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No Sound from AC'97 on Windows 7 host

Posted: 19. Jul 2010, 01:17
by pento
Version info:
Host: Windows 7 64-bit
VM: Windows XP SP3 32-bit
VirtualBox: 3.2.6
Guest Additions: 3.2.6

I have two soundcards in this VM - the virtual AC'97 card, and a physical USB sound card. Sound works coming through the USB card, but not the AC'97 card. None of the volume controls are muted, all turned up to full. Sound works normally on the host.

Sounds has previously worked on this VM running on a different Win7 PC.

I found that VBox.log is full of these messages (full log attached):

Code: Select all

00:22:50.180 DSound: Reason: The buffer memory has been lost and must be restored
I tried increase the RAM available to the VM from 1GB to 1.5GB, but it didn't help - I doubt that's the problem, VirtualBox.exe is only using ~55MB.

Does anyone have suggestions for what I can try to fix this?

Re: No Sound from AC'97 on Windows 7 host

Posted: 19. Jul 2010, 02:16
by Perryg
Install/reinstall the realtek drivers from realtek.com
Check for conflicts due to using (2) sound cards at the same time. Interrupts are important as well as dma addresses.

Re: No Sound from AC'97 on Windows 7 host

Posted: 19. Jul 2010, 02:32
by pento
Perryg wrote:Install/reinstall the realtek drivers from realtek.com
Same problem after doing this, including message in error log (which is now 48MB, from this error).
Check for conflicts due to using (2) sound cards at the same time. Interrupts are important as well as dma addresses.
Device Manager on the Guest shows no conflicts. Also, removing the USB device and restarting does not fix the problem.

Re: No Sound from AC'97 on Windows 7 host

Posted: 19. Jul 2010, 02:36
by Perryg
Try removing all audio drivers from the guest reboot and see what it wants to load.
Other than that I don't know what to tell you. Something in the guest is really ticked off or you would not be seeing these warnings.

Re: No Sound from AC'97 on Windows 7 host

Posted: 19. Jul 2010, 02:43
by pento
Perryg wrote:Try removing all audio drivers from the guest reboot and see what it wants to load.
Re-installs the hardware normally, but no change to behaviour.
Other than that I don't know what to tell you. Something in the guest is really ticked off or you would not be seeing these warnings.
Okay. Should I submit a bug report? What information would I need to include?

Re: No Sound from AC'97 on Windows 7 host

Posted: 19. Jul 2010, 02:59
by Perryg
bugtracker. You will need to setup an account there as it is on a different system.
It would also help if you can post the ticket number here so other can see the progress, add information, or see the final results.
Be sure to include the guests log file and reference the link to here in the ticket.

Re: No Sound from AC'97 on Windows 7 host

Posted: 19. Jul 2010, 03:14
by Se7en
Realtek audio drivers are bad.

Windows 7 doesn't provide any AC'97 audio driver O_o ?

Mine ( 7 x64 Pro) use Microsoft HD Audio driver instead of Realtek HD driver. All works better without Realtek.

Re: No Sound from AC'97 on Windows 7 host

Posted: 19. Jul 2010, 03:36
by pento
Se7en wrote:Realtek audio drivers are bad.

Windows 7 doesn't provide any AC'97 audio driver O_o ?

Mine ( 7 x64 Pro) use Microsoft HD Audio driver instead of Realtek HD driver. All works better without Realtek.
WinXP guest. Tried the drivers that come with XP, and the Realtek drivers, neither work.

Bug report filed:
http://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/7200

Re: No Sound from AC'97 on Windows 7 host

Posted: 19. Jul 2010, 03:46
by Se7en
Realtek AC'97 card in guest O_o ?

I know VirtualBox virtual sound card is ICH AC'97 (Intel chipset), you should install the guest additions.

Re: No Sound from AC'97 on Windows 7 host

Posted: 19. Jul 2010, 03:58
by pento
Se7en wrote:Realtek AC'97 card in guest O_o ?

I know VirtualBox virtual sound card is ICH AC'97 (Intel chipset), you should install the guest additions.
Ah, I understand the confusion - bad thread title. I was referring to the AC97 in the guest, not the host. Latest guest additions are installed.

Re: No Sound from AC'97 on Windows 7 host

Posted: 19. Jul 2010, 04:17
by Se7en
I haven't XP guest at this time but Intel AC'97 soundcard should be detected by the system.

Did you verify in the VirtualBox guest settings if "Enable Audio" is checked and "Host audio driver" is "Windows DirectSound" ?

Did you try "Audio Controller" as "SoundBlaster16" instead of "ICH AC'97" ? Is there sound in the guest with this controller ?

Re: No Sound from AC'97 on Windows 7 host

Posted: 19. Jul 2010, 04:24
by pento
Se7en wrote:I haven't XP guest at this time but Intel AC'97 soundcard should be detected by the system.
Yes, it's the Intel card.
Did you verify in the VirtualBox guest settings if "Enable Audio" is checked and "Host audio driver" is "Windows DirectSound" ?
Yes, and yes.
Did you try "Audio Controller" as "SoundBlaster16" instead of "ICH AC'97" ? Is there sound in the guest with this controller ?
Tried it, didn't work.

Re: No Sound from AC'97 on Windows 7 host

Posted: 19. Jul 2010, 04:37
by Se7en
Then re-select ICH AC'97.

Did you try with the USB sound card disconnected ? Eventually poweroff and start the guest too with USB still disconnected.

I think VirtualBox support only one soundcard at once as virtual sound output.

Re: No Sound from AC'97 on Windows 7 host

Posted: 19. Jul 2010, 04:52
by pento
Se7en wrote:Then re-select ICH AC'97.

Did you try with the USB sound card disconnected ? Eventually poweroff and start the guest too with USB still disconnected.
Done both. The AC97 still fails when I disconnect the USB soundcard and restart the guest.
I think VirtualBox support only one soundcard at once as virtual sound output.
Nope, I had this guest working on a different host with the USB sound card plugged in.

Re: No Sound from AC'97 on Windows 7 host

Posted: 19. Jul 2010, 04:56
by Se7en
But in the guest Device Manager, is there a soundcard in the device list (still USB disconnected) ? What the driver name and the device state ?