On the Playback tab, the HDMI audio device is not available. WHY?

[mparisie]

I have  a G60-414CA notebook using Windows & and Conexant HighDef SmartAudio 221.

I get audio but no sound when I connect to my flatscreen TV

[Cloud_Strider]

By chance, do you you mean you get video but no sound? 🙂

Go to Start, search for device manager, and open this result.  Expand the sounds category.  Is there an HDMI sound device listed?  The Conexant sound card won't actually be responsible for HDMI audio as HDMI audio is actually handled by the video card.  Since it has an HDMI port, there should be two sound cards listed under sound in device manager.

[mparisie]

Yes I meant video :-))

I see 2:

a) Conexant HighDef SmartAudio 221

b) Intel(R) Hight Definition Audio HDMI

But I only have speakers in the playback tab and I don't know how to get HDMI to also appear there.so I can select it when connected to the TV.

[Cloud_Strider]

Was the Intel HDMI audio listed without an error (! or ?) icon?

In the Sound Manager on the playback tab, right-click and verify that show disabled and disconnected devices are checked.  Does it show in the list then?

[mparisie]

The device is working properly and I made sure the show disabled devices are 'checked' on the playback tab.

I apologize; I sould have mentioned that these were the basic things I tried before coming to this forum after doing some research.  Still no HDMI shows in the playback tab.  I even updated the driver for the smart audio 221 and tried to update the audio HDMI driver but got the message that I already had the best driver.  Any other ideas?

[Cloud_Strider]

Smart 221 does not have anything to do with the HDMI audio as that is the Conexant analog sound card.  Updating the Conexant audio driver will not have any impact at all on the HDMI audio issue. 

The Intel HDMI audio was listed without any errors in device manager, so the issue is most likely not the HDMI port itself. 

Here is how the HDMI audio is supposed to work on the notebook.  Without an HDMI cable connected to an HDMI device, the HDMI choice will not be listed as it would be considered disconnected (disabled/disconnected devices are unchecked by default).  With an HDMI cable connected to an HDMI device, the HDMI device is selected by default and is listed in the playback tab by default.  This is all supposed to happen seamless without user intervention.  Since this is not happening, there is a problem in the HDMI connection somewhere.

The possible causes that I know of are listed below.

A) HDMI port on the notebook is not functioning.  This can be rule out since the Intel HDMI option is listed in device manager without an error.  Furthermore, connecting this to a different HDMI device and getting sound through HDMI would also rule this out.

B) HDMI on the TV is not working.  This can be ruled out if another HDMI device works without issue on the same port. 

C)  A bad HDMI cable.  This can be ruled out if a different HDMI has been tried with the same problem as a result.  Since you are getting video, it is most likely not the cause.

D) There are custom settings for the TV.  I will need to know the exact model of the TV to verify this is not the case.

I would like to know what happens when disconnected devices is also checked in the playback tab.  Earlier, you only made reference to enabling disabled devices which is different from a disconnected device.  If the HDMI option is displayed when disconnected devices is selected, then this would seem to indicate there may be an issue in negotiating the HDMI audio signal between the two devices.

[mparisie]

Thanks for the quick response.

Both disabled and disconnected are checked when I right click on playback tab.

The TV is a Samsung UN46C5000QF.   When mine didn't work we tried my son-in-laws notebook and it worked fine using the same HDMI cable. His computer is newer.

[Cloud_Strider]

Since a different PC using the same HDMI cable and port on the TV works, then it can be isolated to the problem notebook.
 

The lack of the HDMI output option with diasbled/disconnected devices checked and the HDMI cable connected would seem to indicate that something else has occurred.  Under display adapters in device manager, is Intel the only video card listed or does it also list a Geforce card?

[mparisie]

In Display adaptors I only see:   Mobile Intel(R) 4 Series Express Chipset Family

The driver date is:  11/02/2011

The driver version is:  8.15.10.2302

[Cloud_Strider · Accepted solution]

What happens if you run this utility to update the Intel driver?