Problem with 5.1 sound, only getting stereo [Geforce GT 610]

nle · 2014-02-15 21:12:06

Hi, this is going to be a bit long, but bear with me.

HARDWARE

HTPC:
- Corsair VX 450W, PSU
- Gigabyte GA-EG45M-DS2H, motherboard
- Intel Core 2 Duo E8400, CPU
- Kingston HyperX DDR2-800 4 GB (2×2048), RAM
& - Asus Geforce GT 610 (installed today)

SOUND SYSTEM:
- Samsung HT-TXQ120

HISTORY
I have an old HTPC build I want to use again (been in storage for a year while living away). It was previously running Ubuntu, and was connected to my (also old) Samsung HT-TXQ120. The audio connected to the HT-TXQ120 via SP/DIFF and HDMI directly to my HDTV. Back when I first configured this the intel drivers were buggy with both audio and video on HDMI at the same time therefor the SP/DIFF. This setup worked fine for years.

Fast forward to today, and I want to get the HDMI audio/video working.
- The intel g45 sort of works, but the audio drops a few seconds every 2 minutes. I have not managed to get this working.
- I was a bit fed up, so I researched for recommended video/audio card for HTPC and saw that Asus Geforce GT 610 was recommended and cheap. I bought that, and installed it. Uninstalled all intel drivers, and installed nvidia ones. So far so good.

PROBLEM
The new card will not output 5.1 sound to my HT-TXQ120. 5.1 surround output shows up in the sound preferences, but when I test it I only get sound on my front left and front right channel. The rest is silent. I have tried with speakertest, test in audio settings, VLC, mplayer, XBMC and Plex.

Any help to get for this issue? Is the only solution to go back to using HDMI for video only, and sound through SP/DIFF?

COMMAND OUTPUTS:
(I'm not sure of all the commands, but I've seen other users been asked for them when I tried googling for a solution)

# uname -a
Linux MediaBox 3.12.9-2-ARCH #1 SMP PREEMPT Fri Jan 31 10:22:54 CET 2014 x86_64 GNU/Linux

# aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: ALC889A Analog [ALC889A Analog]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 1: ALC889A Digital [ALC889A Digital]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 3: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 7: HDMI 1 [HDMI 1]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

# aplay -L
null
    Discard all samples (playback) or generate zero samples (capture)
pulse
    PulseAudio Sound Server
default
    Default ALSA Output (currently PulseAudio Sound Server)
sysdefault:CARD=Intel
    HDA Intel, ALC889A Analog
    Default Audio Device
front:CARD=Intel,DEV=0
    HDA Intel, ALC889A Analog
    Front speakers
surround40:CARD=Intel,DEV=0
    HDA Intel, ALC889A Analog
    4.0 Surround output to Front and Rear speakers
surround41:CARD=Intel,DEV=0
    HDA Intel, ALC889A Analog
    4.1 Surround output to Front, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround50:CARD=Intel,DEV=0
    HDA Intel, ALC889A Analog
    5.0 Surround output to Front, Center and Rear speakers
surround51:CARD=Intel,DEV=0
    HDA Intel, ALC889A Analog
    5.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround71:CARD=Intel,DEV=0
    HDA Intel, ALC889A Analog
    7.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Side, Rear and Woofer speakers
iec958:CARD=Intel,DEV=0
    HDA Intel, ALC889A Digital
    IEC958 (S/PDIF) Digital Audio Output
hdmi:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0
    HDA NVidia, HDMI 0
    HDMI Audio Output
hdmi:CARD=NVidia,DEV=1
    HDA NVidia, HDMI 1
    HDMI Audio Output

# fuser -fv /dev/snd/*
                     USER        PID ACCESS COMMAND
/dev/snd/controlC0:  mb          476 F.... pulseaudio
/dev/snd/controlC1:  mb          476 F.... pulseaudio

# lsmod | grep '^snd' | column -t
snd_hda_codec_hdmi     30162   1
snd_hda_codec_realtek  41295   1
snd_hda_intel          37000   4
snd_hda_codec          150305  3   snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_intel
snd_hwdep              6340    1   snd_hda_codec
snd_pcm                77645   3   snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_intel
snd_page_alloc         7210    2   snd_pcm,snd_hda_intel
snd_timer              18726   1   snd_pcm
snd                    59109   15  snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hwdep,snd_timer,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_pcm,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_intel

Thank you, and please ask if I need to provide any other details.

Last edited by nle (2014-02-15 21:12:50)

Arch Linux

#1 2014-02-15 21:12:06

Problem with 5.1 sound, only getting stereo [Geforce GT 610]

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