I just formatted..

[sanjana]

@Smith are you using which sound card and let me know the model and try installing the kcodec pack if that helps..

[Broken]

@Smith are you using which sound card and let me know the model and try installing the kcodec pack if that helps..

There's no codec that will fix a hardware/driver problem.

[Smith]

Its onboard sound with this stupid m2ne. Ive got a old SB Live! 5.1 card sitting around, should I give it a try?

[clocker]

You have nothing to lose.

Toss that baby in there.

[Appzalien]

I'm curious as to why, if you have 6 speakers hooked up to the PC, you want to set it to 2.1 sound? And if you do actually want 2.1 why don't you unplug the rear and center speakers? Since 2.1 speakers consist of front left and right and Bass reflex, that should stop the center and rear from crackling anyway. Are you absolutely sure your getting the correct drivers for your machine? I have seen too many times 5 revisions of the same mobo each with different drivers, and if you don't choose right you end up with problems. Maybe something like Everest can help you determine exactly which drivers you should be downloading by Identifying your mobo or sound type.

[Smith]

Because 5.1 sound is loud, it pisses off the rest of the family and it kills performance in my games.

[HyperNode]

First of all Audio is still using DMA as it will be plug in play if its supported by mobo, Now if you installed any cards to support it then you will need to implement and deploy the driver on OS. As the controller will be taken soon as actibe OS volume is selected. Now for me I can just use ALSA/ASA reload, kill under 3sec. Have to love *nix

PS: Formating anything has nothing to do with audio never did and never will be. In simple words the hardware is not recognized as you didn't deploy the correct driver. So check your hardware and install new driver from manufactures website.