Intel motherboard 2x Realtek Digital Output devices problem?

[cw-kid]

Hi

Is anyone else using an Intel motherboard? I have an Intel DH67CF(B3) board I installed the drivers for the Realtek audio downloaded from the Realtek website not Intels.
I have two Realtek Digital Output devices listed in Windows Playback devices dialogue, one is called Realtek Digital Output and the other is called Realtek Digital Output(Optical)

I am using a TOSLINK optical cable from the back of the PC to the AVR however the device you'd expect to use the one called Realtek Digital Output(Optical) doesn't seem to do anything and the test tones don't play.

So I have had to use the other device the one called just Realtek Digital Output this is meant to be for digital coax connections. But is kinda working with the TOSLINK cable / AVR. Although I am having big problems setting up Shark 007 codecpack on this PC and AVI and MKV playback in Media Center keeps freezing or bombing out and playback just randomly stops, this issue might not be related to the audio devices but I am wondering why there are two and why the one called Realtek Digital Output(Optical) isn't working. There is no physical Digital Coax port on the back of the PC.

Anyone else figured this out?

The one with the Green tick for default device works the one below it does not work


Thanks

[RehabMan]

I ran into this issue as well. I tried to report it to Intel, but they said they couldn't reproduce the bug.

I see it happen on both my DH67CF/Pentium G620T systems. What CPU do you have (maybe it is MB/CPU combination)?

Here is the thread at Intel's forums: http://communities.intel.com/message/130000
I also posted the following at missingremote.com: http://www.missingremote.com/forums/dh6 ... ical-audio

I never did figure out how to make it right. Strange thing is I have another HTPC based on DH67BL/i3-2100T and it does not have this issue.

Eventually, I'll get replacements for my DH67CF boards. They both were bricked by the last 0311 BIOS update (that was eventually pulled) and so I had to send both of them back. I'm curious to find out whether the replacements have this issue as well...

[cw-kid]

Hi

The CPU is an i3 2130. I just updated the bios today to the latest version whatever number that was I forget.
No problems with upgrade.

Still these Realtek devices are wrong.

[RehabMan]

You probably have 0125 BIOS. It was the latest before 0128 (pulled) and 0131 (pulled).

I think also there is something goofy with this board and the Realtek audio ports. But after hours of emails/chats/phone calls, with Intel, I gave up hope on them doing anything about it and just set the default to the "wrong" one and lived with it...

[cw-kid]

Looks like I installed 0125 bios. So why did they pull these newer versions?

[RehabMan]

Not sure why they pulled 0128. Must have been some showstopper there. But 0131 was pulled because applying it to a DH67CF bricks the board. It bricked two of mine and that's why I'm waiting for the replacements... I'm just curious if the ones I get for replacements fix this particular Realtek audio issue, as Intel claims they couldn't reproduce my issue (I think they were lying and never actually tried to reproduce it).

[cw-kid]

Rehabman many thanks for the information, will just live with this as its not a major problem and audio out still works OK. But would have been nice to know why this issue exists.

[jartweb]

Not sure if I'm allowed to re-open this topic, but this is one of the few forums where it has been described well. Apologies to the mods if this is frowned upon and feel free to move the topic or re-post...

I too have just encountered the same issue as described above. I have built a new HTPC using a DH67CF board and am running it with an i5 Ivy Bridge CPU (i5 3450S). I have the same symptoms - I have to select the 'coaxial' output when using the TOSLINK (optical) output at the rear panel. I too have nothing connected to the internal header pins, so there seems to be a reversal of the two outputs as far as the Realtek drivers are concerned. I used the drivers from Intel and then swapped to the drivers from Realtek - same problem.

I could live with it being 'swapped' but there is an additional issue - sometimes when changing audio from one file to another, e.g. stopping playback of one video recording and starting another, the sound disappears completely and is replaced by occasional popping noises which seem to be consistent with the software trying to use the wrong output. I have to play around in the Realtek settings for a while before the sound comes back. Not 100 % sure yet which particular setting change recovers the sound.

I read in another Fedora Linux forum of another user having a similar issue with the analog outputs (http://forums.fedoraforum.org/showthread.php?t=279262) so it may be a problem across the entire Realtek system on this board. I wonder if there is some sort of static problem which makes the motherboard think that something has been connected to the internal header, so it selects that as the sound output when it gets the next chance i.e. when the current playing file stops. ??

BTW I am running BIOS BLH6710H.86A.0146.2011.1222.1415 which is the first BIOS that supports the Ivy Bridge CPUs. The OS is Windows 7 64 bit and it is fully patched up to date.

I'd like to stick with this board because the inclusion of a CIR header allows my HTPC to use a fully functioning IR remote control.

[cw-kid]

This issue has not caused me any problems other than when starting to play a movie with DTS or DD when it first starts playing I hear a quick hiss / pop on the AVR / Speakers. It only does it once as the audio starts to stream to the AVR.

[jartweb]

Coincidentally, I updated the Realtek driver on my main (non-HTPC) PC and occasionally it pops up a message about something new having been connected e.g. a microphone, when no such thing has happened. That makes me think it more likely that the random loss of audio is the driver thinking a new device has been connected and swapping the ports over (i.e. un-inverting the ports!)

On the HTPC, I went into the Realtek control panel and disabled the 'optical' output (i.e. the wrong one) and so far, I have had no more random audio loss. Perhaps with only one digital output enabled, it does not try to swap them because the 'noisy' SPDIF mobo connector is no longer being checked?

I'll keep monitoring.

[cw-kid]

Coincidentally, I updated the Realtek driver on my main (non-HTPC) PC and occasionally it pops up a message about something new having been connected e.g. a microphone, when no such thing has happened. That makes me think it more likely that the random loss of audio is the driver thinking a new device has been connected and swapping the ports over (i.e. un-inverting the ports!)

On the HTPC, I went into the Realtek control panel and disabled the 'optical' output (i.e. the wrong one) and so far, I have had no more random audio loss. Perhaps with only one digital output enabled, it does not try to swap them because the 'noisy' SPDIF mobo connector is no longer being checked?

I'll keep monitoring.

I did a similar thing disabling the other digital audio device but I did it in Windows Audio Playback Devices by right clicking the speaker icon in the system tray.