Use laptop speakers and Audio-out jack at same time ?

[blingers]

update: in the X-Fi settings there is an "Upmix mode" which was set to "Stereo Xpand". I changed that to "Stereo Surround" and now I get full stereo audio in both internal and audio-out speakers. so yeah what you wanted is possible!

UPDATE 2: you can get both internal and external stereo without the X-Fi software but its not surround stereo
-disable maxxaudio
-plug headphone or external speakers to the S/P DIF jack, set to rear speakers
-right click on the windows volume control icon in the taskbar, click on Playback devices
-select the Realtek audio and click configure button
-choose 5.1 surround
-tick the boxes of speakers you have plugged in
-tick both front left and right, and surround speakers
-finish the setup and go to the realtek audio properties (in the playback devices)
-in the enhancements tab, tick "speaker fill"
-play music

[daver160]

good to know. i'll give this a try later when i'm at home! dont think my office mates would approve of me blasting Bad Religion in the office just to test my speakers...

[toronto]

I tried blingers steps. The on-board internal speakers work, but the external audio does not. (I do not have Creative Soundblaster, just WavesMaaxAudio .)

Perhaps I did not disable WavesMaaxAudio the same way you did. In the WavesMaaxAudio window(s), I toggled everything to Off.

[blingers]

toronto were you playing audio while going through the steps? the maxxaudio will be disabled anyway when you plug in the rear speakers (maxxaudio only supports stereo).

otherwise i guess the soundblaster drivers/software is required to do this.

[daver160]

following your steps above, I am able to get the Windows speaker configuration test to work, but my 5.1 DTS Serenity Bluray movie didn't play through the speakers plugged in through the SPDIF port.

ideas?

[blingers]

following your steps above, I am able to get the Windows speaker configuration test to work, but my 5.1 DTS Serenity Bluray movie didn't play through the speakers plugged in through the SPDIF port.

ideas?

hmm i guess you need the soundblaster x-fi software. Im sure there are free alternatives to the X-Fi software to make it work.

i notice that i have to redo the above steps every time i unplug and plug in the rear speakers so check that they are set right.

[jiannichan]

I tried the steps but they didn't work. It only works when going through the tests but after I'm through and finish everything, I start my audio program and it doesn't work.

[daver160]

hmm i guess you need the soundblaster x-fi software. Im sure there are free alternatives to the X-Fi software to make it work.

Sorry, what I meant was that I was able to get all 4 speakers to work, but only during the Windows speaker test (quadrophic speaker setup). I could not get my blurays to output to quad via PowerDVD (using the 5.1 DTS speaker setup). My best guess is a software compatibility problem with PowerDVD, but I'm in no hurry

[blingers]

OK i just tried playing a bluray movie in powerdvd 9.6 and it plays rear speaker audio through the headphones. in audio settings, keep the speaker environment to "current system settings" and stereo. this is with soundblaster X-Fi OFF. all i can say is keep playing around with the windows speaker settings and restarting powerdvd program and test. otherwise the soundblaster drivers/software is the difference in getting it to work.

Sorry, what I meant was that I was able to get all 4 speakers to work, but only during the Windows speaker test (quadrophic speaker setup). I could not get my blurays to output to quad via PowerDVD (using the 5.1 DTS speaker setup). My best guess is a software compatibility problem with PowerDVD, but I'm in no hurry

maybe try the 5.1 system and uncheck the center and subwoofer speakers?

[toronto]

Dell has responded. They say that since the hardware is working as designed. they will not provide a tweak to allow use of laptop speakers and Audio-out jack concurrently.

Anyone here know how to tweak Realtek Audio drivers?
It would be great if a modded driver or software would enable this.