Onboard Sub-woofer not working

[Rahul91]

Hello.
I recently updated my samsung laptop to windows 8.1 pro from 8 single language. Right after i updated all my drivers. Then few minutes later i noticed drop in sound quality and to my surprise my inbuilt subwoofer was not playing any sound at all just two speakers. I dont know if its windows 8.1 problem or audio drivers. I updated all drivers including audio via samsung's application 'SW Update' so I think all drivers are compatible with my particular laptop .I tried all I could I am out of ideas please help.

My laptop is Samsung NP550p5c-s05in
OS Windows 8.1 pro
With realtek audio driver version 6.0.1.7055
Audio codec ALC269

 

[nostall]

Have you gone into Control Panel>Sounds; highlighted your speakers (Realtek) and then configured them for surround sound?

 

[Rahul91]

There is only one tick box option availabe and that is Front left and right, surround sound is grey disabled

 

[Rahul91]

I checked for bass from site www.audiocheck.net/audiotests_frequencychecklow.php and i found that subwoofer is playing (i listened to the right left and subwoofer by placing my ear close to each one of them) although the intensity of bass is so low that it is negligible. Before windows 8.1 audio was fine bass was good enough in windows 8.

 

[nostall]

See if you have the following, " Realtek HD Audio Manager" in your control panel. If so, open it and with any luck iit will show that you have a 2.1 system and allow you to adjust the subwoofer, or a 5.1 system and allow for same.
I just looked up your Audio codec and the impression I got was that it was a stereo codec; may not support a separate bass channel.
See what you find in the control panel.

 

[Rahul91]

See if you have the following, " Realtek HD Audio Manager" in your control panel. If so, open it and with any luck iit will show that you have a 2.1 system and allow you to adjust the subwoofer, or a 5.1 system and allow for same.
I just looked up your Audio codec and the impression I got was that it was a stereo codec; may not support a separate bass channel.
See what you find in the control panel.

It shows stereo only Sir I dont have much knowledge about sound and audio system and before I never had to access this application so I have no idea what option it had other than stereo when i had windows 8 but back then bass as much more louder and I probably never had to adjust subwoofer output i just switched preset mode from Sound Alive (Samsung modified realtek interface) when i needed bass

I would also like to inform that now when i am selecting bass preset, when audio with high bass are played the audio gets muffled until the high bass part is over.

 

[nostall]

In that window, go into sound effects and see if you can adjust the bass.
Also, you might have to reinstall the drivers or program for Sound Alive.
Try the Equalizer (EQ) settings in the Realtek manager first.

 

[Rahul91]

The sound effects tab has Environment effect and EQ settings which I changed to bass and tried to silde bar for low frequency myself but no use. and i have already tried installing drivers.
First installed from windows updated then uninstalled,
Then installed from samsung's product page site uninstalled it too,
Then installed from realtek's site unstalled it too,
Then finally installed from Samsungs SW Update application.

I am noticing drop in volume when high bass section of audio is played including the negligible subwoofer sound which is at back of the laptop.

 

[nostall]

I am running out of ideas, but here is one more to try: In Sound Effects, next to Environment, is there a check box labeled Loudness Equalization? If so, just a gamble now, check mark it and see if there is any improvement.

 

[Rahul91]

There is that option I ticked it on, what it did was increase overall volume but as soon as bass part started volume decreased.

 

[nostall]

There is that option I ticked it on, what it did was increase overall volume but as soon as bass part started volume decreased.

Rahul91, I am out of ideas other then a call to Samsung service might be in order. Please check your private message as I am sending one to you now.

 

[Rahul91]

Sir, looks like I found the soution, First of all I would like to tell the two speaker and subwoofer were originally configured as 2.0, the two front speaker are separate device and subwoofer is seperate(I unistalled realtek drivers again and microsoft drivers compensated for it and surprisingly the two hardware were treated as two different audio output devices) Now I was able to control volume of front speaker and subwoofer separately but they won't play audio together only the subwoofer or the front speaker would play, So now I again installed the realtek driver this time from realtek.tw not samsung, Again both speaker and subwoofer were configured into single audio output device and were playing as 2.0 stereo (no matter which channel right or left played subwoofer played same), This time I tried my luck with enhancement I disabled all realtek provided enhancement and enabled Loudness equalization(Provided by Microsoft) and Configured Sound Alive to previous Windows 8 settings with auto control option on. I dont know how but this configuration gave me the same amazing output with bass punch.

I got curious and disable loudness equalization and now bass was again missing, no matter what I configure with Sound Alive bass was missing, Only with loudness equalization option on, The Sound Alive configuration seems to work, In-fact with loudness equalization on all Sound Alive configuration are working as they should be. Dont know how but there seems to be conflict in drivers with Microsoft and Realtek. Though I am glad whatever happened Sound is back to its previous glory.
Thank you for help.

 

[nostall]

Sir, looks like I found the soution, First of all I would like to tell the two speaker and subwoofer were originally configured as 2.0, the two front speaker are separate device and subwoofer is seperate(I unistalled realtek drivers again and microsoft drivers compensated for it and surprisingly the two hardware were treated as two different audio output devices) Now I was able to control volume of front speaker and subwoofer separately but they won't play audio together only the subwoofer or the front speaker would play, So now I again installed the realtek driver this time from realtek.tw not samsung, Again both speaker and subwoofer were configured into single audio output device and were playing as 2.0 stereo (no matter which channel right or left played subwoofer played same), This time I tried my luck with enhancement I disabled all realtek provided enhancement and enabled Loudness equalization(Provided by Microsoft) and Configured Sound Alive to previous Windows 8 settings with auto control option on. I dont know how but this configuration gave me the same amazing output with bass punch.

I got curious and disable loudness equalization and now bass was again missing, no matter what I configure with Sound Alive bass was missing, Only with loudness equalization option on, The Sound Alive configuration seems to work, In-fact with loudness equalization on all Sound Alive configuration are working as they should be. Dont know how but there seems to be conflict in drivers with Microsoft and Realtek. Though I am glad whatever happened Sound is back to its previous glory.
Thank you for help.

Sounds like you got it working. Sound Alive is a Samsung program and thus the conflict would be with Windows AND Realtek; NONEtheless, if you have it working and you are o.k. with it I would leave it alone. Honestly, you did a fine job of troubleshooting the problem and fixing it: NICE WORK ! Now all you have to do is remember what you did in case the problem starts up again. Per our pri. msgs., do you still want me to move this thread?

 

[Rahul91]

I dont't know about moving thread now that problem is solved, but if it helps someone with similar problem to locate this thread it might be good to move, and how do I close this thread?

 

[nostall]

I dont't know about moving thread now that problem is solved, but if it helps someone with similar problem to locate this thread it might be good to move, and how do I close this thread?

Rahul91, I have moved it. To close the thread simply select a solution, that way other members of the community can still look at it and, on occasion, make comments or offer/post other solutions. If you want something more "permanent" I can close the thread, but that seems extreme to me.

 

[Dangi13]

i was facing the same problem and i have found a proper solution
if you are currently running on windows 8 then go to control panel
1.click on sound option
2.on playback tab click on speakers
3.and now click on properties
4.now in general tab click on change settings
5.now click yes on the dialogue box that comes after clicking the change settings option
6.then come in the driver tab
7.click on rollback driver
8.and then click ok
your problem is solved
the updated driver gets uninstalled from your device and now you can enjoy the full bass
thank you
hope this will help you
reply if it helps