Can ASUS Support Fix Realtek Audio Drivers with Bongiovi Support?

[achugh]

Dear Support,

CURRENT STATUS WITH ALL ISSUES IS IN

https://rog-forum.asus.com/t5/gaming-motherboards/can-asus-support-fix-realtek-audio-drivers-with-bo...

I am owner of ASUS ROG MAXIMUS Z790 DARK HERO motherboard. I have the latest v6.3.9600.2368 drivers installed. I have been having the following issues with this driver:

1. If I do not install Armoury Crate or if I uninstall Bongiovi Drivers after installing Armoury Crate due to issue (see below about the Bongiovi issues) then I am left with a broken driver. This is because "ExtRtXUsb_Asus_BJ_RTK.inf" driver file included in this version of the package has the RENDER APO FX for %PKEY_CompositeFX_StreamEffectClsid% set to Bongiovi APO ONLY.
   1. I am referring to line no. 63 in this file. It should have both the Realtek and Bongiovi SFX. Currently it only has Bongiovi SFX.
   2. Basically we need to change "HKR,InterfaceSetting\SysCustomizedFx\FX\0,%PKEY_CompositeFX_StreamEffectClsid%,%REG_MULTI_SZ%,%MB_RENDER_SFX_APO%" TO "HKR,InterfaceSetting\SysCustomizedFx\FX\0,%PKEY_CompositeFX_StreamEffectClsid%,%REG_MULTI_SZ%,%MB_RENDER_SFX_APO%,REALTEK_SFX_CLSID"
   3. This is because this is a composite key and can hold multiple value so making it similar to line no. 65 gives us the customers the option to use the installed APOs in the order listed on line no. 63
      
      
2. Does the Realtek Drivers do not support other Windows Modes like MEDIA, MOVIE, COMMUNICATION, SPEECH and NOTIFICATION?
   1. If they do support them, why are they not mentioned in the RENDER configuration for %PKEY_SFX_ProcessingModes_Supported_For_Streaming% or line no. 66 so that Windows can apply different EQ settings for each of the audio modes.
      
      
   2. I noticed that even Bongiovi drivers are not adding this support but some of your older motherboards with DTS APOs supported these modes properly and I would like to see them on my premium motherboard. Before buying the board I did not realize these audio limitations.
      
      
3. The driver is not specifying the configuration for OFFLOAD Mode Support as well. Can the following lines get added to the RENDER configuration? With high quality ES9218 and ALC4082 I am hoping the processing can be offloaded to hardware for better results.
   1. "HKR,InterfaceSetting\SysCustomizedFx\FX\0,%PKEY_CompositeFX_Offload_StreamEffectClsid%,%REG_MULTI_SZ%,%REALTEK_OSFX_CLSID%" where REALTEK_OSFX_CLSID needs to be defined and supported.
   2. "HKR,InterfaceSetting\SysCustomizedFx\FX\0,%PKEY_CompositeFX_Offload_ModeEffectClsid%,%REG_MULTI_SZ%,%REALTEK_OMFX_CLSID%" where REALTEK_OMFX_CLSID needs to be defined and supported.
   3. "HKR,InterfaceSetting\SysCustomizedFx\FX\0,%PKEY_SFX_Offload_ProcessingModes_Supported_For_Streaming%,%REG_MULTI_SZ%,%AUDIO_SIGNALPROCESSINGMODE_DEFAULT%"
   4. "HKR,InterfaceSetting\SysCustomizedFx\FX\0,%PKEY_MFX_Offload_ProcessingModes_Supported_For_Streaming%,%REG_MULTI_SZ%,%AUDIO_SIGNALPROCESSINGMODE_DEFAULT%,%AUDIO_SIGNALPROCESSINGMODE_MEDIA%,%AUDIO_SIGNALPROCESSINGMODE_MOVIE%,%AUDIO_SIGNALPROCESSINGMODE_NOTIFICATION%"
      
