GeForce GTS250 SPDIF NOT Working!

Scorpio721

Hi

I have had a Palit nVidia GeForce GTS250 Green Edition 512MB DDR3 Graphics card for a while now but until recently I had no need for the SPDIF connection.

Yesterday:
<1> I had connected the SPDIF cable from the card to my Motherboard (ASUS P5Q SE2) [INFO: The SPDIF cable only fits one way to the Graphics Card and for the Motherboard I connected to the SPDIF Out with the black ground cable on the far right and the only other connecter to the one next it the SPDIF - as indicated in my manual]
<Result> No sound through my HDMI cable.
<2> Looked around the nVidia Control Panel settings I could not find anything that even closely looks like it might be a setting for the Audio/SPDIF Connection.
<3> Searched using google and uncovered that it might be a driver problem and recommended trying the drivers that came with my GPU.
<4> Uninstalled ALL traces of the current drivers, restarted PC, installed original drivers from GPU CD and restarted PC.
<5> Checked nVidia Control Panel Settings, restarted PC.
<Result> Still No sound through my HDMI cable
<6> Double checked my SPDIF connection but all was OK except still no sound!

Can anyone assist?

Thanks

mciahel

Hi,

have you already checked the options of your onboard audio chip?

Michael

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Scorpio721

Yeh sorry meant to mention that, I have the audio chip enabled in bios (as far as I know there are no other options in bios with regard to the onboard audio.

Thanks, Scorpio721

midders

Hi there

I had a quick google and all the "Palit nVidia GeForce GTS250 Green Edition" cards I can find don't seem to have an SPDIF audio output; perhaps you could post a link to the technical specs for your card.

I'm a little confused as to what you're trying to achieve by connecting graphics card to mobo via SPDIF. I would expect that the SPDIF sockets on your mobo and graphics card will both be outputs. If you want to make use of either you need to connect them to an AV amp or TV etc.

If you're having trouble with getting sound out of an SPDIF connection between PC and amp/TV then ac3filter is a very useful piece of software which solved my SPDIF issues some time ago.

Any info you could provide to clarify the suituation would be helpful.

Slainte

midders

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Scorpio721

In answer to your confusion my motherboard has an onboard audio chip which also allows the audio to be outputted via the SPDIF connection which is needed by my GPU, which is an input might I add NOT an output as NO GPU currently on the market has a SPDIF out because its a graphical card NOT a sound card! click here for specification (it's under 'Display Support' - the last entry for that section) .

(Just for further clarification that the connection on my model GPU is an input, click here - its mentioned at the bottom of the review)

The reason for this is to have both audio and video passed through the HDMI connection to my monitor (which has speakers on it) which is the sole reason for the SPDIF connection on the GPU.

Thanks, hope this clarifies things.

Scorpio721

My secondary purpose is that I want the audio with the video passed to my HDTV which is connected a HDMI switch along with the monitor - so that I can simply watch videos through the television.

Oh and because I have heard that some HDMI Cables don't transmit audio - I have checked them and the cables I have do indeed permit audio. Having said that all my HDMI cables are audio compatible so that might be unfounded.

Thanks, any other ideas.

Jeffrey_P

I don't quite get the connection between your video card and a SPDIF audio output.

http://www.nvidia.com/object/product...ts_250_us.html

Jeff

Scorpio721

What don't you get about the connection - the sound is routed from the onboard sound chip on my motherboard (through the SPDIF out) into my graphics card (via the SPDIF input connection) and then the audio is transferred along with the video through the HDMI connection to the TV/Monitor.

Except in my case the audio is NOT being sent.

I don't see how I can explain this any clearer.

Thanks,

Jeffrey_P

Since you have double checked the NVidia settings, how about checking the audio control panel.

Also I don't know what your MB BIOS setting are but maybe check that also.

Seems like an operator error to me...

Jeff

Albert

Are there any options within Windows regarding the VIA audio processor that you may not have checked yet? I'm not sure if there is a control panel for it like there is for RealTek and Creative sound cards. It might be something simple like the output is being muted. Searching Google for this doesn't point me directly to any one solid resolution, though apparently once the problem was discovered, it was something easily overlooked.

midders

Thanks for the clarification, I'm with you now.

Do you have any way of checking that there is a signal coming from the SPDIF output on your mobo? e.g. an amplifier with an SPDIF input etc.

I would definitely recommend installing AC3Filter as this was key to my getting a signal from the SPDIF output on my mobo.

Other than that it would be worth checking that the HDMI switch you are using is switching both video and audio; maybe take the switch out of the loop whilst troubleshooting and connect directly to the TV/Monitor?

Best of luck...

Slainte

midders

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Scorpio721

OK lets give you some feedback on the responses I've being getting.

Firstly Jeffrey_P, I should also have mentioned that point about checking the audio devices in control panel as I have already checked there and as mentioned earlier I have checked my BIOS settings.

(Oh and I don't agree with it being an 'operator error' as other people have had trouble in the past with the SPDIF and also with regard to my GPU)

Secondly Albert, another point I should have point forward the VIA control panel has been checked already and its not a 'mute' problem.

Thirdly midders, at present sadly I do not have a way to check the SPDIF output but my motherboard is not that old, having said that I would have liked to check anyway. The switch does transmit audio as it can does so with the PS3 that I tested it on.

With regard to the AC3Filter I usually have this installed but I'll have to check later, although I can't see this being a problem as the audio should work on the HDTV which it doesn't. I shall get back to you on this one.


Thanks for your assistance but this problem is beginning to rile me. Any further help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Scorpio721

I have just installed the AC3Fliter (I was wrong it wasn't installed) but it doesn't appear to have worked, did you have adjust any of the settings to make it work?

Thanks

midders

Yes; set the SPDIF output in ac3filter to passthrough and change your system audio device (in control panel) to use ac3filter. Then it's just a question of making sure that the sound output format is one that your monitor will handle.

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"Some people bring happiness wherever they go, others whenever they go" - Oscar Wilde
Website: http://www.cuckfieldcomputers.com

Scorpio721

Nope, still nothing - I'll have to have a good tinkering this weekend/bank holiday and get back to you.

Thanks

eric93se

If you can't return this card I suggest you sell it on ebay or craigslist and just get a decent modern card that has HDMI on it, their very cheap now.

There is no need and no benefit for a video card to get its audio from the optical output of the MB.

The only thing I can suggest is to uninstall all audio software, reboot, then download the latest chipset driver package from the audio chips manufacturer (not the MB website). In that software you can turn on the optical output in the advanced tab.