ROG Crosshair X670e Extreme / Windows 11 - No Realtek HD Audio

[ttownsend]

Hi,

New build:
Crosshair x670e Extreme BIOS 705
AMD 7950X
Corsair H170i AIO cooloer
32 GB Corsair DDR5 6000 Dominator Plat. Ram (16GB x 2)
MSI 3090ti Suprim 24G
WD Black 850X m.2 (2TB) (3)
Corsair AX1600i PSU
Windows 11 (22H2, plus all updates)
Realtek Audio Driver: 6.3.9600.2342
NVidia Driver: 526.47
Monitors: ROG PG279QM (x 2)

Also: Valve Index HMD


I'm having trouble with the Realtek drivers. A few weeks ago, when I first installed Windows 11 on the new machine, the audio seemed to work just fine. (I have an external receiver being fed the audio via the SPDIF out.) I could launch the Sonic Studio 3, Sonic Radar 3 and Realtek Audio Console without any issues. Unfortunately, due to some other unrelated software conflicts, I wound up reinstalling Windows 11 (full, clean install), using Armoury Crate to install all of the necessary drivers.

This time however, although I see the Realtek USB 2.0 drivers as being properly installed, the Realtek Audio Console now hangs when I try to launch it. And neither the Sonic Studio 3 nor the Sonic Radar 3 software will launch ... claiming that "The current system is not supported, or the audio driver has not been properly linstalled. NOPKEY" . AND ... not that I watch VUDU movies on my PC very often, but before the Windows reinstall, I could launch the Windows VUDU app and play movies with full 5.1 sound. Now, after the Windows reinstall, when I try to play a movie through the VUDU app, well, the best way I can describe it is that the sound is "broken up". I hear perhaps a fraction of a second of audio, then silence ... then another fraction of second of audio, then silence.

I've uninstalled and reinstalled the drivers and software a few times. I've also uninstalled my A.V. software and any other software that I think *might* cause a conflict. (eg: NVidia HD Audio Drivers.) Nothing works.

Interestingly, when I open the Windows Sound panel (in Control Panel), and run the tests for the SPDIF out, It successfully passes the DTS Audio, Dolby Digital and WMA Pro Audio tests. It also successully passes all of the sample rate tests, up to 96.0 Khz. I'm also hearing audio from most websites, and of course, all of the standard Windows sounds as well. I can also switch the output to "Realtek USB2.0 Audio (instead of SPDIF) and hear sound through my headphones plugged into the audio jacks of the mobo. I've also run the DISM health check on Windows ... no issues.

My guess is that *something" is conflicting with the realtek drivers ... I just don't know what. Currently, I have no AV software installed (only Windows Defender). I did have BitDefender and MalwareBytes on the original Windows installation, but I've held off from installing them on this new Windows installation until I work out these audio issues. In my sound settings, I see the following as possible output selections:

Speakers (Realtek USB2.0 Audio)
SPDIF Interface (Realtek USB2.0 Audio)
AI Noise-Canceling Speaker (ASUS Utility)
ROG P279QM (High Definition Audio Device)
Bose USB Link (Only when I have the Bose Link adaptor plugged in.)

and ... when I reinstall the NVidia drivers, I also see:
Index HMD (NVidia High Definition Audio) as a selection.


So ..., are there any output selections that *should* be there that aren't? Secondly, does anyone have any idea of what might be causing a conflict and why the Realtek apps won't launch?
Thanks,

- Tom

[STARRAIN_ROG]

Hi ttownsend,
Does it also occur on bios 0705 with bios all default settings(no OC)?
Have you tried Realtek Audio Driver V6.3.9600.2322 from our support site?
Thank you.

[ttownsend]

STARRAIN@ROG wrote:
Hi ttownsend,
Does it also occur on bios 0705 with bios all default settings(no OC)?
Have you tried Realtek Audio Driver V6.3.9600.2322 from our support site?
Thank you.

Hi,

In answer to your question, yes, I have BIOS 0705 and have all settings at their default. (Cleared the CMOS and started over. No BIOS changes, no OC.) Also, I did orignally install v 6.3.9600.2322, but Armoury Crate reported that it needed to be updated and installed 6.3.9600.2342. Also, since my last post, I tried uninstalling and reinstalling the NVidia drivers. No change *except* that "Speakers: (Realtek USB2.0 Audio) " is no longer listed as an output selection for me. (All of the other selections are still there.)

[ttownsend]

Hi Again. Here's an update ... I've got it all working!

After posting my last message, I started wondering what the difference might be between my first Windows 11 fresh install, and the second. As I mentioned earlier, I had removed all of the drivers and software that I thought might be in conflict, but that didn't work. So this time, in addition to uninstalling all audio-related drivers and software, I also completely uninstalled my NVidia graphics drivers. ALSO ... I unplugged my Valve Index HMD from the system. I rebooted and then used Armoury Crate to reinstall the Realtek drivers. After that, I reinstalled the NVidia drivers. After a reboot, the Realtek sound was fully functional. I now see the "Realtek Digital Output" option in the sound output selector, and Sonic Studio and the Realtek console now also launch perfectly. The last step was to plug my Valve Index back in. (During the original Windows 11 install, the NVidia drivers hadn't yet been installed, nor had the Index been plugged in, at the time I installed the RealTek drivers.)

I can't honestly say that those things were the cause of the Realtek issues, but at least it's working. Thanks so much for the response.

[STARRAIN_ROG]

Hi ttownsend,
Thank you for your reply and feedback.

[Mack023]

My problem is fixed by uninstalling Realtek Audio driver.