      
4. I am using Front Panel connector to connect my Headset (SONY MDR-XB950), it is not the one in DTS Sound Unbound app as the ones in it are MDR-XB950N1 or MDR-XB950B1 and I don't have those variant versions, but it is close enough.
   1. The microphone volume from the HD Audio Combo Front Panel (My case is ASUS ProArt PA602) is extremely low.
   2. I also get loud pops whenever the microphone is enabled. See https://rog-forum.asus.com/t5/gaming-motherboards/re-rog-maximus-z790-dark-hero-low-microphone-volum... with pictures of these loud pops in the capture.
   3. I have even enabled the max 30db Mic Boost and even that is not helping.
   4. I had installed the Two-Way Noise Cancelling but has uninstalled it as can be seen in this thread and I am still not able to figure out where the volume of my microphone is getting lost.
   5. This headset is reported with low impedance. The value is shown between 22 and 60 Ohms and the headset is rated at 32 Ohms; from my recollection. This means that it is an efficient headset which requires less current to work at its peak and optimum quality and I am having worst issues with it.
   6. Can someone on your team look into what is causing the volume to be dropped? Gaming is not possible as no one can hear me and that is a big disappointment with this premium gaming board.
      
      
5. I am also noticing that if I change my headphone output format from 48Khz 24Bits to anything else, I lose about 50% of the volume.
   1. I believe the Volume Curves for other formats are not defined and Windows defaults to some volume curve that does not match the hardware which then affects the perceived volume loss of 50% or more.
   2. I believe these volume curves are defined in RtDUsbAD_asus.inf file.
   3. Maybe things are not working because in this version the "Realtek Universal Audio Service" even though is set to Start Automatically does not start upon reboot due to service defining having quotes. See RealtekService.inf file at line no 61. This issue I see is fixed in the v6.3.9600.2379 that is release for some other motherboard but not yet for my motherboard.
   4. Maybe, having this service running will fix my issue with volume drop if any other format is selected.
      
      
6. Similarly, for Microphone Format, if I chose anything other than 48KHz 24 Bits all I get is either static noise or no sound from the microphone.
   1. I see values up to 192KHz at 24 Bits but I cannot use any of the higher quality values.
   2. Can this issue be fixed? Maybe it is also related to the previous issue of service not running and will get fixed when you release updated versions for my motherboard as well.
      
      
7. The officially published driver on the ASUS Support downloads has couple of mistakes or issues.
   1. In the UWP folder, the INSTALL.BAT file has a mistake where it installs the DTS app and the immediately tries to uninstall it.
   2. Basically line no. 8 needs to be moved to line no. 18 and the another line to wait for 12 seconds need to be added so the installation of the DTS app completes in the background and the process is not killed. After this fix, the file looks like below
      
      

      @Echo Install Realtek Audio Driver Please Wait ...
      @Echo on
      @Echo dism online install DTS Sound Unbound appx files

      %~d0
      cd %~dp0

      REG ADD "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\PowerShell\1\ShellIds\Microsoft.PowerShell" /f /v "ExecutionPolicy" /d "RemoteSigned" /t REG_SZ

      powershell -executionpolicy bypass -File .\remove_and_install_DTSSUWP.ps1

      REG DELETE "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\PowerShell\1\ShellIds\Microsoft.PowerShell" /v "ExecutionPolicy" /f

      
      @Ping 127.0.0.1 -n 12 -w 1000 > nul

      dism.exe /online /Add-ProvisionedAppxPackage /PackagePath:"77ebcb3cc75d4261bade64b63bb84bf9.appxbundle" /LicensePath:"77ebcb3cc75d4261bade64b63bb84bf9_License1.xml" /DependencyPackagePath:"Microsoft.NET.Native.Framework.2.2_2.2.29512.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe.appx" /DependencyPackagePath:"Microsoft.NET.Native.Runtime.2.2_2.2.28604.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe.appx" /DependencyPackagePath:"Microsoft.VCLibs.140.00_14.0.30704.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe.appx"

