No Audio When Duplicate Display Selected

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For years I’ve had a desktop pc (currently running Windows 10, 22H2) connected to a Samsung TV (set up as a duplicate display) via an HDMI cable, and have never had a problem watching and hearing saved video files using VLC media player. Now there is a problem, perhaps since the April Windows update. The video continues to  be excellent, but there is now no audio output from the speakers connected to the receiver connected to the TV. When I view the window below on the computer screen while the video is playing, I can see evidence of audio signal sent.

When I reboot the computer with Samsung selected as the Playback Device, the “bootup tone” plays normally at the TV/audio receiver.

Other observations:

1) I installed a driver downloaded from Realtek. Had audio as usual from pc speakers, but still no audio from Samsung.

2) Watched an mp4 video last night and used a separate bluetooth speaker for audio.

3) Tried other video players than that usually used with the same result.

4) Sometimes (but not always) video plays in a jerky slow motion in addition to playing no sound.

5) I connected a laptop to the same HDMI port used for the desktop pc connection to the TV via a different HDMI cable and had both video and audio. Unfortunately, I do not have another HDMI cable that is sufficiently long to try in place of the current one. I plan to get a replacement for it unless those more knowledgeable than me recognize another cause of the problem from the information provided.

I’ll be grateful for any guidance on finding a solution to the problem.
Steve

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Check the VLC settings for audio device. Had the same problem a while ago.

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Thanks, madhatter. I was hopeful, but no luck with the VLC audio device settings.

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Hi Steve,

You are correct, something did change recently. I’ve been unable to find any documentation from Microsoft, but rest assured that you are not the only one experiencing problems.

I’ve traced the issue to the Windows Audio Endpoint Builder service. It is defaulting to the lowest common denominator (phone, tablet, laptop) and ignoring user preferences. It prefers analog over digital, stereo rather than multi-channel PCM, and no longer allows multiple drivers.

Simply put, it appears that you cannot have the Realtek driver (analog out) and GPU Intel HD driver (digital) loaded at the same time anymore. Windows will attempt to send sound to speakers connected to the motherboard (analog). Your speakers are connected to your receiver and need sound being carried by HDMI. Windows also prefers its’ own generic drivers over proprietary GPU audio drivers (Intel, NVIDIA).

You might try the Windows 7 audio troubleshooter that is still present in Win 10/11 – it can identify the problem and temporarily fix things in most use cases.

“Settings” -> “Update & Security” -> “Troubleshoot” (left column) -> “Additional troubleshooters” (on right) -> “Playing Audio”

After running the troubleshooter, the defaults will match settings, but not for long. Do not touch the “Configure” button in your screen shot. It no longer does what it used to if you are using HDMI (I cannot find any documentation about this either). Microsoft recommends that you disable all “Enhancements” (Properties button then Enhancements tab).

Here’s what I did:
1) Disabled “Realtek HD Audio” in startup
2) Disabled my Realtek digital output (I also had a real fiber optical connection).
3) Realtek Audio for speakers – not plugged in
4) Set my ONKYO receiver as the default device using NVIDIA audio drivers on the GPU.

Technically, HDMI sound cannot be separated from the display signal. With the setup above, either Windows or NVIDIA creates a phantom, virtual display to satisfy HDMI specifications.

Now all audio decoding is being done by DACS in the receiver (192k). The Realtek driver is just being used as a recording device, not for playback (Audacity, OcenAudio). VLC also works again, but I prefer to use the Windows 7 media player which is still in Windows 10.

I’ve complained to Microsoft (as have many others) that there’s no way to set audio via the command line and that Windows 10 defaults that favor mobile devices don’t work correctly for individuals using HDMI with A/V receivers. Microsoft is going to remove all Windows 7 troubleshooters in the coming months which will make the situation worse. The Windows 10 troubleshooter wants to fix a microphone that doesn’t exist on my system.

Note:
I uninstalled all audio drivers in Device Manager. Then I attempted to install the NVIDIA audio drivers (MS certified) for my 3080 GPU. Windows said they were not compatible (not true), so I forced the installation to free the system from MS generic audio drivers. The NVIDIA drivers work and I now have multi-channel PCM functioning even though Windows thinks I have 2 channel stereo.

As a final note, up until recently, I could stop the Windows audio service and then restart it and things would sometimes work as they did in the past.

Steve, without documentation from Microsoft, it’s pretty much of a crap shoot. Changing your HDMI cable won’t help (I have a 80gbps HDMI cable). Your laptop works because it works with the Windows audio defaults. I should mention that I use display port to my computer monitor and HDMI to the receiver. I do have a TV connected to the receiver, but only use that for setup purposes. I have sound with and without the TV turned on.

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One of the problems I had was that Windows would randomly change my settings back to audio defaults. I would set the default format to 24 bit, 192000 Hz and discover that Windows changed it back to 16 bit 44,000 Hz.

This began somewhere around April patch Tuesday. This is what led me to disable Realtek drivers for playback. The image below is from NVIDIA control panel.

