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2009 Mac Pro & Boot Camp XP: Sound Driver issues?

R

RemarkabLee

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Hi Folks. Minor problem with the new system...

Here's the situ:

32Gb Boot Camp partition created and installed XP SP2 from original disc.

Inserted Mac Pro DVD to install the driver set (which was Boot Camp 2.1)

Everything working correctly, except the sound - which comes out both the Mac Pro internal speaker and the LEFT channel of my external amplifier. Everything working fine through Mac OS X as expected.

In Windows, I can change the audio out device from Realtek Audio out to the USB audio (which is the Apple Cinema Display speakers) but this is far from ideal for games, which is the only reason I'm installing XP. I have installed XPSP3 since and found a more up to date Realtek HD audio driver for XP, but no change.

Has anyone experienced this? I may try to install XP again, install XPSP3, then install all the drivers manually as required to see if that changes anything. I'd like to get my legit copy of XP working rather than resort to Vista/W7 - as I don't know if my games will be compatible with the newer versions of Windows.
 
Hi there,

I've just got a 2009 Mac Pro as well, using both MacOS X and Windows XP SP3, and I'm experiencing the same issue you are.

My Mac is wired to my hifi system through a digital optical cable. I can only hear sound from the LEFT speaker, both left and right channels get out from the left speaker only. This happens only on Windows (even with latest Realtek drivers), everything's fine on MacOS.
I have to put Windows volume to zero to get the internal Mac Pro speaker off, hearing my hifi system only.

I went to an US Apple Store while abroad, but they didn't help me at all about this. Sounds like a general issue ! 🙁
 
Req75 said:
Hi there,

I've just got a 2009 Mac Pro as well, using both MacOS X and Windows XP SP3, and I'm experiencing the same issue you are.

My Mac is wired to my hifi system through a digital optical cable. I can only hear sound from the LEFT speaker, both left and right channels get out from the left speaker only. This happens only on Windows (even with latest Realtek drivers), everything's fine on MacOS.
I have to put Windows volume to zero to get the internal Mac Pro speaker off, hearing my hifi system only.

I went to an US Apple Store while abroad, but they didn't help me at all about this. Sounds like a general issue ! 🙁
Click to expand...

Cheers for that.

I have since installed Windows 7 and that works perfectly with both the default drivers and the Boot Camp x64 drivers 🙂
 
I had allot of hardware that didnt have drivers so I just plugged the OSx DVD in and used the setup there and it took care of everything.
 
Yeah, this is definitely a weird driver issue. Have they released updated drivers yet?
 
None of the available XP drivers (Boot camp DVD and Realtek website) helped.
This is still an issue for me. I read many threads on Apple discussions support... sounds problems have been a hell for years under Windows !

Maybe I'll use Windows 7 when out, but would really love to have XP working right now 🙁
 
Well, I finally found a workaround to get stereo sound under Windows XP.
Having only my optical cable connected to my hifi, I just can hear LEFT channel (I guess Realtek driver just consider the internal mono Mac Pro speaker is enabled).

If I connect also a mini-jack cable either to the front headphones or the back line-out, the Realtek driver shows an active connection on the appropriate connector (I get a message " a cable has been connected", none appears when I plug/unplug the optical one)... and I get STEREO sound hearing LEFT/RIGHT channels through my digital connection!
It seems then the Realtek driver activates the stereo output since not only the internal speaker is activated when an analog jack is plugged in. That would be an explanation, wouldn't it?

Sounds like Windows has nothing to do with this issue as claimed by Apple... only lame driver from Apple/Realtek (since under MacOS X you can select the right outputs)!
 
Req75 said:
Well, I finally found a workaround to get stereo sound under Windows XP.
Having only my optical cable connected to my hifi, I just can hear LEFT channel (I guess Realtek driver just consider the internal mono Mac Pro speaker is enabled).

If I connect also a mini-jack cable either to the front headphones or the back line-out, the Realtek driver shows an active connection on the appropriate connector (I get a message " a cable has been connected", none appears when I plug/unplug the optical one)... and I get STEREO sound hearing LEFT/RIGHT channels through my digital connection!
It seems then the Realtek driver activates the stereo output since not only the internal speaker is activated when an analog jack is plugged in. That would be an explanation, wouldn't it?

Sounds like Windows has nothing to do with this issue as claimed by Apple... only lame driver from Apple/Realtek (since under MacOS X you can select the right outputs)!
Click to expand...

Hey that's great, thanks for posting the solution 🙂
 
Update? Vista?

Has anyone seen an update for this issue? The headphone jack worked for me as well.

Also, does this issue affect Windows Vista users? I went out and bought a copy of Vista in hopes to resolve the issue before I read this article. I'd like to not open and return Vista if I am going to have the same problem.
 
billchristian said:
Has anyone seen an update for this issue? The headphone jack worked for me as well.

Also, does this issue affect Windows Vista users? I went out and bought a copy of Vista in hopes to resolve the issue before I read this article. I'd like to not open and return Vista if I am going to have the same problem.
Click to expand...

Not tried Vista, but Windows 7 beta does not have this issue.
 
same in vista

Hi,

Has anyone else got the same problem in vista, I have, the fixes mentioned up there dont seem to work..
 
I have windows XP and it works fine.... So far (Fingers crossed). I didn't do anything special just installed Bootcamp drivers and it worked.
 
Sounds Stupid But Works

It seems that Mac Pros read speaker jacks like a USB port. Sometimes they quit, either because sound has been rerouted, or for no good reason at all. I unplugged the speakers and plugged them back in and a new hardware type notice popped up telling me that I had, and they worked. It sounds stupid, I know. But it works. 😛
 
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