      @Ping 127.0.0.1 -n 12 -w 1000 > nul

      cd ..
      @Echo Done

      exit /b
      
      

   3. Next under UWP\CONFIG\PIN\run folder the AsusSetup.exe file is missing. This file can be copied from any folder as there are multiple copies of this file.
      1. Because of this missing file "Realtek Audio Console" is not getting pinned to the START menu.
      2. This missing file is needed because the INSTALL.BAT file in UWP\CONFIG\PIN folder is trying call AsusSetup.exe in Silent mode and that file is missing from the RUN folder.
      3. Hopefully, this easy fix can be included when you release the v6.3.9600.2379 for my motherboard.

BONGIOVI DRIVER ISSUES

I am sure by now you would have seen numerous people complaining about loud pops with these APOs which is why I have tried to uninstall them. They are not easy to uninstall also.

1. Can the installation and uninstallation of them be supported with a windows installer or something in Armoury Crate to make this task easier as a short-term workaround?
2. Also, can the Motherboard SDK be split so that it does not install this driver automatically and you make it a customer choice?
3. With my limited knowledge, I believe all APOs work on the concept of buffering the audio data and I don't think Bongiovi Drivers are any different. I suspect these loud pops for BOTH Rendering and Capture are happening because these drivers DO NOT clear or ZERO out the buffer and there is a buffer overflow or dirty buffer that gets flushed when the audio starts and these APOs get triggered by Windows Audio Chain. Since these buffers have junk data that gets flushed, that's what comes across as this pop when either the speaker or the microphone is turned on for audio streaming or capture via the software. I believe create a buffer with 0x00 (ZEROS) at the beginning of the stream (Render or Capture) should solve the pop issues. This way the buffer does not have any junk or dirty data when it gets flushed.

-Amit

Tagging #ROG, #Motherboard, #Z790, #Z790 Dark Hero

[Jiaszzz_ROG]

Hello, @achugh 

Based on previous explanations, the ROG MAXIMUS Z790 DARK HERO is designed specifically for the two audio ports on the front panel.
Therefore, using a 2-in-1 port might result in some compatibility issues, which can be sporadic.
We recommend, as previously mentioned, cross-testing both audio ports on the case, avoiding using any adapters, extenders, mixers, or amplifiers, and performing a fresh system installation and downloading drivers from the official website, following the suggested steps.

Based on the BIOS settings you shared, does the issue described also occur with the 1302 BIOS version?

Please also provide a complete video recording of the issue to help us better understand the problem.

Thank you.

[achugh]

Hi @Jiaszzz_ROG , since I do not have an easy access to split front panel connection as my case does not have this option available, when it comes to Microphone Loud Pops can we focus on using the REAR MIC-IN port? I believe the Microphone device recognized by Windows has the wrong configuration and that happens with both REAR and FRONT PANEL.

Since the REAR MIC-IN does not require any special splitter or additional hardware as it is part of the motherboard itself, let us together focus on getting this port to working first.

I have been having issues from day 1 i.e. using BIOS 1102 onwards which is when I bought this board about 3 months ago.

I have used all the official drivers as well as latest drivers and none of them helped. Please let me know exactly what portion would your team would like to see recorded. Do they want to see BIOS recording? Do they want to see Windows Installation portion recorded? Do they want to see driver installation on a fresh Windows being recorded? Do they want to see just the issue after all the drivers are installed as the recording? I will be happy to provide the needed recording.

Keep in mind the issue happens on a fresh clean Windows installation with no drivers installed using the default Windows USBAUDIO drivers as well. I understand that these default drivers have limited functionality like the higher bit rates and sampling frequencies are not available since Windows does not know the full capability of the hardware but the very basic capability like 16bit 48000Hz sampling rate is also having a loud pop which is why I keep on thinking the issue is in the firmware/BIOS.

