5.1 surround sound problems

Hi there,
I have a Dell XPS M1530 with the sound card that comes with the package. I also have the soundblaster audigy software but that is irrelevant as it pretty much does nothing.

I have a Yamaha TSS-15 surround sound system. It worked beautifully with my laptop before I reformatted. After reformatting, despite installing the latest Sigmatel High Definition Audio CODEC as well as ensuring the actual physical surround sound system was all in working order I am unable to get 5.1 from my laptop. When I click "test" and I click on the middle, rear speakers or subwoofer no sound is emitted however when I click on the left or right speakers they work fine. I have a standard audio cable plugged into my laptop which is then plugged into my surround sound system.

I need help to get it working again!

 

Correct me if I'm wrong but I dont think a standard audio cable would work, wouldn't you need HDMI, coaxial or toslink?

 

It worked before!

 

Are you using the Dell driver?

If not, you might try it.

What all did you load after formatting?

 

I got the driver from the Dell website. I don't understand why it won't work!

 

I asked what else you loaded after you reformatted because some drivers are dependent on the Notebook System Software and the chipset drivers.

If it was working before, you might also locate the sound driver that came on your original drivers CD and try loading it.

 

After you have the SigmaTel Sound drivers from Dells download site installed: Did you also configure your 5.1 system to the three headphone jack ports?

launch control center / SigmaTel Audio in case it doesn't fire up while you plug something in the jacks. It looks like this:



And you need to tell it which port carries which speakers. Otherwise even if you configure Vista/XP using 5.1, it will suppress some channels since it doesn't know where to output these.

 

From my Surround Sound system I have a red and white cable which turns into a headphone jack plugged into my laptop. This one cable used to be able to provide me with surround sound. I do not have 3 cables I have the one.

 

Also I have the driver on the CD which I am pretty sure I used before

 

In which case I don't think you've ever been getting 5.1... and instead, boosted stereophonic sound as a substitute.

 

you are not getting true 5.1 surround sound; just ordinary stereo (two channel audio) that's processed for playback across multiple channels

 

there are 2 ways of getting surroung, HDMI and 3 stereo cables. Boths setups work great for me, but make sure to have the newest drivers. U also have to configure the sound parametres in the control panel.