

Now, if I unplug the HD Audio connector from the motherboard and this doesn't happen again, then logically it would be a clear indication that the problem is somewhere in the cables, right? Even if they were working fine up to the last minute I had then connected to my older motherboard?

I'd start with removing every audio connection (including the motherboard/case HD header. If it happens with nothing hooked up, it's likely a motherboard problem. Since the balloon it seems to happen pretty regularly, it should or shouldn't happen relatively quickly to know whether it appears to be an audio connection problem. If it happens without anything plugged into any audio port, it's likely the MB so send it back, if it doesn't happen, just plug your stuff back in one by one until you find the culprit.

That being said, I had to return a P9X79 Pro motherboard because the audio simply stopped working (everything good according to Windows, but just no sound output). While it was working, it did do the "audio unplugged" junk a couple times per day.

 

[sebazvideo]

OK, the issue still continues despite having gone through a series of tests, patiently waiting to see if the balloon would pop up after each of these, and it did:

- I took out one of the PCIe cards, the HD Spark, which was in the nearest slot to the connector, even though most likely it had nothing to do, but it didn't work.
- the cable that came from the front audio panel was sitting on the top of the PSU, so just in case there is some electrical interference, I tied it to another cable so it's not touching the PSU
- I uninstalled all Realtek and Nvidia drivers, then I installed the Nvidia drivers deselecting only the audio drivers, and after the reboot, I installed the latest available drivers from the Asus website. I didn't try the Realtek drivers because as far as I can see they are only drivers, so it would be pointless since Windows 7 installs the basic drivers. The only reason to install the drivers from the Asus website is to have access to the equalizer and sound enhancements.

So having tried all this without success, I'll try to get a replacement from Newegg tomorrow, since this is perhaps a defective audio chipset in the motherboard. If the replacement has the same problem, then I guess I'll have to pull out the front panel and not use it, but at least I have to make sure that this is not a problem with my unit.

 

[sebazvideo]

I do not have this problem and my drivers are the ones downloaded from the Asus site: Realtek_Audio_V51006499_V6016499_XPVistaWin7

- What's the rest of your configuration?
- Is your power supply on top or bottom? I'm wondering if this is because my PSU is on the bottom, the top of it barely an inch away from this plug on the motherboard, even though I lifted the cable so it wouldn't touch.
- In the Realtek control panel, if you click the button that has an icon of a wrench, do you have AC97 or HD Audio front panel selected? Because if AC97 is selected this problem won't happen, which is a good workaround, but it's not the way it's supposed to work.

 

[sebazvideo]

Oh well, I called Newegg and they don't do advanced replacements for motherboards. Because, hey, it's totally fine that people are supposed to take apart their whole system to ship back the motherboard, and be without their computer for days.

So I'll have to suck it up and keep this motherboard, but I'll be sure to buy from my local Compusa from now on.

 

[mrpiggy]

Well since you're gonna deal with it, maybe try plugging something in Like cut off jack from some broken headphones. Maybe it will fool the PC since it seems to have issues with nothing plugged in.

 

[sebazvideo]

Well since you're gonna deal with it, maybe try plugging something in Like cut off jack from some broken headphones. Maybe it will fool the PC since it seems to have issues with nothing plugged in.

Oh, actually the easiest way is to set the connector to AC97 in the Realtek control panel, the annoying popup is gone and I still get sound from the headphones. I haven't tested the mic input, but I never use it anyway so I don't care.

This is not the way it's supposed to work, but I'm not going to take apart my build and be without my computer for several days because of this problem.

 

[tweakboy]

After reading all this I say use a older version realtek driver when things were fine. gl

 

[sebazvideo]

After reading all this I say use a older version realtek driver when things were fine. gl

I tried the previous to last version and it was the same. The Asus website only has two or three versions, but regardless I'm not going to uninstall and install several versions to see which one doesn't have this problem. I just set it to AC97.

 

[DigitalWolf]

I tried the previous to last version and it was the same. The Asus website only has two or three versions, but regardless I'm not going to uninstall and install several versions to see which one doesn't have this problem. I just set it to AC97.

Older drivers wouldn't change anything regardless.


The reason you'll see this on a board like the P9X79 Pro (which I have in my work box) and not on say an AM3+ board.. is due to a change in the realtek chipset (not the driver). Your previous gigabyte/amd cpu at most used a 889 realtek audio chipset while the X79 board uses the 898.


My amd box uses a gigabyte ud3 (990x) and doesn't have this issue. My workbox with the P9X79 Pro does. I don't know if its present in my Z77 builds because I just set the front jack to AC97 and never checked (I have 3 Z77 boxes).


From what I read and thus don't know if its accurate. The input detection only works on HD so in effect what setting it to AC97 does.. is the same thing as disabling input detection.


All of this is why if you research this issue the only "fix" you are going to find is changing to ac'97 or disabling the detection popup. (as opposed to some old driver fixing it).


Beyond that the easiest "fix" would be if you found a sound card you liked and simply disabled the realtek all together.


These are of course just my opinions based on my personal experience.

 

[sebazvideo]

The reason you'll see this on a board like the P9X79 Pro (which I have in my work box) and not on say an AM3+ board.. is due to a change in the realtek chipset (not the driver). Your previous gigabyte/amd cpu at most used a 889 realtek audio chipset while the X79 board uses the 898.
My amd box uses a gigabyte ud3 (990x) and doesn't have this issue. My workbox with the P9X79 Pro does.

OK, what I don't understand is this: Does nobody test these motherboards when they are being designed, put together a system with them and spend a few days playing around with it, making sure it has no major bugs? Because I don't have some crazy weird configuration, the CPU is one of the most popular for this socket, and the memory is in their HCL. And this is not something that got messed up in my install, because I installed 7 Home Premium, it happened, 7 Pro, it happened, another install of 7 Pro, and it happened, even if I took out all other PCIe cards, and nothing was plugged in that wasn't absolutely necessary.

So this is just plain and simple negligence from Asus, even if the chipset is Realtek, because Asus is supposed to test for things like this, and if it doesn't work, tell Realtek to fix it and not release the motherboard until it works as it should. I thought that this was supposed to be the best brand of motherboards. I had minor problems with Gigabyte as well, so what's the best brand for motherboards?

 

[tweakboy]

I tried the previous to last version and it was the same. The Asus website only has two or three versions, but regardless I'm not going to uninstall and install several versions to see which one doesn't have this problem. I just set it to AC97.

ASUS drivers are garbage. Here download Official RealTek from them I guarantee this problem goes away heres the download link

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...8YGACQ&usg=AFQjCNGzJnnsAkYv8Qe-Hkr9xchphgFu8g

gl

:whiste:

 

[sebazvideo]

ASUS drivers are garbage. Here download Official RealTek
:whiste:

There was a link somewhere to Realtek drivers and they were only drivers, these seem to be more than that, but I already have the Asus drivers and after I reinstalled the whole system from scratch for the second time, I'm not going to waste any more time with this, but thanks for the tip anyway.