Looking at the previous edition board i.e. STRIX Z690-E Gaming WiFi board at https://rog.asus.com/motherboards/rog-strix/rog-strix-z690-e-gaming-wifi-model/helpdesk_bios/ I noticed that this board has additional firmware updates for ALC4080/ALC4082 as well as for USB PD (Power Delivery).

Comparing these two boards only the USB PD Controller Firmware update v0004 was released for my Z790 Dark Hero board. Rest of the firmware updates were not released. Maybe because they are already included in the base release of Z790 board since it is release 1 year later. Or these missing firmware could be the reason I am seeing issues and the ASUS team has not validated that these updates are also needed for Z790 Dark Hero board as well. That is what we are trying to help out by narrowing down the problem.

Even the Z790 HERO board received Audio firmware updates which can be seen on https://rog.asus.com/motherboards/rog-maximus/rog-maximus-z790-hero-model/helpdesk_bios/ page under BIOS and FIRMWARE category. I am referring to "Audio ALC4080/ALC4082 FW update tool" which fixes SPDIF Audio being noisy that is a complaint from @Warryor3D in this thread and "USB Audio FW Update Tool" with no details as to what it is fixing. Comparing this same update with Z690-E Gaming WiFi board, the Z690 page says this update fixes "Line In Volume of Sound". Maybe a similar update is needed to fix the Volume of the MICROPHONE that your team is able to consistently reproduce to address Problem # 4.1 (Microphone Volume being LOW).

[achugh]

Hi @Jiaszzz_ROG I am waiting to hear back from you. What type of recording is needed by your team?

1. Do they want to see BIOS recording?
2. Do they want to see Windows Installation portion recorded?
3. Do they want to see driver installation on a fresh Windows being recorded?
4. Do they want to see just the issue after all the drivers are installed as the recording?

I will be happy to provide the needed recording.

[achugh]

Hi @Jiaszzz_ROG, Can your team let me know what FIRMWARE version of ALC4082 do they have on their TEST BOARDS by you sharing this exact same screenshot from the test board(s) they used for testing?

I downloaded https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/LGA1200/ROG%20MAXIMUS%20XIII%20EXTREME/USB_Audio_FW_Update_Too... file from the BIOS and FIRMWARE page of Z690 HERO board at https://rog.asus.com/motherboards/rog-maximus/rog-maximus-z690-hero-model/helpdesk_bios/ page.

When I EXTRACT and RUN AS ADMINISTRATOR, I see the following screen showing that my board has 4.501.0000-0005.0000 Firmware on the ALC4082 chip which can be seen in the screenshot below next to Current FW: label

Then I CLOSED this tool by click on the X in the top right corner as this tool has lower firmware as can be seen by the first line saying Update FW version: 4.501.0000-0004.000. Plus I ONLY wanted to know my firmware version and NOT really install anything that is not yet officially released by ASUS for my board.

[pwbc]

[achugh]

Hi @Jiaszzz_ROG, I am happy to report that my Microphone Loud POP issue is now resolved.

SOLUTION FOR LOUD POPS IN THE MICROPHONE

The HD AUDIO Front Panel connector must have some lose cable in it. I removed it to run tests like your team was testing using the motherboard on a bench outside of the case and my REAR MIC-IN started to work without any loud pops. I then connected an HD AUDIO Front Panel connector of my older case to this new board which had split headphone and microphone jack and that also worked. At this point, I connected my new case (ASUS ProArt PA-602) connector back and now it is working without pops as well. So I concluded that the connector must had a lose wire which got jiggled when I removed and reinserted the cable back into the board.

[achugh]

@Jiaszzz_ROG  At this time we still have the following OPEN issues that needs resolution.

ISSUE 1 (Broken Bongiovi APO if Armoury Crate is not installed) - The Realtek Audio installer should not default to Bongiovi APO since it is not even installed. Installation of Bongiovi should modify things for proper APO support. Supporting post https://rog-forum.asus.com/t5/gaming-motherboards/can-asus-support-fix-realtek-audio-drivers-with-bo... for the issue. Next refer to https://rog-forum.asus.com/t5/gaming-motherboards/can-asus-support-fix-realtek-audio-drivers-with-bo... post which shows that Armoury Crate is not installing things correctly. 

