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I'm running a computer with the following specs:

OS    Windows 7, Ubuntu 14.04
HDD0  256GB SAMSUNG 840 EVO      
HDD1  300GB SEAGATE
HDD2  2TB   WEST DIG BLUE
HDD3  750GB DELL ENTERPRISE
HDD4  750GB DELL ENTERPRISE
RAM0  4GB   G.SKILL RIPJAW DDR3 1033
RAM1  4GB   G.SKILL RIPJAW DDR3 1033
PSU   550W  THERMALTAKE SMART SP-550PCBUS
GFX   1GB   NVIDIA 550TI
CPU   3GHZ  AMD ATHLON II X4 640
MOBO  R2.2  GIGABYTE GA-870A-UD3

I just had a minor upgrade. A friend upgraded to new hardware and I took his motherboard, because it supported DDR3 RAM (yeah, this actually WAS a gaming machine before I upgraded from 4GB DDR2 @ 401MHz. How did I ever live?)

In any case, my previous motherboard was a Gigabyte GA-MA785G-UD3H and everything worked perfectly, even if a bit slow.

But after installing this new motherboard, I'm having trouble with the audio. At first, I installed the OSes and everything worked except sound; Neither OS could even detect the device. After some searching I realized that the previous owner had disabled it on a bios-level, because he uses sound cards, something I've never done/felt the need for before. It's worth nothing that he had actually never used this onboard audio, and would not be able to tell me if this is a long-standing issue.

So I enabled it, and it worked. At least, partially. Both OSes now detected the device, but I still get no sound. To boot, on Windows 7, I have this annoying Realtek audio manager that pops up whenever the input changes (e.g Putting on headphones). And this is where it gets weirdly glitchy.

To my eye, the audio behaves well enough, until it is actually called upon. At this point, it becomes buggy as hell. The audio manager says I've plugged in a different device and asks what it is (it never remembers), but this doesn't matter because I have not changed the audio input.

From the first time that panel opens, all hell breaks loose. That same config manager window pops up frequently and randomly. Many times in one minute. It's apparently haywire and I don't know how to stop it, except to finally disable the device in Dev manager.

Another observed behavior is a little more helpful to my untrained eye; In Ubuntu 14.04, the audio manager has a similar sporadic and shuffling behavior once called upon. Only the GUI is more telling. It very rapidly enables and disables headphone input, so that the previous two options (digital out, analog out) becomes three (digital out, analog out, headphones out). When headphones are actually put in, it freezes back to two options, but it's never the right one. Using headphones actually disables the headphones option.

I've tried upgrading the bios and drivers as well as re-connecting a few wires inside (AC'97 jack <--> HD Audio jack) but they've done nothing to help the situation. I have no audio and if I dare to try, my computer becomes paralyzed with its own pop-up dialogs.

If there's a soft-level fix, I really want to achieve it. I don't want to have to buy an audio card. Even as a strict hobbyist, I guess if I had to buy a card I would. It's just so damn inconvenient to need one this time, taking up a PCI or PCI-E slot.

Has anyone ever dealt with this? Is there a fix that doesn't end in my buying a sound card?

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  • I woner if this wierdness is why the previous owner used an external sound card
    – Journeyman Geek
    Jun 24, 2014 at 14:53
  • @JourneymanGeek I was able to ask him and he said that he disabled onboard audio prior to first boot-- it seems he was some grade of audiophile and in fact never tried the onboard audio.
    – jwarner112
    Jun 24, 2014 at 14:57
  • As for your last remark about a soundcard eating up a PCI slot: there are excellent USB soundcards these days...
    – agtoever
    Aug 4, 2014 at 21:23
  • In the realtek settings, there should be a tick for disabling jack detection. I'd suggest ticking that box. See also: sevenforums.com/sound-audio/… . If you're lucky it's only the detection that is broken and it works if you disable that. PS. I second what agtoever says, there are excellent USB soundcards out there, starting from about €30. They are usually much better than the onboard options.
    – BramMooij
    Nov 21, 2016 at 11:52

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