No Stereo With SB Live 24, Only Mono So

Question

I installed the USB Sound Blaster Li've 24-bit (External) sound card in my desktop and am only getting a mono sound in my stereo speakers (2/2. configuration) and I've since noticed the original sound card (installed into the motherboard) is doing the same. I could be wrong but I believe this problem started with the installation of the new sound card.
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--> diagnostic tests on both sound cards (including Creative Diagnostics) and it reports that everything is fine. But when I check the audio in the Speaker Settings, the test signal "Left channel" is heard in both left and right speakers and the same happens when "Right channel" is voiced in the test. A similar check with the original sound card yields the same result.
I'm wondering if having two sound cards on my computer is causing this problem. You are supposed to be able to run the SB 24-bit External along with the existing card but I also read somewhere that it's best to disable the original card because of conflicts with stuff like DMA lines, IRQ lines or I/O address...
I've updated drivers with no luck. I would try to disable the original sound card but I don't know just how to do that and I'm not sure if that would make any difference anyway. I've not heard of anyone else with this problem after searching quite a bit on this forum and others so I thought I'd post here hoping someone could help. I'm running the following:
HP Pavilion a574n
Windows XP, SP3
Any help would be much appreciated and maybe save some hair on my head... :mansad:
Message Edited by DeistDennis on -07-2008 09:4 PM

Answer 1

Hi ya Phil! :smileyvery-happy: Lemmie tell ya what happened. When I first read your post, I thought "Out-of-phase mono? There's no such thing!" because, well... there isn't; at least not with my understanding of what 'out-of-phase' means. And this mono sound I get from my speakers is a quality mono sound, balanced and focused between the speakers.
Still, your post did get me to thinking that with all the splitters I have with my setup, something could be crossed or jumped in a way that could be causing the problem. I'm attaching a picture of my Sound Blaster set up that could show potential for problems. I have two splitters that break into three leads that feed three different sound systems. One feeds the desktop speakers, another feeds an Aiwa mini stereo system and a third feeds a full sized stereo system in another room.
? <img height="460" title="Sound Blaster Ali've! 24-bit set up" src="http://www.dennisthedeist.com/wdz/SBsetup.jpg" width="445" alt="Sound Blaster Ali've! 24-bit set up">
Thing is, I'd checked out the possibility of faulty cables/splitters when I first encountered the problem last week by removing the splitters and solely feeding the desktop speakers directly with the Sound Blaster. I had also connected this lead to the headphone output on the front of the computer to test the AC'97 on the motherboard. These connections played mono audio each and every time I tried this.
But being desperate, I tried once again after reading the above post. I connected the desktop lead to the Sound Blaster without the splitters and, as usual, only heard mono with the 'Left Channel/Right Channel' test. And then, for some reason, I connected the lead to the Aiwa mini system with the Sound Blaster, using no splitters, and lo and behold - IT WORKED!!!!!!!!!! ?:smileysurprised:
I about defecated on myself right then and there!? I mean, I'd been hassling with this thing for like a week and now I'm magically hearing stereo!? I really didn't expect it to work because the desktop speakers didn't work with the same connection so I hooked up the desktop speakers back to the Sound Blaster and THEY WORKED this time!? So I then hooked up the splitters and all three leads back to the original setup shown in the picture and EVERYTHING WORKS!?:smileyvery-happy:
It's mind boggling; I don't know why everything is suddenly working fine but I'll be darned if I enable the AC'97 and test it to see what happens. ? It can remain dead from here on for all I care. But I still have to wonder what happened. All that work yesterday uninstalling and reinstalling the Sound Blaster may have had a delayed effect or something. That is, when I hooked up the Awia mini-system separately with the Sound Blaster, something clicked somewhere, somehow, and I now have stereo. And it totally rocks!
It does bug me though, just what the heck happened? Still, I gotta thank Phil for getting me to mess around with the leads once again. If I ever see him outside of cyberspace, I'll have to buy him a beer... ?
DD