ISSUE 1.1 (Realtek AMPLIFY LEVEL does not work as expected) - The AMPLIFY dropdown is shown for HEADPHONES and SPEAKERS but it ONLY works for SPEAKERS. See https://rog-forum.asus.com/t5/gaming-motherboards/can-asus-support-fix-realtek-audio-drivers-with-bo... for the issue and https://rog-forum.asus.com/t5/gaming-motherboards/can-asus-support-fix-realtek-audio-drivers-with-bo... post for the details of the fix. 

My understanding at this point is that the DTS SoundUnbound App is providing the APO for Headphones hence the AMPLIFY dropdown is NOT working when using the FRONT PANEL connector. So, the issue here is that Realtek Audio Control Application SHOULD NOT show this AMPLIFY drop down for FRONT PANEL HEADPHONES as it CANNOT control it since the control is given to DTS SOUND UNBOUND APP.

ISSUE 2 (Support for MEDIA, MOVIE, COMMUNICATION, SPEECH and NOTIFICATION modes missing) - The PRIME DTS ULTRA boards provide this support via DTS APOs but this same support is missing for my board.

ISSUE 3 (Offload Support is missing) - The latest driver version posted on the forum v6.3.9600.2391 seems to have some settings now being tried. I really hope that these get activated and released soon. Z790 DARK HERO is the top of the line really expensive board. It should get the ultimate Realtek Drivers support with all the features.

ISSUE 4.1 (Microphone Volume is extremely low) - Your team has been able to successfully reproduce this issue. Couple other people here on the forum have confirmed the same that the microphone volume via MICROPHONE input (BOTH at REAR as well as FRONT PANEL) is extremely low and is not usable even at 100 volume with +30db boost. Can we get the development team to focus on what's wrong with the volume? See https://rog-forum.asus.com/t5/gaming-motherboards/can-asus-support-fix-realtek-audio-drivers-with-bo... for the issue details after your team did a test.

SOLVED ISSUE 4.2 (Loud pops in Microphone) - SOLVED. Hardware issue with the wire. See https://rog-forum.asus.com/t5/gaming-motherboards/can-asus-support-fix-realtek-audio-drivers-with-bo... for the solution.

SOLVED ISSUE 5 (Front Panel headphone losing volume at different sampling rates) - The problem is tied to Realtek Audio Universal Service not starting after a Windows reboot. There is a TYPO mistake in the current support driver version 6.3.9600.2368 which has been corrected in every version released after it. See https://rog-forum.asus.com/t5/gaming-motherboards/can-asus-support-fix-realtek-audio-drivers-with-bo... for the Solution for anyone staying on the official 6.3.9600.2368 version on how to fix the registry to solve this issue.

ISSUE 5.1 (Front Panel headphone has CRACKLING noise at HIGHEST RATE of 384Khz sampling rate only with reduced volume output) - In https://rog-forum.asus.com/t5/gaming-motherboards/can-asus-support-fix-realtek-audio-drivers-with-bo... post it was confirmed that the volume is deliberately kept low but this sampling rate always crackles. See https://rog-forum.asus.com/t5/gaming-motherboards/can-asus-support-fix-realtek-audio-drivers-with-bo... for the details of this issue.

SOLVED ISSUE 6 (Static recorded with higher sampling rates when using Microphone at higher quality) - Same issue as ISSUE 5 above hence the same solution can be applied.

SOLVED ISSUE 7 (Installer problems with the official 6.3.2600.2368 on the support site) - Manual solution provided in https://rog-forum.asus.com/t5/gaming-motherboards/can-asus-support-fix-realtek-audio-drivers-with-bo... 

