Surround Sound Hardware/Software Issue (PC)

JSongProvision

Estimable
Jul 25, 2015
2
0
4,510
I have a Set of Logitech Z506 surround sound speakers. Through a series of tests I have determined all of the speakers work fine as do the 3.5mm aux cables that runs out to the pc. The PC is detecting all 3 colors I am using (Black for sides,orange for center/sub, green for stereo) and they are all plugged into the corresponding color outputs on the back of my Intel DZ68DB mobo.

The issue: I have been seeing various versions of this issue which seems to be unrelated to the actual Logitech speakers and more to do with configuration of the hardware or software but haven't seen a fix for my specific issue yet. When i do the surround sound test through the realtek audio manager or through windows i am able to ping every speaker expect the side 2 (I'ts a 5.1 system) During these tests when i look in realtek and hover over the lit up outputs (they are greyed out if the system isn't detecting anything plugged in) it shows the colors I would expect along with 2 greyed out that I am not using and can see on my mobo ( grey/blue for line out and pink for mic) and describes the functions as I have stated. This is with the audio settings set to 5.1 . When I set the configuration to 7.1 surround, the audio test will finally play sound through my 2 satellite speakers, however they play sound as the 2 speakers that would be immediately behind me (if they existed) and not the speakers to my sides. Now the odd part is that if I hover over the PINK output that previously showed as a mic, it has changed function to "Side Speakers" which I wanted all along. I have also tested this and the 2 side speakers that are part of my setup work when I take the black plug and put it into the pink output on the back of my board and will test in their correct locations. This solves half the issue. I could leave it like this but then I'm going to have a problem since my setup is now configured to include 7 speakers, 2 of which I am missing. When I change the setup BACK to 5.1, now it thinks that the pink is a mic and recognizes it as an input device.

Obviously this pink jack can function as both an input and an output since I have seen it do both. My question is how can I force that jack to read as an output even when I have my configuration set as 5.1 so that I can get my satellite speakers to work?
 

JSongProvision

Estimable
Jul 25, 2015
2
0
4,510
Finally found an answer right before I gave up for the night. For anyone else looking at this:

Realtek has some serious issues with how the outputs are mapped out in their drivers. I had to edit the registry key for the driver to change the mapping for the output I was talking about so that I could change the black to side speakers instead of rear speakers. This should be set correctly by default but for some reason it isn't.