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Question

Asus A55BM-Plus

Apr 5, 2015 4:02AM PDT

I cannot get audio from either my front or back audio jack. I have uninstalled and reinstalled the soundtek drivers from the Asus CD that came with the mother board. If I play a song, the meters show that music is playing but I'm not getting anything from the jacks. I have tested the audio cable by plugging it into a smart phone that was playing music and it worked so I know the cable is good.

Discussion is locked

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Clarification Request
Oh, where to begin
Apr 5, 2015 4:17AM PDT

It does appear that you posted issues earlier this year and noted this same motherboard. Can you say the audio was fine then? You didn't mention the OS but I know this can happen a default speaker device is assigned to a different port. Speaker ports (RCA mini jack) can find themselves mute if the default output is to such as USB headphones.

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Answer
What if the audio port or chip is dead?
Apr 5, 2015 4:15AM PDT

I take it this is the stock OS and you tested it with another OS like a bootable Linux and that failed too.
There are sub 10 dollar USB and sound cards that can be far cheaper than replacing the main board.
Bob

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sound card. good idea
Apr 5, 2015 4:39AM PDT

One other thing I noticed was that before this happened, whenever I would unplug or plug something into the speaker jacks, I would get a notification on the screen saying so. I went back and re-checked the Asus MB support disk to see if there might be more than one Audio package needing to be installed, which there wasn't.

The audio was working fine yesterday. I do have granddaughters here and they were playing on a web based kids game, but I'm guessing that had nothing to do with it. I'm running Windows 7 Home Premium.

Steve, you mention speaker ports getting reassigned. How can I investigate this?

Robert, I do not have another OS to test this with. Your mention of an extra sound card, that may be the easiest way to go. I'm guessing I would have to go into BIOS and disable onboard sound?

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Investigation?
Apr 5, 2015 5:02AM PDT

If it worked yesterday, system restore to that and the settings go back.
As to speakers, in Windows (no version noted yet?) it's control panel, speakers here.

As to the extra sound card, I've found that it can work either way. So it's multiple choice it seems.
Bob

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system restore
Apr 5, 2015 5:09AM PDT

I did a system restore and that didn't fix it. OS was noted already Windows 7 home preimium

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I may miss a thing now an then.
Apr 5, 2015 5:12AM PDT

I try to catch it all but may miss it now and then.

The SR didn't work is troubling. This is where I boot another OS on DVD like Linux Mint 17 and see if it works. That's my choice for hardware testing.
https://www.google.com/#q=windows+7+control+panel+speakers finds a lot about the control panel, speakers area.
Bob

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A story about a jack, USB, Linux.
Apr 5, 2015 5:21AM PDT
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Looks like Realtek and not soundtek
Apr 5, 2015 5:05AM PDT

You said you installed the drivers from the MB CD. I'd get the latest from the ASUS site here

http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/A55BMPLUS/HelpDesk_Download/

and not from some driver finder site. Select your OS and the most current drivers will show for download. Install the most current drivers/software and you should find device settings and port assignments in the control panel under Realtek or system sounds. Normally the speaker outputs use the green jacks but can be software reassigned. It's also possible to select USB ports as default. One does this if using USB headphones and doesn't want speakers to play. I doubt that's what you may have but things happen by accident. Having speakers muted as mentioned isn't that uncommon. If you can find the setting to put a speaker icon on the task bar, it can give you a visual indication as to whether sound is enabled or not. Good luck.

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driver
Apr 5, 2015 5:10AM PDT

I went into device manager and asked it to update the driver. It went online and checked and said that I have the latest one installed. But I will follow the link you provided and see if that helps.

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I do like the Linux test as well
Apr 5, 2015 9:21PM PDT

Ruling out hardware is easy this way. Since you mentioned children playing with the PC, I'd consider the possibility of something being inserted into a jack that should not have been inserted. These jacks aren't strong and do break. Some are designed to physically disable the signal to other ports if used. They are vulnerable to damage. If you get sound using a "Live Linux" CD/DVD but not with Windows, your hardware isn't the problem. I'd definitely give that a thought before messing too much with software.

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Answer
press the mute button
Apr 5, 2015 4:38AM PDT

on your speakers to unmute them. Turn the volume knob up. Be sure it's plugged both on the computer and to the back of the speaker.

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bigger problems
Apr 5, 2015 8:14AM PDT

I fear the mother board may be had. As the day has progressed. weird things are happening. First, and not related was that my 1.5 TB external hard drive that was sitting on top of the computer case fell , to a carpeted floor. Beeping ensued. Tested it and its a goner.

Then, when I would push the power button on the face of the Computer case, the CPU fan would spin up and instantly back down. So, I unplugged everything and plugged just the things in that needed to be plugged in. The CPU fan powered up, the HD sounds like the head is moving properly. However the case fan wasn't spinning. So, I powered it down and back up, the case fan works, but Im not getting a video signal to the Monitor. Does this sound at all possible?

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maybe motherboard
Apr 5, 2015 9:39AM PDT

but it's fairly new and a UEFI-BIOS type, so with all that can be changed in such a BIOS, there may be some settings in it which aren't correct for the system, maybe reset to defaults and need adjustment. I don't think the quick turn on and then adjustment of the CPU fan is indicative of anything bad. The case fan only works if the temperature is above the thermostat control on the motherboard. Is the video signal used the VGA, DVI, or HDMI? If the board defaults or resets to VGA or DVI and you have it plugged for HDMI, might need a BIOS setting changed.

Don't imagine the worse, go with what you had wrong at the beginning, unless you believe or know there's something you probably damaged further. Don't assume the worst.

If you have a Linux distro LIVE DVD like Linux Mint 17 MATE, then boot from it and see if things work OK. If they do, then it's not hardware problem. If they don't then might be hardware, but just as likely needing a correct driver. Linux kernels come with most major driver files already inside the monolithic kernel, unlike windows which requires almost all drivers to be loaded separately.