ISSUE 8 (Bongiovi Driver installation and uninstallation) - Still open. There is no easy way to install and uninstall these drivers. Just like AI Noise Cancellation, can the installation and uninstallation be provided as a standalone application?

[achugh]

Hi @Jiaszzz_ROG ,

As requested, please find here the links to Google Drive with the requested recordings for all these issues.

MEDIA Preparation - This recording will show how Windows USB Boot Media was created, downloading all the drivers from ASUS Support Page, downloading any needed software utilities that we used. Basically everything that is needed to do the Windows environment installation and setup on an AIR GAPPED (or not connected to Internet) machine so we can control the state of setup for issue reproduction. I had to pause the recording while data was copied to USB disk hence you have 3 links below.

PART 01
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UpxEg2EIxrHrNvvD2MvkpkNbqWhogaBL/view?usp=sharing

PART 02
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PaY_VmHJvAPxMXY5zsH5sECK7kzb6u13/view?usp=sharing

PART 03 - In this recording I talk about removing all the hardware that is extra and matching it to your team's bench setup specially disconnecting the HD AUDIO Front Panel connector. I am showing BIOS before I removed any of the hardware starting at 00:04:00 time marker
https://drive.google.com/file/d/18IRZg8WBuBfzQXoPUexiStMSWUGQCjDN/view?usp=sharing

WINDOWS Installation - This section starts after I had remove extra hardware (like GFX Card, Extra Memory as the rest of the recording is done with just 1 stick in A2 DIMM slot, no ethernet cable as well as no HD AUDIO Front Panel Connected) and showing that I am clearing the CMOS and it worked followed by Windows 11 Pro 23H2 installation along with all the official drivers being installed (See time marker 00:02:30 to 00:06:30 showing clear CMOS was done and it worked properly). Starting at 01:27:30 marker I talk about installer issues with the official installer package of Realtek Audio Drivers.

PART 01
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oPb4WtFBoKh3aORHvjaldXONbUQkZMUV/view?usp=sharing

I take about 2 hours of break to take care of some personal stuff after finishing the Windows install. So we start with below recording to showcase the issues since all the installation was done in the recording so far. In this PART 02 recording below, I have recorded all the issues.

PART 02
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_g9DhXE6GJwRhQrECsRGMW8xATralYgR/view?usp=sharing

Now I connect the HD AUDIO Front Panel connector and continue testing using the Front Panel connector in PART 03 below

PART 03
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1X7L5CeEAQBV1I6h7sUbxLXVOEJY6KMjt/view?usp=sharing

BIOS Setup - At this point I show how I typically setup my BIOS which does not make any difference to any of the tests. All recording done before this point was using the default BIOS as requested. I also show why the machine is installed without internet connectivity and why I did tests without connecting to internet.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pehNU0V1inLEaDURqEvQ0b8PCvHaK_rU/view?usp=sharing

[Jiaszzz_ROG]

Hello, @achugh 

Thank you for your response and we apologize for the delay.
I have updated our PM discussion and kindly check it at your convenience.

Thank you.

[achugh]

Hi Jiaszzz_ROG,

I have responded to your PM. I am sorry the link you sent has expired before I could download the file and give it a try. Can I get another link?

I also noticed that my motherboard page has a new USB Audio Firmware download available, see https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/LGA1700/ROG_MAXIMUS_Z790_DARK_HERO/USB_Audio_FW_Update_Tool_PI... . it may be the same one that you sent me. This Support Page download is password protected and I was able to get the password from https://rog-forum.asus.com/t5/intel-700-600-series/z790-dark-hero-usb-audio-fw-update/m-p/1036230 post.

Before I apply this firmware, is there a way to download and BACKUP my current firmware in case things get worse instead of better? And can I then flashback to my board's original version of 4.501.0000-0005.0000? Or this is a one way option where I can only upgrade to 0007 version and if things break then I have to wait for the next release to fix my newer issues?

Best Regards,
achugh