Sound not outputting through all 5.1 speakers and speaker fill option missing

[jogoodman]

So up until recently, whenever I wanted to listen to music, play games, etc. the volume would output through every one of my speakers. Recently, this stopped, and as of right now, sound only comes out of the front R and L speakers, as well as the sub. I don't remember ever updating the sound driver before this incident occurred. My situation is relatively similar to this http/ (which appears to never have been resolved), except my setup has an MSI mobo and it's a 5.1 stereo setup

My MB is a MSI Z97-GAMING 5 ATX with on board sound, and the sound driver is the Realtek HD audio driver. The sound manager UI is set to 5.1 http/, and in playback devices the speakers are also configured to 5.1.

So far in attempts to resolve this, I've tried maximizing the volume for the rear and center speaker, which failed to resolve the issue. After some research, I tried to enable the "Speaker Fill" option, but it is missing from speaker properties http/. To get it to appear, I tried uninstalling the sound driver, and then installing multiple older versions of it with no avail.

Just as a precautionary measure, I know that most music isn't recorded in a, for lack of a better term, "5.1 way". However, music was outputting through every speaker up until a day or two ago.

I appreciate your help and thank you for your time.

EDIT: Forgot to mention, when testing all the speakers in configuration, they all work. It's only when trying to listen to music or watch a video etc. that they don't work.

 

[Ralston18]

Can you test the speakers on another system or playback device?

See if the speakers are the problem. Or try other speakers on your system.

Narrow the problem down some. Could be one of the connectors or a wire has broken. Find a way to prove that all of the speakers still function.

Start with the Rear speaker set.

 

[jogoodman]

Can you test the speakers on another system or playback device?

See if the speakers are the problem. Or try other speakers on your system.

Narrow the problem down some. Could be one of the connectors or a wire has broken. Find a way to prove that all of the speakers still function.

Start with the Rear speaker set.

Completely forgot to include that when testing the speakers in configuration, all of them work. So it's not a wire issue AFAIK. It's just when attempting to listen to something that it comes out of only the front L and R

 

[Ralston18]

Must ask a bit of a belated question: In your image of the MSI Realtek Audio Manager screen it shows what appears to be 6 Analog back panel RCA ports with only one of the ports (red) highlighted.

Is that what is to be expected with your setup? What connectivity are you using - does the software report that correctly?

I do not have the ability to duplicate your setup - did look for a User Manual/Guide but did not find one per se. Did come across a number of similar problems which is good or helpful only to a point.

Seems to be a few Windows 10 related problems and possibly related to an update.

It does appear that the physical wiring is intact as all speakers work. That then points back to a configuration issue or a bug in the Audio Manager software. Or some update or other change that had a negative effect.

Otherwise sort of at a loss as what else to suggest. Maybe methodically experiment with other speaker configurations to see if something is revealed. E.g. both right speakers start working but the left do not. Anything discovered may help.

 

[jogoodman]

Must ask a bit of a belated question: In your image of the MSI Realtek Audio Manager screen it shows what appears to be 6 Analog back panel RCA ports with only one of the ports (red) highlighted.

Is that what is to be expected with your setup? What connectivity are you using - does the software report that correctly?

I do not have the ability to duplicate your setup - did look for a User Manual/Guide but did not find one per se. Did come across a number of similar problems which is good or helpful only to a point.

Seems to be a few Windows 10 related problems and possibly related to an update.

It does appear that the physical wiring is intact as all speakers work. That then points back to a configuration issue or a bug in the Audio Manager software. Or some update or other change that had a negative effect.

Otherwise sort of at a loss as what else to suggest. Maybe methodically experiment with other speaker configurations to see if something is revealed. E.g. both right speakers start working but the left do not. Anything discovered may help.

The whole manager is vague to begin with, but on the back panel of my mobo, there are 6 outlets, and one is red. I genuinely have no clue why one is red and the others are not. The red one is titled "line out", and that's where the front speakers are plugged into (as reported by the sound manager). The middle black one has the Center speaker and sub, and the side black one has the rear speakers. I cannot confirm how correct this is though as I do not have the guide, I cannot find one, nor do I ever remember one existing. the cables themselves are green, black, and orange, and I assume each one carries a specific signal, but I am at a loss as to what carries what. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that all the speakers are correctly plugged in though, as the correct sound plays out of the correct speaker when testing.

In searching for the manual you may or may not have seen this http/ , but I believe here (in the comments) he is talking about the colors on the mobo, not the speakers.

While also in the hunt for a manual for the speakers, I found this http/-speakers-problem.html . I tried setting it to 7.1 speakers in both the sound manager, and just what I guess are the windows sound settings, but that did not work either.

If it comes to it, I'm thinking about getting an SSD soon and will need to reinstall windows anyway for that, so if I choose to do that (and I likely will as I've been getting random blue screens lately on top of this), hopefully that might just resolve the issue, as this wasn't a problem until recently.