Help with Audio Question [ACER PREDATOR MODEL PO5-640]

BamzOfficial

So recently I've had this pc for a little while. I previously had a Razer headset (Nari Model) which used a USB to wireless transmit to the headset. So I had NO issues at all with that headset. However that headset recently broke so I had to go out and find a temporary option. I chose the Razer Blackshark V2 X model which uses 3.5mm Jacks. HOWEVER, I don't know if its an issue with my drivers (which i sat here reinstalling and repairing a ton of them) or what the problem is, but for some reason I can't use the jack to passthrough the audio to this headset with my pc. I've tried both the back panel green headphone jack and the front-top headphone jack. Neither of them work for me. And if someone knows the (mm) jack ports for this model of Predator Desktop, please let me know what I should do.

PS: I did test the headset on its own with one of my tvs on a 3.5mm jack port. The headset worked perfectly fine, so now I just have to figure out what the issue is with my desktop.

StevenGen

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/687181/help-with-audio-question-acer-predator-model-po5-640

The 3.5mm jack is the correct audio connection, check your F_AUDIO connection wires/plugs at the front panel first, as the case audio jacks are connected to the mobo like detailed below. The rear audio jacks are connected straight to the mobo and if they don't work then its a port fault connection fault, but this should not be happening at both ends of your audio connections on the PO5-640 desktop mobo.

Check the drivers in Device Manager if there are any faults with drivers by a notification of an exclamation mark(s) next to any audio driver(s), as you might need to uninstall all the audio drivers and reinstall all audio drivers again, with the Realtek, Intel and NVidia audio drivers, and uninstall these drivers through Device Manger and then reinstall all the audio drivers for your PO5-640 that Acer provides in their Drivers & Manuals for the PO5-640 and then do a Windows Update scan, do that and see if your audio will work with your Razer Blackshark V2 X headsets, as the 3.5mm audio jacks for this Razer headset should work 100% with the PO5-640 desktop both at the front audio jacks and the back audio jacks.

chugzilla

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/687181/help-with-audio-question-acer-predator-model-po5-640

did you go into the settings and sound options and select headphones, sometimes it reverts back to either your speakers or monitor and i don't know why, it happens to me on my 5000 series once in awhile, check and see and or maybe the volume is down, i always use the top headphone jack on my tower i haven't tried the rear one yet.

William_mk2

@BamzOfficial

I understand you said "So recently I've had this pc for a little while. I previously had a Razer headset (Nari Model) which used a USB to wireless transmit to the headset. So I had NO issues at all with that headset."

Right now you are using wired headset with 3.5 mm Jack.

Since your old headset was working fine earlier I dont think so it is a software driver issue on your computer.

Try to use a alternative headset like a bluetooth headset or wireless headset and check.

billsey

Chug is the one who is most likely right, you haven't selected your headset as the output device. Be sure to select the correct things when you first plug it in also, don't use headset if it is headphones (no mic) and don't use headphones if it's a headset (has mic), or else the mic won't work right.

BamzOfficial

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1210592#Comment_1210592

So I already have done as much as I could when it came to audio inputs and output. Its still been a problem even when using the Realtek Headphones output which is the front panel jack. And the back panel jack uses the Realtek (Speakers) output option. However it doesn't work with either of them.

BamzOfficial

So with what @StevenGen said. I'm not all experienced with taking apart pcs and looking at internals. But I sort of understand what to look for. However when and if I were to look for a faulty connection what could be some telltale signs. Because I've done everything I could have at this point. I've reinstalled every driver that may have had a problem, I've changed my inputs and outputs testing each one, I've even done standalone tests with the headset which shows there's no problem. I even recently hooked it up to my monitor to test it on the monitor output in sound settings which seems to make it work however its super quiet and the audio gets condensed.
If there's anything else you guys could recommend then please let me know, cause I've tried every fix at this point.

StevenGen

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1210976#Comment_1210976

To inspect a lose connection you will have to chase the F_AUDIO motherboard plug wires to the front top audio plugs, for this you will need to take the desktop apart and check these audio wire connections and condition of the wires and if they are making 100% contact. But the only thing that worries me is that your back motherboard audio connections don't work either, which has nothing to do with wire connections as the audio port is directly connected to the motherboard and should work., for which you will need to take this motherboard to either Acer to analyze or an experienced technician to do the same and find out why your audio is not working on the PO5-640 board.

PO5-640 Motherboard and all its components

BamzOfficial

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1210977#Comment_1210977

Yeah so figured out another problem just now. I reinstalled the realtek drivers directly from the manual for the model. I plug the headphones into the front jack. I look at the sound settings within windows. I see audio flow lighting up the volume detection meter but there's no audio passing through to my headphones. So its basically showing that the realtek drivers are recieving audio however its not transmitting through the jack

BamzOfficial

Also @StevenGen when I turn of my pc and am going to inspect it. Someone told me to lay it down with case side towards the floor. Does this matter? I'm also wondering what tools such as screw drivers I'm going to need so I don't damage anything when getting inside.

