Can i get 5.1 surround sound?

Well, a while back we bought a 5.1 surround sound for our computer, and come to find out, we cant get it to work. It is mostly because of our sound card. The thing is, i cant find out if it is 5.1 capable or not. If you guys could help me out with my problem, i would be thankful. If it is 5.1 capable, i cant find out how to make it work :S

Advance AC97 Audio.


Thanks ahead of time.

try updating your soundcards drivers. What kind of sound card do u have. If not just buy a new sound card and u can find a whole lot that is very good and cheap from creative labs.

Advance AC97 Audio

PRobably onboard ?

if its onboard it aint a 5.1 surround card


greetz revenge

I have essentially the same onboard soundcard as you and I have a 5.1 setup, though it is a bit wacky.
My VIA Enhanced AC'97 card has an option called "smart 5.1". you can plug in four speakers into the audio in and out slots, and the center channel goes into the headphone jack. Usually it works.

You should try messing with the control panel settings. Go into the control panel and select sounds and audio devices, click on the volume tab and click advanced in the speaker settings area. select 5.1 surround sound in the drop down menu and hit ok.
if you're on windows 98 you would select the game controller/sound/multimedia control panel instead.

Originally posted by Revenge2004@Jun 2 2004, 04:35 AM
Advance AC97 Audio

PRobably onboard ?

if its onboard it aint a 5.1 surround card


greetz revenge

what the heck u talking about , my onboard support 7.1, though i use Creative Audigy 2 OEM...

Actually hes correct, usually if its onboard then its safe to assume its not 5.1 capable. Look Milk, just go buy a sound blaster live value 5.1 for 30 bucks or so or even less if you shop around. Thats a cheap alternative but if you really wanted something sweet go with the audigy 2 ZS :thumbup:

Ummm... By reading the post it seems that he actually went out and purchased a PCI soundcard, so I think its safe to assume its definetly not an on-board one!

Anyway, that driver information would seem to suggest that you are using somekind of card based on either a Realtek or CMI8330 chipset...

1). If you have dedicated rear-out and centre-out ports on your soundcard then re-install your drivers and ensure either your soundcard utililty is set to 5.1 out or at least your windows multi-media settings.

2). However more often than not, older revisions of these chipsets allow you to turn your line-in and mic ports to rear-out and centre-out and you will need to install applications aswell as the driver to support this feature. So if I where you I would put the CD-ROM you got with the card in your drive and install all the apps and even maybe read the FAQ or manual...

ummmm i av a onboard sound card Advance av'97 with 5.1 and a 5.1 speaker set! it workzzz so what r u shitting about talk about things u know!

Hey, how many outs has your built-in soundcard?