Obviously, the receiver is not a display panel. Windows automatically detects the receiver and it becomes Display 2.

All is not rosy though. If I enable auto-standby in the receiver, Windows freaks out and will set everything to mobile defaults. The receiver (class D) uses over 600 watts and the subwoofer (550 watt RMS Class D) remains active so this is an enormous waste of energy (my electric bills reflect it).

Microsoft needs to fix this or at minimum provide documentation. For audio hardware to initialize properly, it must be turned on prior to booting Windows. It cannot be turned off until after the computer is shut down.

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Thanks, Carl, for your detailed and knowledgeable response. I’ll see what I can do with that info and results of your experiences and observations.

If, in fact, the audio problem is a result of the April Windows update, I wonder if there might be a specific update that can be uninstalled to solve the problem.

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Steve, I wish I could be more helpful. You cannot believe the amount of time I’ve wasted on this problem. This isn’t new technology and I know Microsoft is aware of the problem because people have been complaining for years. But, things did work OK until recently.

Initialization of non-pnp audio devices happens very early in the boot process. I have hibernation and fast boot disabled at all times (not needed with HPDT computers) so that hardware initializes cleanly, especially my 2.5gbps NICs. This didn’t solve the new audio problems though.

I scoured AV and MS forums looking for answers. MS reps told others to reinstall drivers, disable enhancements, and so on. No one using a receiver over HDMI had any success. I searched MS documentation for specific instructions – there is none of any value.

On my setup, when it initialized properly, my settings would hold for awhile. But then Windows would change settings without warning to defaults. It may be that Windows is now polling for PNP audio capable devices and when it doesn’t find any will change to defaults regardless of your sound settings. The Windows 7 audio troubleshooter can detect when the defaults don’t match your settings and repair it (and hopefully give you sound again).

I disabled RealTek in the startup sequence to force Windows into loading the NVIDIA HD audio drivers first. RealTek drivers still load on demand.

In device manager, I disabled RealTek digital output (that was a fail-over to my fiber connection which no longer worked since the unknown update happened). Note that MS says no device drivers are required or loaded for this device. However, it clearly indicates “NVIDIA High Definition Audio” which is the NVIDIA audio driver for my GPU.

Under “Sound, video and game controllers”, I have the NVIDIA HD Audio driver and Realtek driver. There are no generic MS drivers in the HDMI chain anymore which seems to have solved things, but I temper my optimism because I fear that things are fragile. At present, I have no devices enabled that are using the Realtek driver, but I am using the mixer as an input device for audio editing software.

I’ve learned not to touch any sound settings available in the Windows 10 GUI because Windows 10 breaks things. Windows 7 settings available in Windows 10 generally work as intended. It seems that the development team on the Windows 10 side thinks everyone is using mobile audio devices (phones) or has a laptop. The Windows 7 audio settings worked fine until the function of “Configure” button in settings was changed in a way that impacts desktop users with receivers.

I did a firmware update on my receiver last week and tightened security (I decided to put the receiver on my network for Internet radio). Tomorrow, I’m swapping out a subwoofer and will be re-configuring the setup from scratch. Hopefully, Windows won’t try to be a nanny and modify things like it did before and screw up firmware settings and disable multi-channel.

I’m sorry to throws things at you like this, but I’m hoping it’ll give you some ideas that you can try. I’m generally against providing anecdotal evidence, and I usually supply supporting documentation, but MS has neglected to provide any proper documentation. At minimum, at least you know I share your frustration and you are not alone.

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Carl, thanks again for all your effort and the facts and explanations you’ve provided as I search for a solution. I can see from your experience that, without the benefit of it, I would have wasted much time and effort futilely “re-inventing the wheel.” If, in the unlikely event, I find a solution to the problem of “silent audio”  before you or others, I will post the solution.

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Steve – some quick notes …

RESTART AUDIO SERVICES
Sometimes this works. Stop the following services, then restart:
1. Windows Audio
2. Windows Audio Endpoint Builder
3, Remote Procedure Call (RPC)
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REALTEK DRIVER
I do not suspect this driver as being problematic. But even with it disabled in startup, it will load in the background with this registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\
CurrentVersion\Run
Subkey: RtkAudUService
———————————–
MICROSOFT SUPPORT (not much help)

Fix sound or audio problems in Windows

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I swapped subwoofers yesterday (Class A/B to Class D SVS). I have it working, but have not gone through a complete setup. This happened twice today:

I clicked “Web Help”, but the troubleshooter was for diagnosing problems with Media Player (error codes). Media Player didn’t cause the error so this was useless. There were no hardware or application errors logged in Event Viewer. I had installed this month’s Windows updates prior to this. I hope this hasn’t made the situation worse. I don’t allow Windows to update drivers so no change there.

I’m going to set up a meeting with an SVS audio engineer after the holiday weekend (already spoke with them). I have some setup questions, but since he’s a support engineer, I’m going to take advantage of him and ask if he has encountered individuals with Windows issues. If I find out anything useful, I’ll post here.

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