BamzOfficial

Yeah also @StevenGen I completely agree with your concerns on the back motherboard connection as well. There should be no reason that the jack in the back doesn't work either. However looking at the jack placements in the back, they do seem to be shifted a little which could be a sign of something else, but I always just thought it didn't affect anything. I don't know if i can post any picture when I do open up the pc. But if I can would you like me to send a few of the mains inside? I'll try to get the best shots I can so you can see everything with the board as well

BamzOfficial

Also since I am disassembling the desktop to check and possibly fix a loose contact with these wires do I need to take ESD precautions, cause if so I don't have a wrist grounding strap or anything fancy like that.

Joe9844

You need a Y splitter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vCu5NvmnNc

BamzOfficial

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1211316#Comment_1211316

The headset came with the Y splitter. Even with it. Still didn't work so that doesn't solve anything.
It wouldn't work either way cause the jack can't recieve the sound either way so obviously a splitter wouldn't change that.

billsey

The top audio jack and the back audio jack use a different hardware path. Since both aren't working the issue isn't with the jacks per se so there's no good reason to go down the take it apart and inspect path. It's either the headset or the audio software. Verify first that the issue persists both on the top and in the back. If it did then we need to look more seriously at the Realtek Audio Console settings before resigning it to be audio hardware built into the motherboard. If possible you could also test with Bluetooth…

BamzOfficial

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1211793#Comment_1211793

Ive already done everything with software. And I said i've tested the headphones they work fine on other devices. It just doesn't make sense. And on the other hand I've tried using the realtek audio console and disabling the front jack detection and disabling it. There's a ton of stuff I've tried and no one has had answers for.

chugzilla

did you open your case and look at number 10 and 18 from the diagram of your MB to make sure both are connected?

billsey

#10 is a USB header, not an audio jack. #18 is what is connected to the top audio jack, the back audio jack is between 22 and 23 on the diagram and is soldered directly to the motherboard.

chugzilla

i suggested 10 because when i put in my 2nd SSD in that slot above it, i accidentally unplugged that big cable going into 10 and nothing on the top panel worked, so i thought that was why, who knows lol.

Joe9844

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1211869#Comment_1211869

You will never figure it out because you give mostly a bunch of irrelevant information.

1. irrelevant information about wireless headset and usb dongles, they don't use realtek driver stuff.
2. irrelevant tv volumes. Your tv gets the audio signal from the hdmi cable so it will be using the intel display audio driver or nvidia hd audio driver or amd hd audio driver. Unless your tv has an 3.5mm input and you are using a male-to-male 3.5mm cable into your tv.
3. important information that you should have told us on the 1st post - you are using the headset's included Y splitter. That you plugged both jacks in either front or back. That you are either getting or not getting audio out or audio in.
4. important information that your headset with Y splitter into the computer is either getting the mic working or not. But of course you are not telling us anything about that.
5. Don't disable stuff. Toggle on and off and then bring it back to the original setting.
6. Learn how to do screen shots (windows button, shift key and s) and include screenshots of your realtek driver version number, realtek audio console settings, which device are you selecting as your audio output…
7. did you check that you didn't mute the reaktek audio output by accident.

BamzOfficial

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1212141#Comment_1212141

So for your 2nd point. The TV does in fact have a 3.5mm connection jack and I did use the headphones for it to test if the issue was originally the headphones themselves, however I said it was not because the headphones work with monitor and tv audio but my pc jacks dont work on the front and back as I've stated. For the other points you're making instead of actaully trying to be helpful you're sitting here not trusting my word and telling me I've muted the source of audio in my sound settings which also isn't the case.

For this example I am using the back panel jack and it is fully plugged in:
I have selected my sound source to be the default which is the speakers realtek output:

I can run the Test function by right clicking the source and clicking test. The test goes through as shown:

HOWEVER, the headphones don't receive any audio what so ever. So then I go to check the source itself to see if the levels are muted —>

So in the end, the source itself isn't muted. So let's go on to the audio console to see what's going on there:

The audio console recognizes and tells me that the back panel speaker out jack is in use which would be correct because the headphones are plugged in there. Moving onto the levels, the source is NOT muted:

Also for the driver portion of things I installed the version of the realtek drivers which were included in the Manual for this model of PC. The drivers come out to be the 2021 version of realtek which is a little dated but it should still function just fine as intended. Picture:

So if you want to sit here and tell me that the information I'm giving is "irrelevant" then I don't know what to tell you because I've told multiple people on this thread the exact problem and have typed in a ton of detail about everything I've done.

SO my last point being, I EVEN went out of my way to factory reset the PC recently and Install all of the base drivers again from the manual which proved no difference. The same problem has stuck with the pc even after resetting the drive entirely. If anyone here wants to actually provide input instead of this Joe guy who thinks that they're right 100% of the time and wants to sit here and insult the information I'm giving then sure go ahead. But for the time being @Joe9844 maybe next time don't be such a pushover, and I hope you read this too.